GEOMETEES. 



105 



the second is bent, angled, irregular, and 

 beyond the middle ; between them is a dark 

 spot near the middle of the wing ; the hind 

 wings are rather paler, and have a brown 

 spot near the middle ; all the wings are 

 more or less sprinkled with brown dots ; 

 this is the more common colouring of the 

 insect, and is represented in the preceding 

 column, but is very subject to vary, and is 

 sometimes of a uniform reddish-brown, 

 freckled all over with minute dots, as re- 

 presented in this column ; the wings of the 

 female are so short and small as to be 

 almost invisible. The body is of a wain- 

 scot-brown colour, with two very conspicu- 

 ous dark spots on the back of each seg- 

 ment. 



The CATERPILLAR, when full-fed, rests in 

 a curved position ; does not tuck in its head, 

 or feign death, but when disturbed by the 

 entomologist or otherwise, falls from its 

 leaf or twig, and hangs by a thread eighteen 

 inches or two feet in length, and, thus sus- 

 pended, will swing for hours in the gentle 

 breezes we sometimes have at the end of 

 May after the east winds have taken their 

 departure. This suspension seems to be 

 sometimes a voluntary and recreational per- 

 formance, for in passing through the 

 woods I have sometimes seen thou- 

 sands upon thousands of these beauti- 

 ful caterpillars thus dangling in mid- 

 air, and not unfrequently swinging them- 

 selves into my mouth and eyes. The head 

 is rather large, and not notched on the 

 crown ; the body is uniformly cylindrical, 

 and without humps; the head is without 

 gloss, and brown ; the body has a broad 

 dorsal area, of a clear brown colour ; this 

 area is bounded on each side by a very di&- 

 tinct, but narrow, waved, black stripe, and 

 is also adorned with gray markings, which 

 are particularly conspicuous at the inter- 

 stices of the segments where they approach 



the black boundary stripe ; below the 

 boundary stripe the body is bright yellow ; 

 the spiracles are white, and the region sur- 

 rounding each spiracle brown ; the belly is 

 greenish-yellow ; legs and claspers pale. A 

 beautiful but very abundant caterpillar. It 

 feeds on hornbeam, whitethorn, blackthorn, 

 hazel, oak, and many other trees, and is 

 full-fed at the middle of June, when it 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS on the surface of 

 the earth. 



The MOTH appears in October, and is 

 very common in England and Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Hybernia defoliaria.) 



236. The March Moth (Anisopteryx cescularia). 



236. THE MARCH MOTH. The antennae 

 of the male are pectinated, but not strongly 

 so ; those of the female simple : the wings 

 of the male are ample, those of the female 

 wanting; the fore wings of the male are 

 rather long and rather pointed, of a dingy 

 brown colour, with a pale zigzag transverse 

 line beyond the middle ; on the inner 

 margin of this line the ground colour of the 

 wing is darker, and near the base of the 

 wing is a shorter transverse line, the outer 

 margin of which is bordered with a 

 darker ground colour ; there is a shorter, 

 transverse, dark spot between these two 

 lines ; the hind wings are paler, with a dark 

 central spot, and a faint zigzag line just 

 beyond this spot. The wingless female is 

 brown, and has a conspicuous tuft at the 

 extremity of the abdomen. 



The CATERPILLAR feeds on the elm, oak, 

 lime, whitethorn, and blackthorn ; its head 

 and body are of a pale clouded green colour, 

 with a whitish stripe on each side, and a 

 brighter and more distinct pale line in the 

 region of the spiracles. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in April, 

 and is abundant in Great Britain and Ire- 

 land. (The scientific name is Anisopteryx 

 sescularia.) 



