THE BUBNET MOTH. 287 



made by the natives of tropical America, and bearing a consider- 

 able resemblance to them in general form, as well as in the loose 

 and open meshes. So long, indeed, are the meshes made, that 

 the inclosed insect can be seen through the network, from the 

 time that the old wrinkled skin is cast off and pushed away in a 

 heap by the white and shining chrysalis, to the time when the 

 chrysalis shell is in its turn shattered, and the perfect moth 

 creeps slowly into the air, all dull, and sodden, and bewildered, 

 with its undeveloped wings looking like four mottled split peas 

 rather than the beautiful members which they soon become, 

 when the air has passed into their vessels, and their multitudinous 

 folds have been shaken out. 



I hope that none of my readers will Idll a Tiger Moth in either 

 of its stages. It does no harm to the gardener, and has quite 

 enough foes of its own ; the ichneumon flies piercing it in spite 

 of its long bristles, and the cuckoo, together with other birds, 

 revelling in so large and juicy a morsel. It is a special favourite 

 of mine, this great moth, for I have kept so many hundreds of 

 them, and have admired the wondrous details of their anatomy 

 so often, that I am always glad to say a kind word for a creature 

 which has afforded me so much amusement and instruction. 



Among the pensile insects may be reckoned the beautiful 

 Burnet Moth {AnUhroeeTa filvpendulce), an insect which has 

 already been mentioned, while treating of the pensile 

 hymenoptera. 



This insect, which is well known for its splendid colours of 

 deep velvet green, and blazing scarlet, is also notable for the 

 shape of its antennae, which are so swoUen towards the tips as to 

 induce many persons to reckon the insect as a butterfly rather 

 than a moth. 



The shape of the cocoon of the Burnet Moth is not unlike that 

 of the tiger moth, but its material and position are very different. 

 The cocoon of the tiger moth is slung horizontally, in hammock 

 fashion, while that of the Burnet is set perpendicularly, and 

 fastened to the upper part of a grass stem, one side being firmly 

 pressed against it. The substance of the cocoon is quite opaque, 

 greyish, rather stout, very tough, and having the silken threads, 

 of which it is chiefly made, so conspicuous, that many persons 

 take the cocoon to be the work of a spider. 



