88 
LITTLE ERMINE MOTH. 
the apple, the exit of the gruh, and his wandering to this 
place of security^ usually take place in the night time. In 
this situation he remains without stirring for a day or two, 
as if to rest himself after the uncommon fatigue of a two 
yards' march ; he then gnaws away the bark a little in or- 
der to get further in out of the way of observation ; and 
having made a smooth chamber big enough for his wants, 
he spins a beautiful, little, milk-white, silken case, in which, 
after a few weeks, he becomes a chrysalis, and in this 
state remains throughout the winter and until the follow- 
ing June, unless some unlucky, black-headed tit, running 
up the trunk, peeping into every cranny, and whistling out 
his merry see-saw, happen to spy him, in which case he is 
plucked without ceremony from his retreat, and his last 
moments are spent in the bird's crop ; but supposing no 
such ill-fortune betide him, by the middle of June he is 
again on the wing, and hovering round the young apples 
on a midsummer evening as before. 
By burning weeds in your gardens at this time of year 
you will effectually drive away this little moth. If you 
have trees the crops of which you value, make a smoking 
(mind, not a blazing) fire under each ; it will put you to 
some inconvenience if your garden be near your house, 
but the apples will repay you for that. 
Who has not noticed the white-thorn hedges stripped of 
their leaves, and the twigs matted together with a web ? 
and who has not heard the appearance attributed to east 
wind and to blight ? The bhght is nothing more than the 
caterpillar of a small moth, the Little Ermine Moth,* 
which lays its eggs on the twigs the year before. When 
* Yponomeuta padella. — E. N. 
