The caterpillar is bright green on the upper side, and has a row of orange spots, bordered with brown, down the middle of the back. It feeds in the autumn on the blackthorn (_Prunus spinosa_) and the wild cherry (_P. Avium_), and spends the winter in the chrysalis state, inclosed in a light silken cocoon. Family--MACARIIDAE _The_ V _Moth_ (_Halia Vauaria_) The family _Macariidae_ contains only five British species, four of which have the tip of the fore wings extended more or less into an angle, and the hind wings are also angled to a greater or less extent. [Illustration: FIG. 188.--THE V MOTH.] Our only example is the V Moth, so called from the conspicuous V-shaped blackish mark on the middle of the costa of the fore wings. The ground colour of all the wings is grey, with a delicate violet tinge. There are other dark markings in addition to the one mentioned above, and the arrangement of these may be seen in the woodcut. This species is very common in all parts, and flies at about midsummer. The caterpillar is very variable in colour, but is generally green, and is marked with longitudinal wavy lines. On each side is a series of yellow blotches, forming a broken lateral stripe, and the body is covered with minute black bristle-bearing warts. It feeds in May on gooseberry and currant bushes, and changes to a chrysalis in a web between the leaves. Family--FIDONIIDAE We now come to a family of moths peculiar for their habit of flying more or less by day. As is often the case with day-flying moths, these are mostly prettily marked, and are consequently often mistaken by the uninitiated for butterflies. Most of them are to be found on heaths, downs, and open fields; but one--the Bordered White--is met with only in fir woods. The wings are not angulated, and the antennae of the males are pectinated. The larvae are generally to be distinguished by a couple of little horns on one or more of the hindermost segments, and in most cases they pupate beneath the surface of the soil. _The Common Heath_ (_Ematurga atomaria_) Of this family we shall select two examples, the first of which is the Common Heath, often so abundant on heaths and downs that they are disturbed at almost every footstep. The ground colour of the wings of the male is a dull yellowish grey, and that of the female greyish white. In both cases the wings are crossed by irregular dark brown bands. The fringe is barred alternately with white and dark brown, and the whole of the ground tint between the above-mentioned bands is thickly dotted with dark brown. The female is generally smaller than the male. [Illustration: FIG. 189.--THE COMMON HEATH.] The caterpillar is very variable in colour, but is generally reddish brown, ochreous brown, or greenish, with a light line along the spiracles, and a series of lozenge-shaped spots on the back. It feeds on trefoils (_Lotus corniculatus_ and _L. pilosus_) and various other plants that grow on heaths.