METAMORPHOSES OF BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 25 



the surface, so as to place the entire length of the body 

 of the larva at a considerable angle to the branch, which 

 is firmly grasped by the hind legs. In this position 

 it so precisely resembles a withered twig, that even an 

 experienced collector has frequently to touch the larva 

 in order to satisfy himself whether it is a bit of stick 

 or not. The full-fed larva is about two inches long, 

 brown, with yellowish spots, and with two small humps 

 on the penultimate segment. It then buries itself in 

 the ground, and there undergoes its change to the pupa 

 state ; and at the end of April or beginning of May, the 

 pupa forces its way to the surface of the earth, and the 

 pupa-skin cracking, the moth creeps out, and proceeds 

 to expand and dry its wings. We may often see it 

 sitting on palings and trunks of trees, and it is particu- 

 larly plentiful in the gardens of the London squares. 



Let us now glance at the transformations of Ephyra 

 prndularia. The eggs are deposited by the parent moth 

 in August on the twigs of birch-trees ; these soon hatch, 

 and the small looping larvae which come from them pro- 

 ceed to feed on the birch-leaves. The larva grows 

 rapidly, and in about a month's time is full fed ; it is 

 rather variable in colour, smooth, with the head slightly 

 bifid. It does not enter the ground or spin a cocoon, 

 but fastens its anal prolegs to some silk which it spins 

 on a twig of birch, and passes a silken girdle round its 

 body, and then changes to a pupa, which thus resembles 

 in its habits the pupa of the common White Butterfly. 

 It remains thus all through the winter, and in the 

 following month of May the pupa-skin cracks, and the 

 moth creeps out and proceeds to expand and dry its 

 wings. 



Next let us consider the transformations of the large 



