NOCTUIDS. 
57 
Some yellow and brown species have the habit of resting with wings 
extended on the upper sides of leaves so as to almost exactly resem¬ 
ble the brown and withered patches on half-dead foliage. One or 
two kinds when at rest throw their bodies into curious attitudes, at 
the same time bending their wings into such shapes that when seen 
one can hardly believe they are anything but dead fragments of 
leaves adhering to stems. 
The larvre of this group of insects are many of them protected 
both by their shape and coloring, and even by their habits in a 
remarkable degree. A large number closely resemble twigs, and 
will remain standing out straight at an angle of forty-five degrees 
from a branch, holding on by their posterior claspers for hours at a 
time. So closely do these caterpillars resemble the small stems of 
plants with their minute knots that one may have to pick them from 
the branch to be sure he is not mistaken. 
One does not need to go far from home to come across examples 
of protective mimicry as striking and as useful to contemplate as any 
the world affords, and a study of the geometrids in both their larval 
and mature state will point as clearly to the law by which every 
animal is just adapted to its surroundings and protected in a degree 
from its enemies as any so charmingly used by the great naturalists 
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace to illustrate the law of natural 
selection. 
NOCTUIDJE. 
Owlets, or Moth Millers. 
The moths belonging to this large group are stout-bodied and 
rapid-flying insects, and are, as their name implies, seldom seen on the 
wing except at night. When at rest they fold their wings over the 
body, roof-shaped, in such a way that the lower wings are entirely 
concealed. Their antennse are long and tapering, and their wings 
are always fastened together by the loop and spur already mentioned 
in another chapter. Most of these insects are sombre in coloring, 
browns and grays being the predominating colors. Many of them 
are thickly covered with long hair-like scales, which are easily loos¬ 
ened. The thorax is frequently tufted; and the legs covered with 
long scales are sometimes provided with spines at the joints. Most 
of our native species are of small or moderate size, but some of the 
