LEPIDOPTERA. 
85 
will eat almost any kind of plant. After the female comes 
out from the web, she lays her eggs all over it, and there 
she remains. I must pass over, for want of space, the 
pretty Ermines, Eggers, Lackeys, and Drinkers, except to 
say that the commonest and perhaps most beautiful of 
the Ermines is the White Ermine ( Spilosoma menthrastri) 
so called on account of the resemblance of its covering 
to the fur of the ermine, that the Egger moths take 
their name from the oval shaped cocoons of the chry¬ 
salis, that the Drinker (Odonestis potatoria) is so called 
from the habit the caterpillar has of putting its mouth to 
a dew drop and sucking up the whole of it. I pass on to 
notice a very curious moth, the Lappet ( Gastropachci 
quercifolia), (Plate III. Fig. 6), of a beautiful brownish red 
or mahogany colour, marked with darker zig-zag trans¬ 
verse lines. The hind margins of all the wings are 
prettily and regularly scalloped, the antennae are beau¬ 
tifully pectinated. The caterpillar is large and variable 
in colour, grey or pale brown. There is a slight hump 
on the twelfth segment, and the incisions between the 
second and fourth segments are dark purple. It feeds 
on the willow and blackthorn, and spins a black, firm 
cocoon among the lower twigs. The perfect insect 
appears in June and July. 
Above the Lappet, and to the right (Fig. 5) will be seen 
a drawing of the richly marked Tiger-moth ( Arctia caja ), 
common everywhere towards the end of summer. The 
larva is of large size, with a great number of long white 
hairs on the back, and dark brown hairs along the sides. 
It feeds on various plants, and spins a loose hairy web 
in July, iu which it turns to a smooth, black chrysalis. 
‘The Kentish Glory ( Endromis versicolor ), a beautiful 
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