NATURAL HISTORY. 



SPHECIA HEMliECIFOUMIS. 



ZYG^ENA FILIPENDULJE. 



have steel-blue or greenish fore wings, spotted or streaked with bright red, and the hind wings are of 

 the same colour, which, however, is occasionally liable to be replaced by yellow, as an accidental 

 variation. The yellowish cocoon is often met with attached to the stems of grass, &c. Many of the East 



Indian species of this family have transparent spots on the fore wings, 

 and some of the South American species are completely transparent. 



The family Chalcosiidce is allied to the last, but the species are larger 

 and adorned with very bright colours. They fly by day, and some species 

 resemble Papttio in shape and colour, while others might be mistaken for 

 Euplo&a. The antennae, however, are generally simple, and are always 

 unmistakably those of a Moth. These species are East Indian. 



The Lit/tosiidce, or Footmen, are a group of Moths with simple 

 .antennae, rather narrow fore wings, and broad hind wings, which are folded beneath when at rest. 

 In the net they usually simulate death. The fore wings are generally grey, with the costa yellow, and 

 the hind wings pale yellowish. The Moths expand about an inch and a 

 quarter, and some species are marked with a few black dots. 



The Arctiidce, or Tiger Moths, are the most beautiful family of Moths 

 found in Europe. The common Tiger Moth may be taken as typical of the 

 group. It measures from two to three inches across the wings, which are 

 black, with interlacing white markings ; the hind wings are red, with large 

 black spots bordered with yellowish. The abdomen is also red, with black 

 markings. The caterpillar is often called " the Woolly Bear," being covered 

 with tufts of long hair, which is black, tipped with white on the back, and reddish-brown on 

 segments 2-4 and on the sides. When disturbed, it rolls itself up into a ball. 



Most of the other species of this family are similarly coloured, having dark fore 

 wings, with white or yellow markings, and red or yellow hind wings, with rovind 

 black spots. But some species are less gaudily coloured, and the White and Buff 

 Ermines (Spilosoma mentkastri and hibricipeda), which are common in gardens, are 

 white or yellowish, with black dots. 



Many of the Liparidcn are white Moths, more or less marked with black. The 

 bodies of the females are thick and tufted at the extremity. This tuft is very con- 

 spicuous in the Gold-tail and Brown-tail Moths (Porthesia chrysorrhoea, and 

 aurifluci). They are white, with or without a black spot near the anal angle of the 

 fore wings, and measure about an inch and a half in expanse. The eggs are laid in 

 a cluster, and covered by the female with down plucked from the tuft with which she 

 is provided for the purpose. The Moths are common on hedges on summer evenings. 

 The male of the Vapourer Moth (Orgyia antiqua) is about the same size, but has 

 broader and shorter wings. It is orange-brown, with a white spot near the hinder angle 

 of the fore wings, and is a most abundant insect, flying everywhere, about bushes, and 

 even in the streets of London, where there are trees in squares or gardens within any 

 reasonable distance. The female has rudimentary wings, and looks something like a spider. The 

 Gipsy Moth is a larger insect, very abundant and destructive on the Continent, but rare in Britain. 

 The male, which expands rather more than an inch and a half, has a slender body and broad wings. 

 The female is white, with a thick body and longer wings, and is very much larger 

 than the male. She is generally found resting on hedges or tree trunks in the 

 day-time, while the male flies rapidly by day, like that of Orgyia antiqua. In 

 most of the Liparidce the antennae are strongly pectinated in the males, and are 

 more simple in the females. 



The Psychidas are a family of small Moths, in which the males expand an. PSYCHE MUXELLA. 

 inch or less, and have uniform blackish or whitish wings, rounded at the ex- 

 tremities. They fly in grassy places by day, and the caterpillars construct movable cases of bits of 

 grass, leaves, &c., not unlike those formed by the larvae of Caddis Flies. In these they change into 

 pupae, and the females of some species never leave them, for the females of all the species are apterous, 

 and in some genera the legs and antennae are undeveloped too. 



COCOON OF 



ZYG^ENA 

 FILIPENDULJE 



