LEPIDOPTERA. 



101 



able to tell the difference, and then only on a close examination. The wings are 

 transparent, and the body is black, striped and spotted with yellow. The moth 

 has a curious habit, which increases the deception, and renders its likeness to some 

 hostile wasp still more striking. If surprised sitting in the sunshine upon a poplar 

 trunk, the abdomen will be arched upwards, and the tail tapped against the bark 

 with a veritable — to all appearances — stinging movement. The larva burrows in 



(1) HORNET CLEAR-WING, WITH LARVA AND PUPA J (2) GOAT-MOTH, WITH LARVA AND PUPA. (All nat. size.) 



the wood of the poplar, and the pupa-skin may be found half out of one of the 

 galleries when the moth has emerged. The insect is common all through Europe 

 and Northern and Western Asia 



Family Syntomidce. 



The next family, the Tiniageriidce, must be passed over, and a brief reference 

 made to the moths of the family Syntomidce, which introduces uf to the well-known 

 burnets. The Syntomidce include small -moths with broad, triangular, spotted wings, 

 and body extended beyond the hind-wings. The members of this family are very 

 similar in general appearance to the burnets, but differ in the absence of the ocelli. 

 They are widely extended, and take the place of the burnets in the tropics of the 

 Eastern Hemisphere. Among them, the spangled white (Syntomis phegea) is a 

 common moth in some localities on the continent of Europe, with blue-black wings 

 spotted with white, as represented in the illustration on p. 111. The larva is 

 black, thickly clothed with hair, and feeds on the dandelion, while the perfect 

 insect flies, somewhat like the burnets, in the sunshine, and settles upon flower- 

 heads. It is not found in England, though extending through Europe to Northern 

 and Western Asia. 



We may also notice the handmaid moth {Naclia ancilla), a very rare 

 species in England, but not uncommon in the woods of Southern and Central 

 Europe in June and July. Its larva is black, with yellow lines on the back and 

 sides, and it feeds on tree and rock lichens in spring. 



