24 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



the hinder segments nearer to the true legs of the 

 anterior segments. These larvae, which are very om- 

 nivorous, feed on all sorts of plants, and we often find 

 them in our gardens on petunias or geraniums. They 

 do not go underground, hut simply hide, themselves on 

 the under side of the leaves in the daytime ; they grow 

 quickly, and are soon full fed, when they spin a slight 

 white cocoon amongst the leaves of the plant on which 

 they are feeding, and change therein to the pupa state. 

 In a fortnight or three weeks the pupa skin hursts, and 

 the moth comes out and proceeds to expand and dry its 

 wings. It flies at all hours of the day, but most freely 

 at evening dusk, when they may often be seen buzzing 

 by dozens at the flowers of petunias, verbenas, etc. ; a 

 clover field in blossom is almost sure to furnish a number 

 of them. 



Let us now consider the transformations of Biston 

 hirtaria. The parent moth deposits her eggs at the 

 beginning of May; these eggs soon hatch, and the 

 young larvae crawl out. These are veritable loopers, 

 having only ten legs the six true legs near the head, 

 and the anal prolegs and one pair of ventral prolegs at 

 the other end of the body ; so that the larva in walking- 

 arches the central part of its body in the effort to bring 

 the hind legs close up to the fore legs, thus forming a 

 good imitation of the Greek letter /2. From the ap- 

 pearance that one of these larvae has of measuring the 

 ground as it proceeds, the name of geometers (earth- 

 measurers) has been given to the extensive family of 

 moths which have ten-legged larvae. These larvae feed 

 voraciously on elm and various other trees, and when 

 not feeding they frequently fasten themselves firmly by 

 the hind legs to a branch, and raise the anterior legs off 



