438 INSECTS AT HOME. 



on accourt of the bold cream and black markings of its upper 

 wiuo-s. The lower wings are red, with some large black spots 

 glossed with blue. The body is red, barred with black. This is a 

 most variable insect, the number, size, shape, and tint differing 

 in a most bewildering manner. But however variable it may- 

 be, there is never any possibility of mistaking it. 



It is one of the commonest of British insects, and towards 

 the end of summer the Moth is quite plentiful. It is wonder- 

 fully quick of foot, and, as it runs with closed wings among the 

 herbage, has a most curious resemblance to a small mouse. 



The larva is covered with long, brown, stiff hairs, and is 

 popularly known by the name of the Woolly Bear. It feeds 

 principally on the common dead nettle, but is not in the least 

 particular as to its food, and, being very hardy, is an admirable 

 subject for experiments in Moth-breeding. Personally I have 

 a sort of respect for this larva, as being the first caterpillar that 

 I ever dissected, and consequently the first creature that let me 

 into the secrets of insect anatomy. ■ When full-fed, the cater- 

 pillar spins a slight hammock, woven so loosely that the form 

 of the enclosed pupa can be seen through its meshes, and in 

 this hammock it remains until the perfect insect is developed. 



Passing by one or two well-known insects for which we have 

 no space, such as the Ermines, the Brown-tail, the Grolden-tail, 

 the Gipsy, we come to the Black Arches {Lii^aris monacha), the 

 female of which is shown on Woodcut XLVII. Fig. 2. In the 

 whole of this family white is the prevailing colour, if colour it 

 can be termed, though in several instances the female is nearly 

 white, while the male has some more pronounced hue. In the 

 preliminary stages of existence, not only the larvse but the 

 pupge are covered with hair. 



The Black Arches Moth derives its popular name from the 

 peculiar colouring of the wings. The upper wings are white, 

 and covered with a vast number of black, arch-like marks, 

 rather variable in size. In some specimens, for example, the 

 markings are quite narrow, and look as if they had been drawn 

 with a very fine camel's-hair brush on a satiny-white ground. 

 In others, the marks are so broad that black seems to be the 

 prevailing colour, and that the title of White Arches would be 

 really the most appropriate one. The male is much smaller 



