28 THE ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



in a peculiar manner, forming an arch with its body at every 

 movement. 



The Small Magpie Moth (Botys Urticata), which is common 

 among nettles, may be taken as a representative of the Pyralida. 

 It expands rather more than an inch, and is white, with trans- 

 verse rows of large blackish spots on all the wings ; the thorax 

 and base of the fore wings are yellow, the former with a few 

 black dots. 



The Crambidce, or Grass Moths, have narrow, whitish, straw- 

 coloured, or brown, white-streaked fore wings, and broad, brown 

 hind wings, which they can fold into a very small space when at 

 rest. They may also be known by their long palpi, two organs 

 which project in front of the head in a kind of beak. 



If we shake an oak-tree in summer, we shall probably dis- 

 lodge a shower of small moths, about three-quarters of an inch 

 in expanse, with broad green fore wings, and brown hind wings. 

 This is Tortrix Viridana, and belongs to the Tortricida, a 

 large group of small moths with broad fore wings, whose cater- 

 pillars feed in the rolled-up leaves of plants, or else in fruits, 

 seeds, flower-heads, etc. 



The Tineid<Z) to which the Clothes Moths belong, are the 

 most extensive group of the British Lepidoptera, of which they 

 form nearly a third. They are all small moths, some very 

 small, many measuring only a quarter or half an inch across the 



Clothes Moth (Tinea Tafetzella), natural size. 



wings. Their wings are generally long and narrow, and fringed 

 with long hairs. Notwithstanding their small size, many species 

 are adorned with brilliant metallic spots. One small family, 

 the Adelid<z, includes green or brown species, with very long 

 antennse, which in some cases are at least an inch and a half in 

 length, and double the expanse of the fore wings. Many of the 

 larvae of the Tineida feed inside leaves, where they form blotches 

 or galleries. 



The Plume Moths (Pterophondce) generally expand nearly an 

 inch, and the wings are cleft into separate feathers ; two, more 

 or less united, on the fore wings, and three on the hind wings. 

 In the Alucitidce each wing is cleft into six distinct feathers ; but 

 of this family we have only one British representative, the 



