CHAPTER VIII. 



MEAL AND TABBY MOTHS. 



WE may occasionally see perched here and there about 

 our houses, especially in the kitchen regions, little tri- 

 angular moths, of a considerably more robust build than 

 the insignificant little marauders referred to in our last 

 chapter, but still of no very great size. They are 

 members of that exceedingly curious group of moths 

 called the " Pyrales," a group not very largely repre- 

 sented in the British Isles ; several of the species, 

 however, are amongst our very commonest insects. All 

 the members of this section have the fore-wings rather 

 narrow, but the hind pair broad and ample ; the latter 

 have to be folded lengthwise when closed, in order to 

 allow the narrower fore-pair to cover them, and so, by 

 the close apposition of their edges, to give the insect, 

 when it takes up its position of rest, the shape of an 

 isosceles triangle. The body is narrow, rather long, and 

 tapering almost to a point a characteristic which at 

 once distinguishes this group from the common Noctuse, 

 or full-bodied moths ; the legs, too, are long and slender, 

 and the antennae are usually delicate and thread-like. 

 In many cases the wings are very shiny, and even 

 iridescent, and one family, in consequence of their deli- 

 cate pearly lustre, are popularly called the " Pearls." 

 Some of the Pyrales are exceedingly handsome in colora- 

 tion, being resplendent with crimson and golden yellow, 



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