FIVE-SPOT AND SIX-SPOT BURNETS 



are coloured more like the greenwood fastness. These 

 are social creatures as, where one is found, another is 

 almost bound to follow. At least one British species of 

 Burnet Moth has transparent wings (Z. purpuralis)^ 

 although the rare Scotch or Mountain Burnet (Z. exulatis) 

 is almost equally entitled to be thus regarded. The 

 Five-Spot, as its popular name indicates, has five spots 

 of red on the greenish forewings, with red hindwings 

 bordered with green. The moth has a dark body, and, 

 prominent black antennae. It rests in a very careless, 

 devil-may-care way on grass-blades, and may be picked 

 off without any attempt being made on its part to escape. 

 It haunts grassy places where the soil is damp, with the 

 proviso that the pretty wild trefoil {Lotus cor?nadatus), 

 or some kind of clover, is at hand ready for the larva to 

 feed upon. The larva is greenish in colour, marked with 

 black on the back and sides. It feeds for several months, 

 and, on occasions, actually attains its second year's 

 birthday before the life-cycle is complete. The pupa is 

 enclosed in a straw-coloured cocoon attached to grasses, 

 and if, as sometimes happens, the observer strikes the 

 right time for emergence, a very wonderful sight will be 

 presented. 



Six-Spot Burnet. — (Zygatia filipendulce.) Except that 

 it has six red spots on each of the forewings, this species 

 (see Frontispiece) closely resembles its five-spot cousin, 

 and is the commoner of the two. As with the last- 

 named, a beautiful variety, having yellow instead of 

 red exists, and in still another form the red spots on the 

 forewings all run into one another, and thus make a 



complete pattern of themselves. That certain kinds of 



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