vm] THE LIFE-STORY AND THE SEASONS 97 



they have just emerged, the cocoons being attached 

 to the branches of the trees where the caterpillars 

 have fed. After pairing, the female lays her eggs 

 among the silk of the cocoon, partly covering them 

 with hairs shed from her body, and then dies. The 

 eggs thus protected remain through the winter, the 

 larvae not being hatched till springtide, when the 

 young leaves begin to sprout forth. The caterpillars, 

 adorned and probably protected by their ' tussocks' 

 of black or coloured bristles, feed vigorously. Their 

 activity and habit of occasional migration from one 

 tree to another, compensates, to some extent, as 

 Miall (1908) has pointed out, for the females' enforced 

 passivity ; only in the larval state can moths with 

 such wingless females extend their range. The cater- 

 pillars spin their cocoons towards the end of summer, 

 and then pupate, the moths emerging in the autumn 

 and the eggs, as we have seen, furnishing the winter 

 stage. 



After midsummer, the conspicuous cream, black 

 and yellow-spotted ' Magpie ' moth (Abraxas grossu- 

 lariata) is common in gardens. The female lays her 

 eggs on a variety of shrubby plants ; gooseberry and 

 currant bushes are often chosen. From the eggs 

 caterpillars are hatched in autumn, but these, instead 

 of beginning to feed, seek almost at once for rolled- 

 up leaves, cracks in walls, crannies of bark, or similar 

 places, which may afford winter shelters. Here they 



c. i. 7 



