Wild Life in Wales 



hot weather in June the walls often become so dry that a 

 casual observer might well be pardoned for supposing the 

 patches of lichen then literally as dry as dust to be baked 

 beyond all hope of recovery. That a delicate caterpillar 

 should be able to live upon it in such circumstances seems 

 still more unlikely. At such times the creature seems to 

 shut itself up in its chamber, and to cease feeding. If ex- 

 tracted therefrom it is limp and shrivelled, and seems almost 

 past praying for, but the change brought about by a day or 

 so's rain is extraordinary. The lichen swells out and starts 

 to life again, and the caterpillar emerges from its nest, and 

 resumes its ordinary business of "feeding up," as though 

 the drought had caused it not the least inconvenience. 

 Indeed, those situations that are liable to become most sun- 

 baked seem to be its favourite resorts, and, by preference, 

 it seems to choose lichen growing on lime, or some other 

 stone specially susceptible to heat. The moth, when it 

 emerges about the beginning of September, sits with wings 

 closely pressed to the lichen-covered wall, and although it 

 seems to be nowhere a very rare insect, he or she who can 

 then pass it by without stopping every time to admire its 

 modest beauty, and the admirable lesson it has to teach in 

 protective colouring, has certainly small claim to be reckoned 

 as a nature-lover. The larvae of the much less attractive 

 Muslin Moth, Nudaria mundana, likewise feed on wall 

 lichens, but seem generally to prefer damper situations. It 

 is abundant about Llanuwchllyn in outhouses and so forth, 

 but is easily overlooked, as the moth wanders so little from 

 the place where it is hatched. 



