THE LAPPET 63 



PLATE XXXIII 



THE LAPPET (1 and 2) 



When this moth first hatches out of the chry- 

 salis it is really a very beautiful insect, for although 

 the wings are reddish-brown all over, they have 

 a kind of purple bloom on them, just like that 

 on a ripe plum. But after a day or two this 

 bloom always gets worn off. The moth is not 

 at all an uncommon one, and yet one hardly ever 

 sees it. The reason is that when it sits with its 

 wings folded together over its back, as it almost 

 always does, it is exactly like a dead leaf. You 

 might look straight at it from only a few inches 

 away, and never imagine for a moment that it 

 was really a moth. And if it is hard to see the 

 moth, it is still harder to see the caterpillar, which 

 flattens itself against the branches of blackthorn 

 bushes, and looks just like a piece of rather rough 

 bark. 



You may find this caterpillar— if you look for 

 it very carefully indeed — in May and June. A 

 little before midsummer it spins a long blackish 

 cocoon, either among the leaves of its food-plant 

 or amongst grass quite close to the ground, and 

 changes to a smooth black chrysalis, out of which 

 the moth appears early in July. 



