280 



COMMON BRITISH MOTHS 



FIG. 191. THE CURRANT MOTH. 



taken for a butterfly. The ground colour of the wings is creamy 

 white, with a yellow transverse band, and a yellow blotch at the 

 base ; and the whole surface is more or less blotched with black. 

 From the end of June to August this moth may be seen in 



abundance in our gardens, 

 wherever currant bushes 

 exist, filing about both 

 during the sunshine and 

 at dusk, with rather a 

 heavy movement. 



The caterpillar is 

 white, with a yellow line 

 along the spiracles, and 

 numerous black dots. 

 There are, in addition to 



the dots, two large black blotches on the back of each segment. 

 It feeds during May on currant and gooseberry bushes, also on 

 the blackthorn (Primus spinosa). About the end of Ma}' it spins 

 a light silken cocoon, and changes to a short dumpy chrysalis of 

 a glossy black colour with bright yellow bands (fig. 84). 



Family HYBERNIID^ 



Passing over the family Ligiidce, which contains only one 

 British moth, the Horse-chestnut, we come to the small but 

 interesting family, Hyberniidce. 



Of this we have six species, five of which favour us during the 

 bleakest months of the year. Two of them visit us in October and 

 November, and even remain with us up to Christmas. The others 

 follow closely on them, and may be seen from January to March. 



The males have slender bodies, and their wings are full and 

 without angles ; but the females are either perfectly or nearly 

 wingless. In three cases there is hardly a trace of wings in this sex, 

 so that they look more like spiders than moths. 



The caterpillars are long and slender and without humps, and 

 all feed on the leaves of trees. They change to the chrysalis state 

 under the ground. 



The Spring Usher (Hybernia leucophcearia) 



Early in February, and often even in January, this moth may be 

 seen in abundance in almost every oak wood, sitting on the bark of 



