Theodore Wood

“ Most people know the caterpillar of this moth a good deal better than they know the moth itself. I dare say that you have often seen it crawling about in August and September, always walking very fast, as though it were in a great hurry. It is a big, rather hairy creature of a dull yellow colour, with a black head, and with nine black stripes running along its body; and you may find it in numbers, feeding on the leaves of elm, lime, and willow trees. Very often, indeed, it is so plentiful that it strips whole branches of their leaves. ”

“ And if you walk through a wood in May or June, after a strong wind has been blowing, you may often see numbers of them swinging in the air, each suspended from a twig or a leaf by a slender silken thread. ”

“ But they come out at the same time, and fly about together, and are so much alike that it is not at all easy to tell the one from the other. The time to look for them is about the middle or end of March, and then, if you go into a large wood on a warm, sunny morning, you may sometimes see them flying about among birch trees. They are very fond, too, of visiting sallow, or “palm,” bushes, and sucking the sweet juices from their golden-yellow catkins. But the moment that the sun is clouded over they seem to disappear, and you will see them no more until it begins to shine again. ”

“ On a hot summer’s day you may often see this beautiful moth hovering in front of geraniums and other flowers in the garden, with its long trunk plunged deeply down into the blossoms in order to suck up their sweet juices. And if you stand a few feet away and listen carefully, you will hear a low humming noise, which is caused by the rapid movements of the wings. ”

“ I really think that this is the very handsomest of all our British butterflies; for its wings are of the glossiest possible black above, with spots of the purest possible white, and streaks of the brightest possible scarlet. And on their lower surface so many different tints of grey and pink and brown and red are mingled together that I cannot possibly describe them. All that I can do is to advise you to try to catch one of these butterflies and look at it for yourself; and if you do, I am quite sure that you will say that you have never seen a more beautiful insect. ”

“ The male Brimstone is a good deal handsomer than the female, for his wings are of a bright daffodil colour, while those of his mate are pale greenish-yellow. The caterpillar feeds on the young leaves of buckthorn bushes, and is dull green in colour, sprinkled all over with tiny black spots, from each of which sprouts a slender white bristle, and the chrysalis, which is fastened by a silken belt round its body to a twig of the food-plant, is bright apple-green marked with yellow and purple-brown. ”

“ The Large Skipper is one of the commonest of all these queer little butterflies, and you may see it in dozens and dozens, skipping actively about from flower to flower on grassy banks by the roadside, and in open places in woods. The male is not quite like the female, for he has a rather large streak of dark brown running across his front wings, which look as if they had been scorched down the middle. And the body of the female is so very stout that she certainly looks much more like a moth than a butterfly. ”

“ As you walk through a wood on a bright sunny day at the end of April, or in the beginning of May, you may often see a dark brown butterfly marked with a number of paler spots, which flits along just in front of you for some little distance, and then mounts up over your head and flies back the way it came. ”

“ When this moth first hatches out of the chrysalis it is really a very beautiful insect, for although the wings are reddish-brown all over, they have a kind of purple bloom on them, just like that on a ripe plum. But after a day or two this bloom always gets worn off. The moth is not at all an uncommon one, and yet one hardly ever sees it. ”

“ If you shake the branches of a tree in summer-time you will generally see several of these caterpillars swinging in the air, each at the end of a silken thread; and if you want to find that of the Swallow-tailed Moth you should look for it on willow, and lime, and elder, and pear trees. When it is fully grown it spins a cocoon just like a little hammock, and turns to a light brown chrysalis spotted with black. ”

“ It varies in colour almost as much as the magpie moth, for sometimes it is nearly white all over, and sometimes it is nearly black; but generally the wings are greyish-white, with a few narrow black stripes.
When you see one of these moths, however, you may be quite sure that it is a male; for the female has no wings at all, and looks just like a little greyish-white grub, with six rather long legs. She lays her eggs on the twigs of oak trees, and the little caterpillars hatch out in May. ”

“ 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! ”

“ Well, just look at their feelers or “antennæ,” as they are often called. You will see that those of butterflies are thickened at the very tips, while those of moths are not. Besides this, the body of a butterfly is nipped in at the middle much more than that of a moth. And when a butterfly is at rest it always folds its wings together over its back, while moths nearly always spread them out, or allow them to hang down, or wrap them round their bodies. ”

“ A little before midsummer it spins a long blackish cocoon, either among the leaves of its food-plant or amongst grass quite close to the ground, and changes to a smooth black chrysalis, out of which the moth appears early in July. ”

“ And the consequence is that when the butterfly sits on the trunk of a tree, with its wings folded over its back, you cannot possibly see it unless you look at it sideways.
Peacock butterflies are very common in August and September, and again in spring, after they have passed through their long winter sleep. They are very fond of sitting on thistle blossoms when the sun is shining, with their wings widely spread. ”

“ The male is very different in appearance from the female, for his wings are either white or yellowish-white in colour, with a broad black border, while hers are orange-brown all over, with only two narrow dark bands. ”

“ They are handsome little creatures, which you cannot possibly mistake for those of any other moth, for they are bright orange in colour, with black rings round their bodies. And sometimes they are so plentiful that they quite strip the ragwort plants of their leaves. When they are fully fed they change into shiny reddish-brown chrysalids on the surface of the ground. ”