124 INSECTS LEPIDOPTERA DIAGRAM 6 



t heir case ; and for this purpose, they rip it up, and add a new 

 piece. If they have changed the cloth, if, for instance, they 

 lived first on black cloth, and are now living on red cloth, the 

 piece added to their case will be red, and the rest black. 



There is another insect belonging to the same family, the 

 Sypenomeuta or small ermine moth, which is sometimes as 

 destructive to our hedges as the 

 gold-tail moth of which we have 

 spoken already. We sometimes see 

 the hedges in summer almost stripped 

 of their leaves, covered with a slender 

 whitish web, and swarming with little 

 Small ermine moth. whitish or greyish moths, covered with 

 black dots. These are the moths produced by the caterpillars 

 which have caused the mischief. They are also to be met with 

 feeding on apple-trees and other plants, especially the spindle- 

 tree, which is liable to the attacks of several species. 



The larvae of the Noctuse live on the leaves of various plants. 

 Some few live just beneath the surface of the ground, and do 

 great harm by devouring the roots of plants. The fore-wings 

 of the moths of this group are generally of some shade of grey 

 or brown, and the hind wings are paler. 



The Sphinges or Hawk Moths are large moths which only fly 

 at dusk, and are therefore sometimes called crepuscular Lepidoptera. 

 In the evening, the hawk-moths come buzzing over flowers, and 

 extract the honey from them with their proboscis. One of the 

 largest has a yellow pattern on its corslet with two black spots, 

 which have a slight resemblance to a skull. It is therefore 

 called the Death's Head Hawk-moth, but the resemblance is 

 certainly not very great, and we must look carefully for it to 

 notice any at all. This species is rarely noticed on the wing; it 

 is remarkable for its power of squeaking, and for its habit of 

 sometimes entering beehives to steal the honey. Its larva is as 

 thick and long as the finger, and is often met with in potatoe- 

 fields. 



