488 INSECTS AT HOME. 



picking out any other specimens that belong to the same species. 

 Half his task is now over, and he is able in a comparatively 

 short time to detect in the other Moths those distinctions which 

 his predecessors have already noticed, and by means of which 

 their species is ascertained. In fact, just as the above-men- 

 tioned shepherd learns to know by sight, and even by name, 

 every member of a large flock of sheep, which to the eye of a 

 stranger are exactly alike, so does the entomologist gain the 

 power of seeing at once the differences that exist in insect? 

 which to an unaccustomed eye seem to have no marks of dis- 

 tinction at all. 



One example of the Deltoides will be sufiBcient for our present 

 purpose, and we will select the Banded SiiOJJT {Hi/pena rodralis), 

 which is represented in the central figure of Woodcut LVI. 



This is one of the Moths which have received the popular 

 name of Snouts on account of the extremely elongated palpi, 

 which project in front of the head so as to look very much like 

 a proboscis. The antennae of these insects are simple in the 

 females and tufted in the males ; their bodies are slender and 

 furnished with a tuft on the first segment. 



The present species has the upper wings of a yellowish-brown, 

 crossed with a dark, grey-edged band. It is a common Moth, 

 and one of the earliest to appear in spring. The caterpillar is 

 long and slender, hairy, and when full-fed spins a silken web 

 among leaves and then changes into a long and slender pupa, 

 having the head portion much elongated in order to contain 

 the 'snout' or elongated palpi. There are three species be- 

 longing to this genus, one of which, called par excellence The 

 Snout {Ilypena prohoscidalis), has the upper wings boldly 

 hooked at the tips ; and another, called, by a remarkable 

 collocation of words, the Beautiful Snout {Hypena crassalis), 

 has the upper wings dark brown, with a patch of creamy white 

 at the base, and a rather paler border, in which are a number of 

 little black spots, each surrounded by a ring of cream-white. 



The largest and the finest species, named The Snout, is drawn 

 on Plate XVII. Fig. 1. It may at once be recognised by the 

 peculiarity which has already been mentioned, namely, the 

 bold, hooked tips of the upper wings. Their colour is yellow- 

 ish-brown, and the markings are dark-brown. The lower wings 



