232 NOVEMBER 



growth. No bird would want to eat an object 

 which appears to be merely a piece of vegetable 

 fungus. But the moth has a pair of bright eyes, 

 which would betray its identity and its fitness for 

 food to the enemy, and to render it quite secure 

 these eyes must be hidden. So at periods of rest 

 it covers up the tell-tale orbits with a tuft of hair 

 which springs from beneath the antennae, and when 

 spring comes and the moth is ready to fly again it 

 can bring the antennae forward to shake the tufts 

 from before the eyes. So it is enabled to pass the 

 time of danger, when its natural adversaries are 

 hungry, in perfect safety ; and in the spring there 

 are millions of other insects which the birds may 

 prefer, so that it may live to die a natural death 

 probably in May or June. 



" Now do use your own eyes for once," said 

 Petunia in her uncomfortable, rather blatant man- 

 ner, as she stopped before a bare stretch of hedge 

 on our way home and put on her professorial 

 appearance. 



It was easy enough to see a round brown case 

 about the size of a thimble, but without any open- 

 ing for the finger. It was hidden away among the 

 twigs which formed the hedge, and adhered to one 

 of these twigs quite closely. It was evidently the 

 home of some insect, and he had contrived it so 

 cleverly that it would have been cruel to disturb 

 him in his fancied security. It was quite a common 

 insect, Petunia said, with the simple little name of 

 Trichiosoma tenthredion. 



" I once took a similar little house home with 

 me," she said, " and asked a learned entomologist 



