As you will see by the illustration, this is a very fine and handsome moth indeed; but when it is at rest it is very difficult indeed to see it, for the bright red hind-wings are quite covered up by the grey front ones, so that it looks exactly like the bark of the trees on which it is so fond of sitting. If you want to catch it, the best place to look for it is on the trunks of willow trees, in August and September. But sometimes you may find it on fences, and just now and then it will fly through an open window into a well-lighted room by night. The caterpillar of this beautiful moth feeds on the leaves of willows, sallows, and poplars. It is rather oddly shaped, for its back is very much arched, while its lower surface is almost flat. And, if you touch it, it only clings more tightly to its foothold, instead of curling up into a ring and dropping to the ground, as most caterpillars do. In colour it is ashy-grey, and generally has two dark, wavy stripes running along the back. When it is fully fed it spins a silken cocoon, either between two leaves or in a crack in the bark, and changes to a reddish-brown chrysalis covered with purple bloom, just like that on a ripe plum. [Illustration: PLATE XLVI 1. Pine Beauty 2. Old Lady] PLATE XLVI THE PINE BEAUTY (1) This is a really lovely moth, which always comes out in the early spring. If you want to find it, you should hunt for it on the trunks of pine trees, about three or four feet from the ground. But you will have to look for it very carefully indeed, for it is one of the most difficult of all moths to see. The reason is that when its wings are folded it looks exactly like a little bit of the tree-trunk from which the outer bark has been knocked off; so that you might easily look straight at it from only two or three feet away and yet never notice it. But after dark it is very fond of feasting upon the sweet juices of sallow catkins, or “palms,” as so many people call them. And if you were to shake one of these bushes over an open umbrella on a warm evening about the beginning of April, you would very likely find a Pine Beauty lying inside it with its wings folded, and pretending to be dead. The caterpillar of this moth is either pale brown, or bright green, or dark green in colour, with five white stripes running along its body, one on the back, and two on each side. It feeds on the leaves of the Scotch fir in June and July. PLATE XLVI THE OLD LADY (2)