You have only to look at this moth to see why its name was given to it, for on each of its front wings it has two large white spots with two small dark spots inside them, one above the other; so that they look very much like the figure 8. But the inner 8 is always a much neater one than the outer, which has a kind of blurred appearance, just as if a drop of water had fallen upon it and made the colours run. This moth is quite a common one in most parts of the country, and appears on the wing in September. It only flies by night, so that one does not often see it; but it will sometimes fly into a well-lighted room on a dark, warm evening if the window is left open. You can find the caterpillar, however, without any difficulty at all. All that you have to do is to hunt for it on hawthorn or blackthorn bushes during May or the early part of June, and there you are almost sure to see it--a smoky green creature thinly covered with black hairs, and with a yellow stripe running down its back, and another along each side of its body. A little later on it spins a neat little cocoon, made partly of silk and partly of bits of bark and leaf, which it fastens underneath a twig of its food-plant. And in this it changes into a chrysalis. [Illustration: PLATE XLIV 1. Figure of Eight 2. Peach Blossom 3. Grey Dagger] PLATE XLIV THE PEACH BLOSSOM (2) This is really a lovely moth, for on each of its olive-brown front wings it has five large spots, which are coloured exactly like the petals of a peach. But if it is put away in a collection these spots very soon fade, unless the insect is kept in the dark, and after a few months they become almost white. 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! Besides this, it has quite a row of little humps on its back, the front one of which is sometimes so large that it forms a kind of hood, and partly covers the head! You may sometimes find it feeding on the leaves of bramble bushes growing in woods in August and the early part of September. When it has grown to its full size it spins a slight cocoon of silken threads among the leaves, and turns into a blackish-brown chrysalis, with a sharp little spike at the end of its body. Out of this the moth hatches in the following June or July. PLATE XLIV THE GREY DAGGER (3)