THE TIGER MOTH. 



upon the leaves of the lettuce, appearing as a moth 

 in July or August. Some of the very heavy-bodied 

 moths seem only rarely to make use of their wings, 

 not flitting about from sweet to sweet, or traversing 

 the hedge in search of their mates, but depositing 

 their eggs near the spot where they were perfected, 

 soon after expire. Annually viewing this creature, 

 yet I have never seen it in flight, but stationary, or 

 crawling into retirement; still it appears, that during 

 some hour of the night it has used its wings, from 

 the frequency with which we find its handsome 

 relics scattered in glades, or places frequented by 

 night-birds of the larger kind, most of which crea- 

 tures capture their insect food when on the wing, 

 not seeking it in a dormant state, like many of our 

 day-feeding birds. The hair with which so many 

 of our caterpillars are supplied has uses not quite 

 obvious to us ; it is eminently useful at times to pre- 

 serve some of the heavy-bodied ones from being 

 bruised by falling on the ground by accident, or 

 from the influence of winds or storms; but some 

 equally heavy, and subject to similar casualties, are 

 not furnished with these elastic hairs, and others of 

 the smaller and light-bodied species are yet very 

 hairy. This matter, again, contributes to the per- 

 ceptions of the creature, as is evident from their 

 shrinking, or avoidance, when touched ; but those 

 that are destitute of it have no apparent equivalent 

 for perception, rendering this circumstance only a 

 partial incident. Those that are supplied with 

 hairy coating make great use of it for fabricating 



