• ' GEEASE.' 483 



case with the specimen now before me. The hind wings are 

 greyish brown, and so is the body. 



The caterpillar is green, with a row of white dots under the 

 spiracles, a white streak above them, and six white marks on 

 the back of each segment. It assumes a curious attitude when 

 at rest, the front of the body being bent upwards, so that the 

 caterpillar only holds to its food-plant by its claspers. There 

 are two broods of the Burnished Brass Moth in the year — one 

 in the early summer, and the other in the middle of autumn. 

 It feeds on several plants, such as the common white dead- 

 nettle, and even the stinging-nettle. 



The Moth, when preserved, is very liable to ' grease,' which 

 will sometimes affect it to such a degree that a whole row 

 of Moths will be deprived of their beautiful metallic lustre, 

 the wings becoming almost uniformly brown, with a sort of 

 rusty red hue, in the place of the gold-green which formerly 

 adorned them. In such a case, the only plan is to saturate the 

 insect with benzole, by dropping it on the thorax, and, when it 

 is completely steeped, even to the tips of the wings, in that 

 useful but mal-odorous liquid, to let it dry in a strong- 

 draught. The most effective mode of doing this is to open a 

 window about an inch and a half, j^iu the insect under the 

 window, and then leave the door open. In the winter time, 

 the fire will cause sufficient draught. The Moth should be 

 Hxed with its head pointing to the interior of the room, so 

 that the in-rushing air may blow up the downy plumage of the 

 body and prevent it from being plastered down, as often is the 

 case if this precaution be not taken. 



To the same pretty genus belong several other well-known 

 I\Ioths, such as the Silver Y {Plusia garama), so easily recog- 

 nised by the bright silver mark in the middle of the upper 

 wings, closely resembling the English letter Y or the Grreek 

 letter gamma (7). Then there is the Beautiful Golden Y 

 {Plusia jpulchrincL), the upper wings of which have a Y-like 

 mark of burnished golden scales, and below it a round spot of the 

 same colour. Another of these Moths is the GtOLD Spangle 

 (Plusia bractea), in which the upper wings have on the disc a 

 moderately large and nearly square spot, which looks as if a 

 patch of gold-leaf had been placed on the wing, and brilliantly 

 burnished. * 



I I 2 



