n8 



INSECTS. 



with two or three pale vinous-purple bars. The larva, which is brownish yellow 

 with a pale longitudinal dorsal stripe, feeds on sorrel and docks. 



Snout-Moths, — Family Hypenid^e. 



The snout-moths {Hypena) are intermediate between the Geometridce and 

 Pyrcdidce, bearing characters which ally them to both families and yet exclude 

 them from either. The common snout (H. proboscidalis) is a pale brownish 

 yellow moth, transversely marked with rusty brown ; and is abundant throughout 

 England and the Continent from June to September. H. obsitalis has only once 

 been taken in England. 



Suborder Microlepidoptera. 



The whole of the remaining members of the order are of minute size, and 

 are hence generally indicated by the above name, although it must be understood 

 that many of them are closely allied to some of the foregoing. They are divided 

 into a large number of families — with their subfamilies and genera — of which only 

 a very few can be even mentioned here. Among these the pearls (Pyralidce) are 

 represented by the mother-of-pearl moth (Botys margaritalis), which in June or 



July may be seen in Britain hovering 

 over the fields in the dusk of the 

 evening, where the female lays her 

 ■^ eggs on the seed pods of the flax 

 and other plants. When the cater- 



MOTHER-OF-PEARL MOTH, WITH LARVA (nat. size). 



pillar emerges it spins a few threads 

 between the pods, and bores through 

 their outer shell in order to feed upon 

 the seeds. The moth itself is of a 

 dull sulphur-yellow, with two trans- 

 verse rusty yellow bands, intersected 

 by a rusty brown stripe running obliquely from the tip of the wing. It is common 

 in June and July on the Continent. To the same family belongs the meal -moth 

 (Asopia farinalis), found in abundance in summer wherever corn, meal, or grains 

 are stored in quantities. It rests on the rafters and walls in the daytime, flying at 

 nightfall. The larva feeds on corn, meal, grain bran, etc., and passes its life in 

 concealment in a silken tube, of which the outer side is encrusted with particles of 

 the food-stuffs on which the larva feeds. The larval-state lasts for nearly two 

 years. A figure of this species is given on p. 120. 



The wax-moth (Galleria mellonella) may be taken to illustrate another family 

 — the Tortricidce. This remarkable moth is double-brooded, appearing on the 

 wing in the springtime, and again in July and onwards. The larva feeds in 

 the hives of honey-bees, and, according to some, in the nests of wild-bees as 

 well. The wax, however — not the honey — forms its food-stuff', and through 

 the combs it eats long tunnels which it lines with silk as it goes. It does not 

 seem particularly choice in the matter of diet, and has been successfully reared on 

 heather, woollen-stuffs, dry leaves, paper, etc. In the case of the wax-eaters, the 



