GEOMETEES. 



105 



bent, angled, irregular, and beyond the middle ; 

 between them, is a dark spot near the middle of 

 the wing ; the hind wings are rather paler, and 

 have a brown spot near the middle ; all the 

 ings are more or less sprinkled with brown 

 ; this is the more common colouring of 

 tie insect, and is represented in the pre- 

 ceding column, bui is very subject to vary, 

 and is sometimes of a uniform reddish 

 brown, freckled all over with minute dots, 

 as represented in this column ; the wings 

 of the female are so short and small as to 

 be almost invisible. The body is of a 

 wainscot-brown colour, with two very con- 

 spicuous dark spots on the back of each seg- 

 ment. 



The CATERPILLAR, when full-fed, rests in a 

 irved position ; does not tuck in its head, or 

 'eign death, but when disturbed by the ento- 

 lologist or otherwise, falls from its leaf or 

 rig, and hangs by a thread eighteen inches 

 two feet in length, and, thus suspended, 

 swing for hours in the gentle breezes we 

 nnetimes have, at the end of May, after the 

 ist winds have taken their departure. This 

 ispension seems to be sometimes a voluntary 

 and recreational performance, for in passing 

 through the woods I have sometimes seen 

 thousands upon thousands of these beautiful 

 caterpillars thus dangling in mid-air, and not 

 unfrequently swinging themselves into my 

 mouth and eyes. The head is rather large, 

 and not notched on the crown ; the body is 

 uniformly cylindrical, and without humps : 

 the head is without gloss, and brown; the 

 body has a broad dorsal area, of a clear brown 

 colour ; this area is bounded on each side by a 

 very distinct, but narrow, waved, black stripe, 

 and is also adorned with gray markings, 

 which are particularly conspicuous at the 

 interstices of the segments where they 



approach the black boundary stripe ; below the 

 boundary stripe the body is bright yellow ; 

 the spiracles are white, and the region sur- 

 rounding each spiracle brown ; the belly is 

 greenish-yellow ; legs and claspers pale. A. 

 beautiful but very abundant caterpillar. It 

 feeds on hornbeam, whitethorn, blackthorn, 

 hazel, oak, and many other trees, and is full- 

 fed at the middle of Jane, when it changes 

 to a CHRYSALIS on the surface of the earth. 



The MOTH appears in October, and is very 

 common in England and Ireland. (The scien- 

 tific name is Hybernia defoliaria.} 



236. The March Moth (Anisopteryx esscularia). 



236. THE MABCH MOTH. The antennae of 

 the male are pectinated, but not strongly so ; 

 those of the female simple : the wings of the 

 male are ample, those of the female wanting ; 

 the fore wings of the male are rather long and 

 rather pointed, of a dingy brown colour, with 

 a pale zigzag transverse line beyond the 

 middle ; on the inner margin of this line the 

 ground colour of the wing is darker, and near 

 the base of the wing is a shorter transverse 

 line, the outer margin of which is bordered 

 with a darker ground colour ; there is a shorter, 

 transverse, dark spot between these two lines ; 

 the hind wings are paler, with a dark central 

 spot, and a faint zigzag line just beyond this 

 spot. The wingless female is brown, and has 

 a conspicuous tuft at the extremity of the 

 abdomen. 



The CATERPILLAB feeds on the elm, oak, 

 lime, whitethorn, and blackthorn ; its head and 

 body are of a pale clouded green colour, with 

 a whitish stripe on each side, and a brighter 

 and more distinct pale line in the region of the 

 spiracles. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in April, 

 and is abundant in Great Britain and Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Anisopteryx cescularia.'] 



