INSECTS. 
x 18 
with two or three pale vinous-purple bars. The larva, which is brownish yellow 
with a pale longitudinal dorsal stripe, feeds on sorrel and docks. 
Snout-Moths,— Family H ypeniDjE. 
The snout-moths ( Hypena ) are intermediate between the Geometridce and 
Pyralidce, bearing characters which ally them to both families and yet exclude 
them from either. The common snout (II. proboscidalis) is a pale brownish 
yellow moth, transversely marked with rusty brown; and is abundant throughout 
England and the Continent from June to September. H. obsitalis has only once 
been taken in England. 
Suborder Microlepidoptera. 
The whole of the remaining members of the order are of minute size, and 
are hence generally indicated by the above name, although it must be understood 
that many of them are closely allied to some of the foregoing. They are divided 
into a large number of families—with their subfamilies and genera—of which only 
a very few can be even mentioned here. Among these the pearls ( Pyralidce ) are 
represented by the mother-of-pearl moth ( Botys margaritalis), which in June or 
July may be seen in Britain hovering 
over the fields in the dusk of the 
evening, where the female lays her 
eggs on the seed pods of the flax 
and other plants. When the cater- 
pillar emerges it spins a few threads 
between the pods, and bores through 
their outer shell in order to feed upon 
the seeds. The moth itself is of a 
dull sulphur-yellow, with two trans¬ 
verse rusty yellow bands, intersected 
by a rusty brown stripe running obliquely from the tip of the wing. It is common 
in June and July on the Continent. To the same family belongs the meal-motli 
(Asopia farinalis), found in abundance in summer wherever corn, meal, or grains 
are stored in quantities. It rests on the rafters and walls in the daytime, flying at 
nightfall. The larva feeds on corn, meal, grain bran, etc., and passes its life in 
concealment in a silken tube, of which the outer side is encrusted with particles of 
the food-stuff's on which the larva feeds. The larval-state lasts for nearly two 
years. A figure of this species is given on p. 120. 
The wax-moth (Galleria mellonella) may be taken to illustrate another family 
—the Tortricidce. This remarkable moth is double-brooded, appearing on the 
wing in the springtime, and again in July and onwards. The larva feeds in 
the hives of honey-bees, and, according to some, in the nests of wild-bees as 
well. The wax, however—not the honey—forms its food-stuff, and through 
the combs it eats long tunnels which it lines with silk as it goes. It does not 
seem particularly choice in the matter of diet, and has been successfully reared on 
heather, woollen-stuffs, dry leaves, paper, etc. In the case of the wax-eaters, the 
MOTHER-OF-PEARL MOTH, WITH LARVA (nat. size). 
