PLATE XLIV1. Figure of Eight2. Peach Blossom3. Grey Dagger
PLATE XLIV
1. Figure of Eight2. Peach Blossom3. Grey Dagger
This is really a lovely moth, for on each of its olive-brown front wings it has five large spots, which are coloured exactly like the petals of a peach. But if it is put away in a collection these spots very soon fade, unless the insect is kept in the dark, and after a few months they become almost white.
The caterpillar of this moth is a very odd-looking creature indeed, for when it is resting on a leaf of its food-plant it only makes use of its middle feet, and holds both the front ones and the hind ones up in the air! Besides this, it has quite a row of little humps on its back, the front one of which is sometimes so large that it forms a kind of hood, and partly covers the head! You may sometimes find it feeding on the leaves of bramble bushes growing in woods in August and the early part of September. When it has grown to its full size it spins a slight cocoon of silken threads among the leaves, and turns into a blackish-brown chrysalis, with a sharp little spike at the end of its body. Out of this the moth hatches in the following June or July.
You cannot possibly fail to recognise this moth if you meet with it, for its front wings are of a light pearly-grey colour, with a number of black markings upon them, several of which look just like little daggers laid sideways. It is a very common insect indeed, and all through June and July you may see it resting on fences, and walls, and tree-trunks. A little later you may find the caterpillar, which is quite as easy to recognise as the moth. It has a rather hairy body, a black head with two yellow stripes upon it, and a black body, with a broad yellow streak along the back, and a number of small red streaks on each side, which are curved in the shape of a bow. Besides this, it has two humps on its back, the front one of which is black, while the hinder one is yellow; so that altogether it is a very odd-looking creature indeed. It feeds on the leaves of beech, lime, poplar, hawthorn, pear, and ever so many other trees, and is fully fed about the middle of September, when it creeps into some cranny in the bark, spins a strong silken cocoon, and turns into a chrysalis.