THE DAY OF THE MOTH 99 



tion by remaining perfectly motionless. This instinct is 

 common to many wild creatures, which are often regarded as 

 'shamming dead.' But it is doubtful whether there is often 

 any definite imitation whether conscious or instinctive of a 

 dead body ; more probably the effectiveness of the device is 

 simply due to the concealment afforded by motionlessness and 

 the absence of any movement which might excite hostility. 

 While some moths lie comically supine, with their legs 

 retracted, others on falling to earth waste no time in racing 

 into cover. The large yellow underwing moths of several 

 kinds and the turnip moths and several of their kindred are 

 great runners, and are built accordingly. They have large 

 muscular legs which lift them well off the ground, while their 

 bodies and folded wings form a compact flat slip which 

 presents as little resistance as possible to the grass and 

 undergrowth. When disturbed by day, the common large 

 yellow underwing darts into cover with amusing speed and 

 cleverness ; and once these running moths have fallen to the 

 ground by night they vanish almost instantly. 



Creeping insects are instinctively repugnant to humanity, 

 and there is more attraction about the gauzy and slender-bodied 

 geometer moths, many of which are also to be found feeding 

 on flowers. Some of them fold their wings upright over 

 their backs like a butterfly, when they settle on a flower; 

 and this habit, which is sometimes wrongly stated to be 

 peculiar to the butterflies, has at least a clean and butterfly- 

 like air. The geometers are on the whole much lighter in 

 colour, as well as in build, than the noctuse or owl moths, 

 which country people call by the expressive name of 

 ' buzzards ' ; and, like the whiter flowers, they give freshness 

 to the summer night. The sulphur moth flits yellow through 

 the dusk, outstripped by the paler and much larger swallow- 

 tail moth, which dances like a will-o'-the-wisp down the 



