PROMINENTS. 245 



hatched, the little caterpillars belonging to each brood 

 remain together, and feed on the upper surface of the 

 leaf. After their first change of skin, they break up 

 into six or seven small companies, and each company 

 remains together until the change into the pupal state 

 is at hand. As they become larger they make their 

 way to the topmost branches, where they work great 

 havoc among the leaves, often leaving bough after 

 bough completely denuded of foliage. 



The colour of the caterpillar is yellow, covered 

 with a number of short longitudinal black bars 

 arranged in nine rows. The pupa is remarkable for 

 the doubly forked apparatus at the end of the tail. 



NEXT comes a family of Moths called Notodontidae, 

 or Tooth-backs, because the backs or inner margins 

 of the upper wings are toothed, or have elevated- 

 portions along the inner margins, from which they 

 derive the popular na"me of Prominents. As an 

 example of these Moths we will take the IRON 

 PROMINENT (Notodonfa dromedarius), the male of 

 which is shown beneath. 



The colouring of this insect is very simple. The 

 ground hue is brown, with a slight purplish tinge, 

 upon which is a broad 

 rust-red streak and two 

 small pale bars, ar- 

 ranged as seen in the 

 illustration. The out- 

 lines of all the markings 

 are vague and indistinct, Xotodonta dromedariu 



and there is considerable variation in different indivi- 



