248 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



Most of the pupae of the Noctuas undergo their 

 changes beneath the surface of the ground, and the 

 chrysalids that are found by the collector when 

 ( digging for pupse ' generally belong to this group of 

 insects. 



OUR first example of the Noctuas is the pretty 

 PEACH-BLOSSOM MOTH (Thyatira batis], which is 

 represented in the accompanying illustration. 



This very pretty Moth has received its popular 

 name in consequence of the colouring of the wings. 



The upper pair are olive- 

 brown, decorated with four 

 large and conspicuous spots, 

 the largest being at the base 

 f the- wing, and one smaller 

 Thyatira bads. S p Q ^- on ^Q inner margin. 



These spots are lovely pink in the middle, surrounded 

 with white, and each of them really does bear some 

 resemblance to the petal of a peach-blossom. A few 

 bars of rose-colour cross the brown thorax. The 

 body is brown, and has a small crest on the back of 

 the second, third, and fourth segments. The beautiful 

 pink colour of the spots is very liable to fade, unless 

 the insect be very carefully kept in the dark. The 

 Moth is tolerably common. 



The larva of this insect is a very odd-looking 

 creature. Its colour is warm chestnut-brown mottled 

 with grey, and the surface has a velvety aspect. One 

 peculiarity in this caterpillar is that it seems to make 

 no use either of its true legs or of the claspers at the 

 end of its body, but clings to its food plant by means 



