BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS IN AUTUMN 63 



thorns and the sallow. But these cannot be claimed confi- 

 dently as examples of special protective colouring, for an 

 equally autumnal-looking series could be picked from most 

 groups of moths in spring and summer. On windy days in 

 October the threshing beech boughs often send forth large 

 numbers of mottled umber moths a small species of the 

 frail-built geometer tribe, with upper wings freckled and 

 banded with brown, and under wings of pale freckled grey. 

 This rather dull-looking little moth is chiefly interesting 

 because it is an old friend in a new shape. It is bred from 

 the thin reddish * looper ' caterpillar with buff or yellow marks 

 along the side, which is always plentiful on trees in May and 

 early June, and is excessively abundant in dry springs. 

 From June to October it has been a chrysalis; and now it 

 reappears in its final form to lay eggs and produce small 

 caterpillars which will sleep through the winter. The umber 

 moths which flutter from the beech boughs are the males ; 

 the females are wingless, like those of most moths which 

 emerge in the stormy autumn and winter months. 



Little is seen of the perfect moths and butterflies as they 

 go into hibernation, except when the herald or the peacock 

 is found resting inside some building. But the descent of 

 many kinds of caterpillars from these trees to the earth is a 

 characteristic feature of the September days. When the 

 first curled leaves of the elm and lime begin to drift down on 

 the dry surface of the lanes, the larvae of the lime hawk moth 

 come down to turn to pupae in the earth. They are often 

 commoner on the elm then on the lime. The full-fed cater- 

 pillar can be seen crawling down the trunk of the tree, or 

 creeping slowly across the road to find loose earth in which 

 to burrow. Its resemblance to the curled autumn leaves is 

 very remarkable, especially to those of the elm. Both lie on 

 the surface of the road as yellowish-green cylinders, about two 



