LARGE WAINSCOT MOTH. 107 



differences which have been noticed between 

 various specimens of the moth and the larva. 



When the caterpillar is full-fed, it makes itself 

 a cocoon with fragments of bark, and the Moth 

 appears about the beginning of summer. 



A REALLY remarkable insect is shown on Plate 

 VIII. fig. 2. This is the Large Wainscot 

 Moth (Calamia lutosa). There is nothing very- 

 striking in the appearance of the Moth, the 

 colour of which is a brown something like that 

 of old wainscoting, relieved by a few black spots. 

 This colour, which varies much in point of 

 depth, only belongs to the upper wings, the 

 lower pair being white, sometimes marked with 

 a few brown spots. The body is of the same 

 hne as the lower wings. 



The chief interest of this insect lies in its mode 

 of life as a caterpillar. 



As soon as it is hatched from the egg, which 

 has been attached by the parent insect to the 

 stem of a reed, it gnaws through the bark, 

 works its way into the centre of the reed, 

 and burrows downwards. When it is about to 

 change into the pupal state, it makes its way 

 upwards again, and prepares the passage by 

 which it will escape when it becomes a MotL 



