52 MOTHS 



PLATE XXVII 



THE SIX-SPOT BURNET (3) 



The " burnets " are most lovely little moths, with 

 glossy blackish-green front wings, marked with 

 bright crimson spots, and crimson hind-wings with 

 dark green borders. Like the "green forester," 

 they fly only in the hot sunshine; but even on 

 dull days you may often see them clinging to 

 grass stems in fields and by the roadside. 



Several different kinds of these moths are found 

 in the British Islands, of which the Six-spot 

 Burnet is by far the commonest. On a hot day 

 about the middle of June you may often see it 

 flying about in hundreds. And if you look on 

 the grass stems you are almost sure to find 

 numbers of its odd little cocoons, which are 

 bright yellow in colour, and look just like tiny 

 shuttles with very sharp points. The caterpillars 

 which spin these cocoons, however, feed chiefly 

 on trefoils and clovers. They are dingy yellow 

 in colour, with rather hairy bodies, marked with 

 two rows of small black spots on either side. 

 You may find them towards the end of May, 

 and they spin their cocoons early in June. 



