46 CATERPILLARS AND THEIR MOTHS 



such cases they are easily caught — except the Catoc'- 

 alce, or " under- wing moths," so called from the bright 

 red or yellow hind wings of many members of the 

 family. These moths start at a shadow or slight jar 

 and lead the pursuer a weary chase, for their fore 

 wings are so mottled as to resemble lichens or bark 

 with lichens on it, and make the moth almost invisible 

 when it alights on a tree or stone, the closed fore wings 

 covering the gay hind wings — and it alights often 

 and suddenly. 



Open sheds or carriage-shelters, the under surfaces 

 of bridges spanning either water, roads, or tracks, and 

 light-colored walls near electric lights, are good places 

 for finding moths in the morning. In summer hotels, 

 where a light burns in the white-walled halls up-stairs, 

 with open, unscreened windows, we have taken many 

 good and some rare moths at night. They seem to 

 find some attraction in the intense white of the wall 

 near the light or opposite it, and are caught very 

 easily. This hunting must be very quiet, of course, 

 but it is perfectly easy to do it so noiselessly that no- 

 body knows that any one is in the hall. Lighted win- 

 dows and screen doors often attract moths, which may 

 be caught from the outside. 



. After all, the pleasantest hunt is that for eggs and 

 caterpillars, for it includes a stroll along roads lined 

 with a tangle of bushes and saplings ; or following the 

 low growth by the brook, or by the edges of the woods; 

 or along the stone walls or rail fences, where wild 

 cherry, poplar, birch, sassafras, viburnum, young ash, 

 maple, oak, sweet-fern, blueberry, whortleberry, ink- 

 berry, wild grape, and woodbine grow; or among the 



