272 COMMON BRITISH MOTHS 



Plate XII, and the female may be distinguished from it by her 

 simple antennae and larger body. 



The caterpillar is coloured with alternate bands of dark purple 

 brown and reddish brown. There is a yellow band on the front of 

 the second segment, a row of yellow spots on each side, and two 

 little bright yellow warts on the back of each segment. It feeds by 

 night on lime (Tilia vulgaris), elm (Ulinus campestris), and 

 various fruit trees, and often appears in such numbers that the 

 foliage is almost completely devoured. During the daytime it may 

 be seen resting on lihe bark, almost invariably fixed longitudinally 

 on the trunk, where it looks like a natural ridge of the bark which 

 it so closely resembles in colour. It may be found in June and 

 July, and in August it changes to a chrysalis at the foot of its tree, 

 just below the surface of the soil. 



The Peppered Moth (Amphidasys betularia) 



Although this common species displays no bright tints, yet it is 

 prettily marked, its whitish wings being peppered and blotched all 

 over with black or very dark brown. It flies in May and June, 



later than any other species 

 of the family, and may gene- 

 rally be found on fences and 

 tree trunks during the day. 

 The colour of the cater- 

 pillar is very variable drab, 

 grey, green, or brown ; but 

 it may be known by the 

 FIG. 179.- THE PEPPERED MOTH. ^ ee p notc h m t h e middle of 



the head, and the arrange- 

 ment of its ' humps.' These latter are only small reddish or whitish 

 projections, of which there is one on each side of the fifth, sixth, 

 seventh, eighth, tenth, and eleventh segments; also two on the 

 back of the ninth and twelfth. It feeds in August and September 

 on a large number of trees, including, in fact, nearly all our com- 

 monest forest and fruit trees. In September it enters the soil to 

 undergo its change to the chrysalis. 



Family BOARMIIDJE 



In the next family Boarmiidce there are about twenty British 

 members, most of which are very pretty moths. They differ 

 generally from the last family in that their bodies are more slender, 



