3064 THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



which increases the deception, and renders its likeness to some hostile wasp stilt 

 more striking. If surprised sitting in the sunshine upon a poplar trunk, the abdo- 

 men will be arched upward, and the tail tapped against the bark with a veritable 

 to all appearances stinging movement. The larva burrows in the wood of the 

 poplar, and the pupa skin may be found half out of one of the galleries when the 

 moth has emerged. The insect is common all through Europe and Northern and 

 Western Asia. 



Family STNTOMID^E, 



The next family, the Tiniageriidce, must be passed over, and a brief reference 

 made to the moths of the family Syntomidce, which introduces us to the well-known 

 burnets. The Syntomidcz include small moths with broad, triangular, spotted 

 wings, and body extended beyond the hind-wings. The members of this family .are 

 very similar in general appearance to the burnets, but differ in the absence of the 

 ocelli. They are widely extended, and take the place of the burnets in the Tropics 

 of the Eastern Hemisphere. Among them, the spangled white (Syntomis phegea) is 

 a common moth in some localities on the continent of Europe, with blue-black 

 wings spotted with white, as represented in the illustration on p. 3074. The larva 

 is black, thickly clothed with hair, and feeds on the dandelion, while the perfect 

 insect flies, somewhat like the burnets, in the sunshine, and settles upon flower 

 heads. It is not found in England, though extending through Europe to North- 

 ern and Western Asia. 



We may also notice the handmaid moth (Naclia ancilla), a very rare species in 

 England, but not uncommon in the woods of Southern and Central Europe in June 

 and July. * Its larva is black, with yellow lines on the back and sides, and it feeds 

 on tree and rock lichens in spring. 



THE BURNETS Family ZTGsENiD^ 



The burnets are for the most part small moths, with long, rather narrow fore- 

 wings, and stout bodies extending beyond the hind-wings. Their usual color is 

 black, green, or dark blue, spotted with red, white, or yellow. The hind-wings are 

 ^gray, red, or similar in color to the fore-wings, with a narrow black margin; and 

 the antennae are somewhat abruptly narrowed toward the extremity. The burnets 

 are local, though, from their gregarious habits, abundant where they occur. The 

 larvae are rather compressed, tapering at both ends; and the cocoon is long, spindle 

 shaped, yellow or white, of fine shiny silk, and attached longitudinally to grass 

 stems. Of the six-spotted burnet {Zygcena filipendulce) the caterpillar feeds late 

 in the autumn, and hibernates until the following spring. It is short, stout, 

 slightly hairy, dull yellow, with two rows of black spots along the back, and feeds 

 on grasses of various kinds. The moth flies heavily in broad daylight, and may 

 often be seen, two or three together, hanging upon flower heads in chalk pits and 

 on downs by the sea. Its fore-wings are black, with metallic-green lustre, having 

 six bright red spots placed in three pairs; and the hind-wings are bright crimson > 



