492 INSECTS AT HO:\rE. 



This singularly pretty little Motli has been found in most 

 parts of England, but in none does it appear to be common. 

 The specimen from which the above description is taken is 

 from my Oxford collection, the insect having been captured in 

 Bagley Wood. I had at one time four or five of the White- 

 Spot Moth, all taken in the same locality. 



Now we come to a very extraordinary creature. 



There is one family of Moths, comprising only four species, 

 Ihe larvge of which are dwellers in the water, thus trespassing 

 on the domains of other orders of insects. There is a group 

 of Moths popularly called China Marks, because the general 

 character of the surface of the wing and its markings has very 

 much of a porcelain character about it. The typical species 

 is HydrocaTwpa stagnalis. In all these Moths, the female is 

 considerably larger than the male, and is rather variable in her 

 colouring, so that the older entomologists have in several cases 

 considered the sexes as forming distinct species. The male 

 has no feathering to the antennse, and the palpi are short, 

 close together, and directed upwards. 



The Moths are pretty little creatures, but the chief interest 

 of the insect lies in the larva, which has a mode of existence 

 tliat seems quite opposed to the whole character of the Lepi- 

 doptera. The caterpillars feed upon aquatic plants, and in 

 some species are absolutely sub-aquatic themselves. It is 

 evident that the respiratory apparatus of such larvge cannot be 

 formed like that of ordinary caterpillars, which breathe atmo- 

 spheric air through spiracles and breathing tubes. Accord- 

 ingly, these larvae, like those of the caddis, the May-flies, and 

 one or two beetles, such as the whirliwig, all of which have 

 been described in the course of this work, are furnished with 

 gill-like filaments along their sides, by means of which they 

 extract the oxygen from the water just as fishes do. 



This is a most wonderful fact, and almost without a parallel 

 in entomology. There is one species of Ichneumon-fly, called 

 Agriotypus armatus, which is so far aquatic in its character 

 that it crawls down the sides of stones and water-plants to a 

 considerable depth, evidently for the purpose of lay'ng its 

 eggs in some aquatic larva. It really seems to be fond of 

 diving for its own sake, and if kept in an aquarium will sub- 



