112 OUT OF DOORS. 



fringe of the purest white. Even the body is clothed 

 in snowy down ; and as the White Plume Moth flutters 

 from one spot to another for it never seems to take a 

 long flight it may easily be mistaken for a snow flake 

 floating on the wind. 



The great Hawk Moths now come dashing along, 

 like the birds from whom they derive their name and 

 whom they resemble in no slight degree while on the 

 wing darting towards each flower and drinking its 

 sweet contents by inserting their long trunks into its 

 recesses, while they remain hovering in the air. You 

 need not try to catch them, for the simplest plan to 

 procure the most perfect specimens is by digging in 

 autumn under any tree, wall, private hedge or paling, 

 when you will find plenty of them in their chrysalis 

 state ; and may procure the moths in absolute perfection 

 by keeping them until the succeeding summer, when 

 they will burst from their shells and come forth in their 

 full beauty of unsullied plumage. 



Now the Summer Chaffers and Dor Beetles come 

 out of their retreats, bump against our face, or cling to 

 our clothes, without seeming in the least discomposed 

 by their sudden arrest. The former insect is a dread- 

 fully destructive one, eating the grass-roots while it is 

 a grub, and the trees when it is a perfect insect, and 

 sometimes stripping tree after tree of its foliage. To 

 the meditative saunterer at the evening hour it is an 

 intolerable nuisance, irritating him with its buzzing 

 hum even at his ear, sticking in his hair, dashing across 



