( cxxxi ) 



Then tliei'e are great differences in the mode of holding them- 

 selves when at rest, some few Geometrids closing their wings 

 as a butterfly does, e. g. Selenia hilimaria, Eupisteria heparata, 

 Cidaria dotata, and C. 7>3/?"«Zm;!a, others adopting an inter- 

 mediate position like those of the genits Ennomos, and Sdenia 

 lunaria and S. ietrctlanaria, which assume the form of a 

 concave scalloped shell.* The abdomen of many when at rest 

 is peculiarly curved upwards.! 



Habits as to local hattnts. 

 Local haunts may be classed among the varied habits of 

 some species, including some that in the larval condition feed 

 promiscuously on grass. Thus Epinejjhele tithonus loves to 

 flit in numbers about hedges, E. hyperanthiis is practically 

 limited to woods ; of the two Fararges, mega'ra flies rather 

 rapidly along the dusty roadsides, egeria flitting about in 

 woodland glades. Botys ])rmialis, an abundant species, its 

 larva found "on anything but blackthorn," is rarely beaten 

 out of anything but blackthorn. J Asthena lateata feeds on 

 maple in the south, on alder in the north. § 



Habits as to modes and places of concealment. 

 Modes of concealment are also often characteristic ; as 

 already mentioned, a large number hide in grass and herbage, 

 some in ivy or in woodstacks or faggots, others in houses and 

 cellars. Many of the habits are highly distinctive of large 

 groups as a whole, but others, as we have seen, are distinctive 

 of smaller groups, even so small a group as that comprised in 

 a single genus or species, and striking differences of habit 

 between local and seasonal varieties of the same species are 

 recorded. 



Recent attention given to habits. 



The habits of insects are in an increasing degree occupying 

 the attention of biologists. Professor Poulton's papers on the 

 courtship of grasshoppers and of V. tirticse, those of Dr. 

 Longstaff on the orientation of butterflies, of Mr. Guy 



* See especially the rest attitude of H. leucophmaria referred to in a 

 former note. 



t Some of these rest attitudes are so fixed as apparently to be connected 

 with structure. 



J Barrett, vol. ix, p. 226. § Barrett, vol. viii, p. 198. 



