336 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



Family 6 : Noctuidae. 



The numerous moths belonging to this family are characterized by a 

 thick covering of hairs on the head and the prothorax, which gives 

 them somewhat of an owl-like appearance. All are of crepuscular or 

 nocturnal habits, and therefore obscurely coloured. During the daytime 

 they sit resting, with their wings depressed like the hawk moths (which 

 see), in crevices, against tree-trunks, etc. For this reason we find that 

 in them, as in the former family, the upper side of the fore-wings is 

 protectively coloured. As in the Sphingidse, too, the only other parts 

 of the body which are ever brightly coloured are the hind-wings on their 

 upper surface. 



This distribution of colour is beautifully displayed in the species 

 known as the Red Underwing (Catocala nuptd) and the Clifden 

 Nonpareil (C. fraxini). These insects, however, are in other respects 

 exceptional members of this family, being active by day as well as by 

 night. The least disturbance causes them to abandon the trunk of the 

 tree against which, while at rest, they nestle so closely that even the 

 trained eye of the collector scarcely succeeds in recognising them. The 

 larvae are gray, like the bark of willows and poplars, the leaves of which 

 form their food. 



All the Noctuidae are injurious insects. The larva of the Pine Beauty 

 (Panolis piniperda) frequently outvies the Pine Lappet (Gastropacha 

 pini) in the destruction of pine and fir woods. A grayish-brown cater- 

 pillar, which often makes great havoc among the cabbages by consuming 

 the inmost leaves or hearts of the vegetables, is the larva of the Cabbage 

 Moth {Mamestra brassicce). The most familiar of the Nbctuidae is the 

 Silver Y (Plusia gamma), so called from the silver-coloured mark 

 resembling the letter Y on the fore-wing. The caterpillar of this moth 

 may prove very destructive to all kinds of leguminous vegetables, 

 cabbages, hemp and flax, and other field plants. The larvse of several 

 other species live in hiding-places or underground (ground caterpillars), 

 and are accordingly of an earthy colour. 



Family 7 : Loopers (Geometridae). 



The Winter Moth {Cheimatobia brumata). 



(Breadth of male about 1 inch.) 



From the beginning of the colder period of the year down to about 

 Christmas, an obscurely coloured grayish-brown moth is frequently met 

 with in the dusk in gardens and woods. This is the male of the winter 



