274 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



omits the aspirate in the Greek, the English repre- 

 sentative of which is the letter H. 



It is impossible to mistake the Little Ermine, whose 

 long, narrow, satiny white upper wings, sprinkled with 

 black dots, render it exceedingly conspicuous. The 

 destruction wrought by this little insect is almost in- 

 credible, whole trees being stripped of their foliage, 

 and, instead of bearing leaves, covered with the white 

 webs and strong threads of the caterpillars. Even in 

 the midst of London, in the densest, smokiest, dingiest 

 part of Bermondsey, I have seen this Moth in full force. 

 It was simply master of the situation. The little 

 square yard which did duty for a garden was overrun 

 with the caterpillars, which stretched their tough 

 silken cables across the yard, across the windows, 

 across the doorways, across the path, and, in fact, seemed 

 to have calculated how they could most annoy the 

 legitimate proprietors of the place. 



Not content with taking possession of the tiny 

 garden, they invaded the houses around, and every 

 window that was opened \vas at once stormed by the 

 caterpillars, which entered the rooms, crawled over the 

 furniture, trailed their silken lines over everything in 

 the room, and really made the inhabitants of the houses 

 quite afraid to admit the little air that ever stirs in 

 such localities. Yet, in the midst of all the smoke, 

 the dust, the ' blacks/ and the other adjuncts of the 

 neighbourhood, the little Moths fluttered about with 

 \vings as purely white as if they had never come within 

 twenty miles of a chimney. 



WE must not pass over without notice the lovely 



