The caterpillar is coloured with alternate bands of dark purple brown and reddish brown. There is a yellow band on the front of the second segment, a row of yellow spots on each side, and two little bright yellow warts on the back of each segment. It feeds by night on lime (_Tilia vulgaris_), elm (_Ulmus campestris_), and various fruit trees, and often appears in such numbers that the foliage is almost completely devoured. During the daytime it may be seen resting on the bark, almost invariably fixed longitudinally on the trunk, where it looks like a natural ridge of the bark which it so closely resembles in colour. It may be found in June and July, and in August it changes to a chrysalis at the foot of its tree, just below the surface of the soil. _The Peppered Moth_ (_Amphidasys betularia_) Although this common species displays no bright tints, yet it is prettily marked, its whitish wings being peppered and blotched all over with black or very dark brown. It flies in May and June, later than any other species of the family, and may generally be found on fences and tree trunks during the day. [Illustration: FIG. 179.--THE PEPPERED MOTH.] The colour of the caterpillar is very variable--drab, grey, green, or brown; but it may be known by the deep notch in the middle of the head, and the arrangement of its 'humps.' These latter are only small reddish or whitish projections, of which there is one on each side of the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth, and eleventh segments; also two on the back of the ninth and twelfth. It feeds in August and September on a large number of trees, including, in fact, nearly all our commonest forest and fruit trees. In September it enters the soil to undergo its change to the chrysalis. Family--BOARMIIDAE In the next family--_Boarmiidae_--there are about twenty British members, most of which are very pretty moths. They differ generally from the last family in that their bodies are more slender, and although some of them bear a resemblance to species of the family _Ennomidae_, their wings are not angulated. In several cases the fore and hind wings are both similarly marked, a feature very uncommon with moths. The caterpillars of this family usually have humps on the sixth and twelfth segments only, and have two pairs of claspers. The pupae are to be found either on the ground, among leaves or moss, or beneath the soil. _The Waved Umber_ (_Hemerophila abruptaria_) The most gaily coloured member of this family is the Waved Umber, shown in fig. 6 of Plate XII. Like many other _Geometrae_, it rests on fences and tree trunks by day with wings expanded so that all four are displayed. It is on the wing in May and early June, and again in August, and often frequents our gardens at dusk.