SURFACE CATERPILLARS. 



201 



as they grow stronger they go further down, and generally 

 remain wholly underground or only come up at night to feed. 

 Whilst the plants are young the caterpillars feed on those 

 near them, going on to others as food gets short, gnawing off 

 the tops as above mentioned, or feeding on the leaves, which, 

 after having cut through the leaf-stalks, they drag partly 

 down into their burrows, to be eaten during the day. When 

 the Turnips are formed, the caterpillars establish themselves 

 inside the bulbs, and as many as twelve may be found in one 

 Turnip ; these gnaw large holes and cavities, sometimes 

 going completely through from one side to the other, and 

 continue to feed there till the bulb is consumed, or till they 

 have to leave it on account of frost or some other cause. 



According to circumstances of climate, &c., they feed 

 during the winter, or pass it in cells formed in the earth, 

 coming out to feed again in the early spring. In May or 

 June they turn to smooth brown chrysalids in the ground, 

 from which the moth appears in about a month. 



This moth has the fore wings of a pale grey ground-colour 

 in the male, dark umber-brown in the female, with various 

 markings, as figured ; the hind wings are pearly white, 

 clouded towards the hinder edge in the female, and with dark 

 rays. The colour of the body (including the abdomen) 

 varies, like the ground colour of the fore wings, with the sex : 

 it is lighter in the males than in the females. 



Heart and Dart Moth, caterpillar, and chrysalis in earth-cell. 



The habits of the Heart and Dart Moth are similar to 

 those of the preceding kind. 



This caterpillar is about an inch and a half long when full 

 grown, of a dull lilac colour, with a paler and more ochreous 

 stripe down the back, having one indistinct dark line along 

 each edge, and a double one along the centre of the back. 

 Beneath it is whitish green ; the head is brown, with black 

 jaws, and the first ring of the body behind the head is horny 



