The caterpillar is thickest at the twelfth segment, and tapers gradually from this point towards the head. Its body is green, with several thin longitudinal white stripes, and a thin yellow stripe along the spiracles. It may be found from June to October, feeding on many kinds of low plants. Family--EUCLIDIIDAE _The Mother Shipton_ (_Euclidia Mi_) Passing over a few small and less important families, we come to the _Euclidiidae_, which contains only two British moths. One of these is the Mother Shipton, a very common insect that flies in June. The fore wings of this species are very dark brown with whitish markings. The latter include a peculiarly tortuous line, the character of which will be made out more easily from our illustration (Plate XI, fig. 4) than from a written description. The hind wings are also very dark brown, and rather prettily spotted with an ochreous tint. The caterpillar is pale grey, with four white stripes, and has only three pairs of claspers. It feeds in May on clovers (_Trifolium pratense_ and _T. repens_) and other plants. Family--CATOCALIDAE This family contains only four British species, but these few are very striking moths. They are of large size; and, unlike the _Noctuae_ generally, the chief adornment is reserved for the under wings. When at rest, the outer or fore wings completely hide the other pair, and then their general appearance is dull, though if closely examined it will be observed that these outer wings are really beautifully marbled with shades of grey. The caterpillars of this family are very peculiar creatures. Their bodies are convex above and flattened beneath; and if disturbed as they rest on the bark of a tree, instead of leaving their hold and rolling into a ring like so many other larvae of _Noctuae_, they apply themselves the closer, and hold on as if to defy our attempts to remove them. Another peculiarity of these larvae is the possession of fleshy projections along the sides, just above the legs. They feed on the leaves of trees, and when about to rest they descend to the trunk, and there remain protected by their imitative colouring, detection being rendered even more difficult by the close application of their flattened under surface to the bark. Before changing to the chrysalis state, they spin a light cocoon among the leaves or on the bark. _The Clifden Nonpareil_ (_Catocala Fraxini_) This is the largest of the family, and, indeed, of all British _Noctuae_. The fore wings and thorax are light grey, dotted and marbled with darker grey (see fig. 5, Plate XI); and the thorax and abdomen are banded with black and greyish blue.