382 PAINTING OF CATERPILLARS. 



breathing-holes, and finished at the nether extremity by a black 

 and yellow horn. 



Little inferior as respects colour is the garb of the Privet's 

 cousin of the lime-tree. 1 His surtout also is of green, subdued 

 towards the sides, but on the back so vivid as to dim by com- 

 parison the brightness of the newest leaves which open round 

 him. His pervading hue is usually variegated on each side by 

 seven oblique stripes of yellowish-white and crimson, his small 

 mitre-shaped head is edged with white, and his six claws are 

 tinged, like the tips of Aurora's fingers, with rosy red. His 

 horn, or tail, is bright blue, and the whole surface of his body 

 is dotted with regular rows of small tubercles, giving to the 

 skin the appearance of shagreen. 



More common specimens of showy caterpillars are the growth 

 of every garden. Most common of all, the speckled feeders on 

 the cabbage, the striped " lacqueys," and the black and yellow 

 spotted " magpies," which commit their leaf larcenies on the 

 gooseberry and currant. Apropos of spotted caterpillars and 

 gooseberry and currant bushes, we may notice that, frequently 

 besetting the latter, and reducing their leaves to perfect skele- 

 tons, are certain other black-spotted varlets, which we mention 

 here for the sake of noticing that their spots, or dots, which are 

 very shining, are raised above the surface of their greenish- 

 yellow skins, forming thus another sort of shagreen to that which 

 clothes some of the Sphinxes. This ornamental apparel they 

 are accustomed, on their last moult, to exchange for a plain one, 

 " as people," says Reaumur, " when they advance in years, 

 become usually more simple in their dress than when they 

 were young." 



There are few specimens of the flower- like or water-colour 

 painting, if we may so call it, which we are now reviewing, 

 that display more vivid tints, or more elegantly-pencilled 

 patterns, than are sometimes to be found on the bodies of 



1 Smerinthus Tilice. See Vignette to " Insect Movements." 



