518 INSECTS AT HOME. 



was at once stormed by the caterpillars, which entered the 

 rooms, crawled over the fm-niture, trailed their silken lines 

 over everything in the room, and really made the inhabitants 

 of the houses quite afraid to admit the little air that ever stirs 

 in such localities. Yet, in the midst of all the smoke, the 

 dust, the ' blacks,' and the other adjuncts of the neighbourhood, 

 the little Moths fluttered about with wings as purely white as 

 if they had never come within twenty miles of a chimney. 



We must not pass over without notice the lovely Long-horn 

 Moths, of wliich we have several examples in England. These 

 Moths are remarkable for the extreme length and delicacy of 

 their antennse, these appendages being very much longer in the 

 males tlian in the females. The best known of these is the De 

 Geerean {Adela de Geerella). This is a truly magnificent 

 insect. Even to the naked eye its upper wings are singularly 

 beautiful, but when it is examined by the microscope its 

 splendour absolutely baffles description. Suffice it to say that 

 the wings then appear to be covered with scale armour of 

 burnished gold, every scale taking a rich purple hue in certain 

 lights. As the insect is turned under the microscope the edges 

 are deeply purple, this hue being strongest and most con- 

 spicuous towards the tips. The fringe of the wings has also a 

 tendency to purple. 



The antennae of this Moth are of enormous length. Just at 

 the base they are rather thick, and have a very slight feathering. 

 They then suddenly diminish, jand are so long and so delicate 

 that they almost look like the threads of a spider's web that 

 have been casually attached to the creature's head. Indeed, I 

 have often taken the Moth by watching for the flash of light 

 reflected from the antennse as they wave about in the air like 

 threads of gossamer, while the insect is sitting quietly on a 

 leaf. 



The caterpillar of this Longhorn Moth feedj on the Wood 

 Anemone, and is pale yellow with a black head. The structure 

 of the chrysalis is very remarkable, on account of the manner 

 in which the antennse are disposed. In the pupa of ordinary 

 Lepidoptera the antennse lie straight down the front of the 

 body, but such a provision would be quite insufficient for the 

 Lung-horn, whose antennse are many times as long as the body. 



