198 THE INSECT WORLD. 
this country, resting on the trunks of willows and poplar-trees, 
from the end of May till the middle of July. It resembles a 
hornet, and is of the same size and has the same colours; only 
they are not quite so bright. When this moth is just hatched, 
its wings are ferruginous; but its scales, ight and caducous, fall 
as soon as the insect begins to fly. The caterpillar, which lives in 
the trunks or roots of willows and poplar-trees, is of a yellowish 
colour. The pupa is long, of a brownish colour, enclosed in a 
cocoon composed of agglutinated saw-dust, the product of the 
caterpillar’s erosions. 
In the middle of summer the meadows are frequented by moths, 
with brilliant black and velvety wings, marked with red, which 
fly heavily and only for a short time together. They remain 
motionless during the great heat of the day. These are the 
Zygené, or Burnets, of the family of the 
Zygenide., The Ram Sphinx of Geoffroy, 
or the Six-spot Burnet Moth (Zygena 
jilipendule, Fig. 175), is common from 
the end of June till the beginning of 
August. Its legs, antennz, head, and 
Fig. 175.—Six-syot Burnet Moth D0dy are black and rather hairy; its upper 
de a es wings are of a brilliant bluish green, with 
six spots of a beautiful red on each, bordered by a little green. . 
The caterpillar is yellow, spotted with black; its 
cocoon is boat-shaped, with longitudinal furrows, 
and is straw colour (Fig. 176). 
Next to Zygena comes Procris, the species of 
which fly during the day in damp fields. We will 
mention particularly the Procris statices (Fig. 177), 
which is plentiful enough where it occurs between 
the middle of June and the middle of July, on the 
sides of hills. Its fore wings, antenne, and the 
whole of its body, are of a blue green above. The 
same wings are of the same colour below, and the 
surfaces of the lower ones are of an ashy brown. 
The Sphinges, that is, those species that form the 
Miho Zeon family of the Sphingide, have received this general 
name from the attitude which their caterpillars 




filipendule. 
