H4 



INSECTS. 



same colour. The antennae are pectinate in the males, and simple in the female ; 

 while the hind-wings are dull white, with darker margin. The larva is brown, 

 streaked and spotted with black and rosy brown, with a pale stripe along the 

 sides, and four others, more interrupted, along the back. It feeds on the various 

 kinds of grasses in April and May, while the perfect insect appears on the wing in 

 the early part of September. Figures of this European species are given below. 

 The next form for notice is the so-called antler-moth (Charccas graminis), which 



2 



1, THE FEATHERED GOTHIC, WITH LARVA ; 2, ANGLE-SHADES J 3, THE ANTLER MOTH. 



is probably one of the most destructive species in Britain, when, under the 

 influence of a favourable season, the larvae appear in very great numbers. The 

 larvae feed upon the roots of grasses, and it is no uncommon thing for whole 

 districts of pasture-land to become brown and withered, owing to their attacks. 

 The perfect insect appears on the wing in August and September. A figure 

 of this moth is given above. 



The Loopers, — Family GeometriDsE. 



The moths belonging to this group resemble in many respects the butterflies, 

 having large, ample wings, a small head, and a narrow elongate body. The antennae 

 are not, however, clubbed ; those of many of the males being pectinated. The palpi 

 protrude only slightly, the proboscis is present in different degrees of development, 

 while the head bears no ocelli on the top. When at rest, the majority of these 

 moths carry their delicate wings slightly expanded, or closed over their bodies, 

 like the roof of a house, sloping from the centre on either side. They are semi- 

 nocturnal in their habits, appearing at dusk, and lying concealed during the day 

 in bushes, trees, and herbage, whence they may be easily driven by beating the 

 foliage. The larvae differ very decidedly from those of the other families, several 

 pairs of the pro-legs being wanting, so that locomotion is possible only by alternately 

 advancing the front and hinder segments, the central portion of the body being 

 thus raised in the form of a loop. The pupae are sometimes, as in the butterflies, 

 encircled with a silken thread, but the majority spin together a few leaves, 

 and change within the receptacle thus formed, or burrow into the earth amongst 

 dead leaves and moss. Of the first subfamily {Boarmiince) we select as a 

 representative the handsome pepper-moth (Biston betularia), which is one of the 

 largest of the European geometers, and resembles members of the family Bombycidce 

 in the possession of a stout abdomen. The form of the larva, however, is 



