1. Lobster
2. Lobster Caterpillar
1. Buff Tip
2. Buff Tip Caterpillar
PLATE XLIII
THE BUFF TIP (1 and 2)
Most people know the caterpillar of this moth a good deal better than they know the moth itself. I dare say that you have often seen it crawling about in August and September, always walking very fast, as though it were in a great hurry. It is a big, rather hairy creature of a dull yellow colour, with a black head, and with nine black stripes running along its body; and you may find it in numbers, feeding on the leaves of elm, lime, and willow trees. Very often, indeed, it is so plentiful that it strips whole branches of their leaves. When it reaches its full size it comes down from the tree, wanders off to some little distance, hides away under dead leaves or at the roots of a tuft of grass, and turns into a dark brown chrysalis, out of which the moth hatches in the following May or June.
The reason why one sees this handsome moth so very much seldomer than the caterpillar is that it always rests with its wings folded closely against its body, in which position it looks just like a piece of broken stick. But you may often find it clinging to the trunk of an elm or a lime tree, or to a long grass-stem growing underneath it.