BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS OF THE GKEEN LANES. 151 



different shape and ornamentation. Those of the 

 common Magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata, Fig. 

 109) an insect that obtains its name from its pied or 

 black and white wings, by which, and its yellow 

 body, it may readily be identified in any garden- 

 are also worthy of study. The necessary minute ob- 

 servation required to discover the places where the 

 lepidoptera deposit their eggs cannot fail to develop 

 in the young student those habits of minute research 



Fig. 106. Fig. 107. 



Egg of Polyommatus corydon. Egg of the Buff Tip Moth. 



and patience without which no man can ever be- 

 come a good naturalist. And in studying them he 

 cannot fail to be struck with the wonderful instinct 

 that has caused such eggs to assume the colour or 

 tint of the object to which they are attached, or 

 admire the wisdom which, in the person of a little 

 butterfly or moth, has contrived to place these 

 future broods where they have the best chance of 

 development ! Nowhere in the entire animal kingdom, 

 perhaps, is the law of mimicry so well exemplified as 



