THE TTNEINA. 333 



measuring not more than a quarter of an inch across 

 the wings ; but even amongst these little creatures we 

 meet with a delicacy and sometimes a brilliancy of 

 colours, for which we may look in vain in some of 

 the larger tribes. Most of the larger species, how- 

 ever, are very dingy in their appearance, and in one 

 or two of them the females are provided only with 

 rudimentary wings. 



The larvje are for the most part furnished with 

 sixteen feet, although many of them have only four- 

 teen, and they undergo their change to the pupa state 

 sometimes within the leaves on which they have been 

 feeding, sometimes attached to the stem or some 

 other part of the same plant, and sometimes, quitting 

 the neighbourhood of their food altogether, spin their 

 little cocoons either amongst dead leaves on the 

 ground, or in the sheltered crevices of the trunks of 

 trees, buildings, &c. The perfect insects generally 

 fly in the evening and morning, and remain during 

 the day reposing upon the stems or amongst the 

 foliage of trees and plants, on old posts, palings, &c. 

 Their attitudes under these circumstances are very 

 various and sometimes singular : some of them seem 

 only to lie as close as possible to the object on which 

 they are sitting, but others place themselves in a 

 more or less oblique attitude, sometimes elevating the 

 head considerably, and sometimes raising the opposite 

 extremity of the body ; in fact, one of the latter spe- 

 cies (the (Ecophora unitelld) seems to have as great a 

 fancy for a reversed position, as those young members 

 of the mob who used a few years ago to be seen con- 

 stantly in the streets, standing on their heads in pairs 

 upon the pavement, and singing most melancholy duets. 



From the great variety in the habits of these insects 



Q5 



