THE ALUCITINA. 339 



the trees. The antennae in this and the allied spe- 

 cies are singularly tough, so that the insects may be 

 taken up by them without any danger of breakage, 

 and as the moths, when seized in this way, im- 

 mediately draw their legs together and appear totally 

 paralysed, there is little fear of any other damage. 



The members of the next tribe attract our attention 

 by no such violent attacks upon our property as those 

 of the two preceding groups, but they are nevertheless 

 equally worthy of notice, from their beauty and the 

 singularity of their structure. Hovering over the 

 luxuriant beds of nettles which we may almost every- 

 where meet with in the month of June, and passing 

 from one part of the bed to another with a slow 

 feathery flight, we may often see a small pure white 

 moth, which, in its progress through the air as the 

 shades of evening are closing in upon us, looks more 

 like an animated snow-flake than anything else in 

 nature. Although the largest species of its tribe, 

 this charming little creature only measures about an 

 inch across the wings; its body is slender, its legs 

 long, and its whole surface is covered with scales and 

 hairs of the purest white. But the most singular 

 point about it consists in the structure of the wings, 

 which, instead of being composed of a continuous 

 membrane supported by branched veins, are divided 

 into several branches or fingers, each surrounded by 

 a longish fringe of delicate hairs, so that they closely 

 resemble feathers, and it is entirely by the action of 

 these slight and apparently inefficient organs that the 

 insect is enabled to move through the air, not rapidly 

 indeed, but still with considerable buoyancy. 



