NOCTUIDJE ; GEOMETRIC ; TORTRICID.E. 



183 



Pl. 610. ABRAXAS GKOSSULARIATA. 



the large sombre-coloured night-flying Lepidopterous insects ; 

 it includes 400 British species, which bear a very strong re- 

 semblance to each other. The family GEOMETRID.E, so named 

 from the peculiar mode of progression of its Caterpillars ( 768), 

 is nearly allied to the preceding ; \>ut the moths it includes are less 

 exclusively nocturnal, and are more brightly coloured. To this 



family belongs the com- 

 mon Magpie Moth (Fig. 

 510), whose larva and 

 pupa have been already 

 represented (Fig. 497) ; 

 also the Swallow-tailed 

 Moth, and many other 

 well-known species. The 

 TORTRICIDJE constitute a 



numerous group, composed of minute and usually dull-coloured 

 Moths, whose larvae are ex- 

 tremely destructive to vege- 

 tation. One of these, known 

 as the Codling Moth, is one 

 of the most destructive ene- 

 mies to the Apple crops of this 

 country ; laying its eggs in 

 ijie eyes of the newly-formed 

 fruit, within which the larva 

 feeds, its presence being only- 

 indicated by the premature 

 falling off of the fruit. 

 Another species does great 

 damage to our apricot trees 

 in the early spring, by tying 

 the young shoots together 



with threads, so firmly that no. 511 TORTMX vms. 



their growth is stopped, and 

 by devouring the young 



blossom-buds. Another species (Fig. 400) feeds upon the Oak, 

 which in certain years it totally strips of its foliage : its numbers 



