10 
NATURE STUDY NOTES 
dozen woolly-bear caterpillars and suitable food 
have been placed—groundsel, sowthistle, or rag¬ 
wort leaves for the grubs, and honey or syrup for 
the moths—the complete “cycle” of the pretty Day¬ 
flying Moth is easily obtained. A larger box, placed 
in a firm position, and provided with a 6in. x 4in. 
door at each side—as well as g'lass front—consti¬ 
tutes a School Insectarium, available for use by 
two or more different classes. (Cost: Piece of 
glass 1/6, box 1/-.) To avoid monotonous 
repetition, the “cycles” are not described in the 
following pages, except for those insects the cycles 
of which have some special interest. The use of 
hand-magnifiers is very desirable in all lessons on 
insects. 
The “Blue Fairy Butterfly” is frequently miscalled 
a moth, and the “Day-flying Moth” is just as 
frequently miscalled a butterfly. Butterflies usually 
fold their wings in an erect position above their 
backs when they alight; moths do not. 
The antennae (feelers) of a butterfly differ from 
those of a moth. The latter resemble two strands 
of a small feather; the former are like single 
fibres with a small knob at the free end of each 
fibre. Butterflies have slender bodies; those of 
• 
the moths are thicker and coarser. If scholars 
are told the fact that there are more than 3,000 
different beetles in New Zealand and hundreds of 
different moths, they will not expect to be supplied 
with the name of every insect they collect. The 
description of each insect can be supplemented by 
reference to the “class” to which it belongs. (See 
“Classification of Insects,” page 8.) 
