198 IRambles wttb IFlature Students 



A very minute moth lays its eggs in the leaf 

 in early summer, and the grub which comes out 

 of it mines its way between the fibre and the outer 

 skin of the leaf, feeding, as it proceeds, upon the 

 green substance it finds there. The mark that it 

 makes is at first like a fine white thread, but as 

 the larva grows its tunnel increases in size until the 

 grub is full-grown ; then it emerges and falls to 

 the ground, changes into a chrysalis in the earth, 

 and remains there until the following summer, when 

 the moth hatches, and the life-history begins over 

 again. In the drawing there are the tunnels of two 

 of these leaf-miners shown, and the gradual increase 

 in size can easily be traced. 



There are, I believe, many hundred species of 

 these exceedingly minute moths, each one choosing 

 some special plant in which to deposit its eggs. 

 The perfect insects are in some cases extremely 

 beautiful, like little jewels adorned with gold and 

 silver fringes. 



I have chosen these few specimens of 'hidden 

 lives ' simply to stimulate observation ; similar cases 

 exist in every department of nature, arid will amply 

 repay careful study. 



