470 INSECTS AT HOME. 



w ithout the least protection, and emerging in the perfect state 

 in the early summer of the following year. Piipye so exposed 

 are naturally liable to destruction. Uncounted thousands are 

 eaten by birds, and, indeed, were it not for the destruction that 

 awaits the larger proportion of the larvae as they travel in 

 search of resting-places, and the havoc that is made among 

 them in the pupal state, their armies would be so enormous 

 that scarcely a forest tree would survive their ravages. 



The colour of the caterpillar is yellow, covered with a 

 number of short longitudinal black bars arranged in nine rows, 

 as seen at Woodcut XLVII. Fig. a. The pupa is remarkable 

 for the doubly forked apparatus at the end of the tail. 



Next comes a family of Moths called Notodontidse, or Tooth- 

 backs, because the backs or inner margins of the upper wings 

 are toothed, or have elevated portions along the inner margins, 

 from which they derive the popular name of Prominents. As 

 an example of these Moths we will take the Iron Prominent 

 {Xotodenta dromedarius), the male of which is shown on 

 Woodcut LIL Fig. 3. 



The colouring of this insect is very simple. The groimd hue 

 is brown, with a slight purplish tinge, upon which is a broad 

 rust-red streak and two small pale bars, arranged as seen in the 

 illustration. The outlines of all the markings are vague and 

 indistinct, and there is considerable variation in different 

 individuals. The lower wings are greyish brown, with a dark 

 spot on the disc, and two pale and ill-defined bars. 



The caterpillar, although not so bizarre in appearance as that 

 of the Lobster Moth, is yet a very quaint and odd-looking 

 creature. A portrait of this lai-va is given at Fig. b on the same 

 Woodcut. As may be seen by reference to the figure, the head 

 is comparatively large, and the second and third segments are 

 so small as to form a sort of neck. From the fifth to the ninth 

 segments the back is humped. The colour is rather pretty, 

 being green more or less tinged with yellow, and marked with 

 a very deep purple-brown. There are other markings, but the 

 shape of the larva is so peculiar that miuute detail is not 

 needed for its identification. 



This caterpillar may be found on the birch, where it remains 

 until full-fed, an event which takes place somewhere alx.ut the 



