HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS 



49 



the "garden tiger," for, as I have shown 

 above, the " garden tiger " is a moth 



«Mf#' 



A PAIR OF THE COMMON TIGER MOTHS. 

 The upper one is the male. 



and not a butterfly (note its pointed 

 feelers). The Tiger Moth and Tortoise- 

 shell Butterfly are very different in 

 habit. The moth is a night-flying 

 insect, while the butterfly is a creature 

 of the sunlight. The " woolly bear " 

 hibernates through the winter, like 

 the larva of the Drinker Moth, but the 

 beautiful Tortoise-shell Butterfly, frail 

 though it may seem, is hardy enough to 

 live through the 

 rains and frosts of 

 winter as a perfect 

 butterfly, hiding 

 away in the roofs 

 of barns and out- 

 houses, and similar 

 places ; and this 

 is why it is one of 

 the first butterflies 

 to make its ap- 

 pearance in the 

 spring ; indeed, a 

 warm sunny day 

 in winter will often 

 tempt it to stretch 

 its wings. One in- 

 dividual specimen 

 that came under 

 my notice took up 

 its winter quarters 

 in the roof area of 

 a country church, 



7 



and on several Sunday mornings during 

 service took exercise, much to the amuse- 

 ment of the congregation. After it had ap- 

 j)cared several times, it was suggested to 

 me by a worthy member of the congrega- 

 tion that it must be the music that it liked, 

 as it appeared to fly only on Sunday 

 mornings. Personally I rather doubt the 

 accuracy of that suggestion. It was much 

 more likely that the butterfly appreciated 

 the increased temperature of the building 

 (luring service hours — even though the 

 music may have been of the highest 

 quality. 



It is clear then that the various insects 

 spend the winter very differently. Later, 

 we shall find that other insects winter in 

 the chrysalis stage, and still others as 

 tiny eggs. In the illustration on page 50 

 are shown two other cater jm liars that have 

 lived through the winter. You may at first 

 have a little difficult}- in distinguishing 

 the caterpillars, although they are con- 

 spicuous enough as they stand on the bare 

 elder twig. These caterpillars are so 

 stick-like that, although they are over 

 two inches in length, they are quite 

 unnoticeable. They are holding on only 

 b}' their tail claspers, and form an angle 

 with the branch just as do the twigs. The 

 mimicry of the twig here is perfect ; 

 for hours at a time these caterpillars will 

 maintain these quaint stick-like attitudes. 



SMALL TOKTOISE-SHELL BUTTERFLY. 



