NOTES ON THE WAVE MOTHS. 



45 



had some similar experiences with members of the genus. The 

 wider question of" Where— " i. e., that of geographical distribu- 

 tion — deserves separate treatment and shall be passed over for 

 the moment. 



Hoiv do the larvae feed ? They are somewhat specialized in 

 their tastes, notwithstanding that I have just denied their 

 specialization to any particular plant. Their peculiarity is that, 

 unlike most caterpillars, they have a strong preference for 

 ivithered or even mouldy food. We may be interested or amused 

 at this apparently unnatural taste ; but let not those of you who 

 have any liking for " high game," or for certain cheeses which I 

 could mention, or even for dried vegetables or fruits, " cast the 

 first stone." P. rusticata likes dead and moiddy leaves, and is 

 suspected of feeding, in a state of nature, on fallen elm, haw- 

 thorn, and other leaves under the hedges in which the moth 

 occurs. P. dimidiata is stated to be " even well pleased with a 

 mouldy slice of turnip ! " P. herhariata, so scarce in England, 

 where it is certainly not indigenous, does not mind how dry its 

 food is ; indeed, the few that have been taken in this country 

 have been in herbalists' shops, where, doubtless, the larvae had 

 fed up ; it is also reputed occasionally to attack herbaria. P. 

 dilutaria, better known as holosericata, has a very interesting 

 habit ; it first bites nearly through the leaf-stalk of its chosen 

 plant, causing the leaf to droop and wither, and then feeds off 

 the delicacy thus prepared. Sterrha ochrata will not touch fresh 

 leaves when withered ones are at hand ; yet likes to have the 

 latter sprinkled with water. P. virgidaria used to be found 

 freely by Bossier feeding on brushwood heaped up in his garden. 

 I rear nearly all my Acidaliae with withered dandelion leaves, 

 and with a generous supply of these, larger and finer specimens 

 may often be reared than are met with in a wild state. 



How are the larvae protected ? They are mostly of a very 

 sober brown or brown-grey garb, and probably most of them 

 sufficiently resemble little bits of curled-up dead leaf, &c. A 

 few, such as Leptomeris strigilaria, are long, thin and twig-like, 

 and rest in a rigid position to aid this resemblance. But these, 

 or at least the one just named, have also a more aggressively 

 defensive habit, which has caused me a good deal of amusement. 

 When disturbed they throw themselves into the most violent and 

 indescribable contortions, during which it would probably be as 

 hard for any small enemy to seize them, as it is to get a firm 

 hold of the proverbial eel. Curiously, I have, during the past 

 summer, made acquaintance with three Geometrid species which 

 indulge in these remarkable acrobatic performances, which I had 

 never witnessed in any prior to this year, though of course I 

 had heard of them. The three species are the common Pajiagra 

 petraria (whose larva I had never found simply because I had 

 never searched bracken for it at the right time), the much scarcer 



