160 SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



THE MAGPIE MOTH. 



We have here an insect, the magpie or currant moth, 

 common in gardens in the months of July and August. 

 Let us begin our study by gratifying for a little our 

 aesthetic sense. As our lesson proceeds we shall become 

 familiar with the details of its external bodily structure ; 

 meantime let us note the short somewhat blunt body, the 

 large wings outspread as the creature rests, the slender 



feelers, poised with 

 slightly incurved tip 

 in front of the head. 

 Let us draw the moth 

 in outline (Fig. 59). 



In colour the moth 

 is extremely pretty, 

 exhibiting creamy 

 white, black, and 

 orange colours. As 

 we look over a num- 

 ber of examples we 

 discover these colours 

 are constant, charac- 

 teristic of this creature. We also find a general arrange- 

 ment of colour giving a definite pattern, variable in detail, 

 yet conforming to a type. Let each pupil guided by the 

 teacher now write out a description of the colour arrange- 

 ment of the wings and body. 



Commencing with the fore wings, we note a ground 

 colour of creamy white. Around the posterior margin 

 there is a row of black semi-lunar or oval spots ; a little 

 way in front of this a double row of closely set larger 

 spots, also black, sometimes confluent, undulating in a 

 double curve ; the space between the two halves of the row 

 is orange in colour. In front of this the markings are less 

 regularly arranged, but about the middle of the anterior 

 border of the wing a triangular black patch occurs followed 

 across the wing by three or more black spots. At the 



Fig. 59. The Magpie Moth (Abraxas 

 grossulariatd). 



