1. Bordered White, male 2. Bordered White, female 3. Magpie 4. Magpie Caterpillar] PLATE XXXVII THE BORDERED WHITE (1 and 2) If you want to find this handsome moth, the best way to do so is to shake the branches of fir trees with a long stick during the month of May. Then you are almost sure to see it flying off in a great hurry to seek for refuge somewhere else. But it never seems quite happy unless it can hide away among the needle-like leaves of a fir tree. 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. And, besides that, his feelers are beautifully plumed, while hers are just like threads. In fact, the male and female are so unlike one another that, if you did not know what they were, you would be almost sure to take them for two perfectly different insects. The caterpillar of this moth is a very pretty little creature of a pale green colour, with a broad white line along the back and a bluish-white line below it; then a yellow line below that; and then a row of orange spots. You may sometimes find it in August, feeding on the leaves of fir trees. PLATE XXXVII THE MAGPIE MOTH (3 and 4) This is called the Magpie Moth because its wings are chiefly black and white in colour, like the plumage of a magpie. But there are two orange bands on the front wings as well, and the body is orange, spotted with black. It varies a good deal in colouring however, for sometimes there are hardly any black markings on the wings, and sometimes there are hardly any white ones. And just now and then you may meet with a very odd Magpie Moth indeed, with the wings on one side of its body a good deal larger than those on the other! This is a very common moth indeed, and you may shake it out of the bushes in almost any garden in July and the early part of August. And you may also find its caterpillars feeding on the leaves of currant and raspberry and gooseberry bushes. It is creamy-white in colour, with rows of large black spots, and a yellow stripe along each side, and turns into a dark brown chrysalis with orange bands round it. And it seems to have a very nasty taste, for no bird will ever attempt to eat it. This insect is sometimes known as the Currant Moth. [Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII 1. Spring Usher 2. Winter Moth, male 3. Winter Moth, female] PLATE XXXVIII THE SPRING USHER (1)