BRITISH BUTTERFLIES 



ground, which, as has been adverted to, is of very 

 limited area. The caterpillar is dull yellowish with 

 pink markings, and it feeds on the leaves of sorrel. 



The Clear wings, which, from their superficial resem- 

 blance to some species of Hawk Moths with transpar- 

 ent wings, were up to quite recent times associated in 

 classification with the Sphinges, are for the most part 

 only obtained in the winged state on bright sunny days. 

 Fourteen species are found in Britain, and the two larg- 

 est of these bear a strong likeness to hornets and wasps. 

 These Hornet Clearwings, as they are called, are rather 

 sedentary in habit, and are most often seen sitting on 

 the leaves and boles of poplars and osiers, in the stems, 

 trunks and roots of which their caterpillars were 

 nourished. The other ten members of the group are 

 individually less in size, but they also resemble species 

 of Hymenoptera, to which order hornets, wasps and 

 bees belong. They delight in resting on leaves to bask 

 in the sunshine, and at such times they seem to offer 

 the collector an easy chance of annexing them ; but 

 when the sun shines the listlessness is in seeming only 

 and not in fact. The Clearwing Moth is very much 

 awake, and exceedingly nimble withal. Perhaps the 

 best known, certainly the most generally distributed, 

 species is the Currant Clearwing. In spite of its fairy- 

 like appearance it is capable of doing considerable 

 damage when it once succeeds in establishing itself in a 



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