o 



56 



Marvels of the Universe 



the moth most difficult. Even if the moth settles on a tree-trunk tlie resemblance is still to a 

 dead leaf, only now it looks like a thin leaf that has been carried by the wind and has caught on 

 the rough bark in its passage to the ground. 



The last-mentioned moth — the Dotted Border — belongs to the large Looper family, so called 



from the habit of the long slender 

 caterpillars, which in walking draw 

 the greater part of the body up into 

 a loop ; the legs being situated near 

 to the head and a pair of clasping 

 organs at the other extremit\', 

 this is the only method of pro- 

 gi-ession open to them. We shall 

 have a few words to say of some of 

 these caterpillars before we have 

 done, but our present concern is with 

 the moths that develop from them. 

 They mostly rest with their wings 

 spread flat and almost as widely as 

 the " set " specimens in the col- 

 lectors' cabinets, and their wings 

 are marked with patterns that fit 

 in wonderfully with the cracks and 

 crevices in the bark of trees or with 

 the grain and weather streaks in 

 the wood of fences and posts. The 

 Waved Umber moth, both in colour 

 and pattern, matches the oak 

 palings on which it was sitting when 

 photographed. Most of such moths 

 spend the whole day in these posi- 

 tions, and appear to be unseen by 

 any enemies, or the trick would soon 

 be abandoned, for moths so openly 

 exposed would become extinct. 

 Some of these Looper moths seen 

 in the cabinet are conspicuously 

 coloured, a broad expanse of white, 

 for example, being contrasted with 

 a patch of black or dark brown. 

 But see such a moth on tree trunk 

 or broad leaf and you pass it un- 

 noticed, for it is then to all appear- 

 ance a bird-dropping. 



A somewhat sin.iilar type of coloration — though intended to produce a different illusion — is 

 adopted by some of the smaller of the thick-bodied moths. In this class of moths the upper wings 

 are folded when the insect is at rest, over the lower ones, as shown in several of our photographs. 

 The Marbled Coronet moth is one of these, and its light markings may appear to be merely white 

 or grey lichen spots on the bark of the tree it is resting upon. Another instance of the same type 

 is afforded by the photograph of the Marbled Green moth which shows a portion of a wall in a much 



Phrt/riliii'] [/;. .•<lep, r.L.S. 



CATERPILLAR OF BE.AlUTIFUL BELLOW UNDERWING MOTH. 



This caterpillar is coloured dark green chequered with white, and is scarcely 

 distinguishable from the branch of heather upon which it is feedinff. 



