of summer, and then pupate, the moths emerging in the autumn and the
eggs, as we have seen, furnishing the winter stage.

After midsummer, the conspicuous cream, black and yellow-spotted
'Magpie' moth (_Abraxas grossulariata_) is common in gardens. The female
lays her eggs on a variety of shrubby plants; gooseberry and currant
bushes are often chosen. From the eggs caterpillars are hatched in
autumn, but these, instead of beginning to feed, seek almost at once for
rolled-up leaves, cracks in walls, crannies of bark, or similar places,
which may afford winter shelters. Here they remain until the spring,
when they come out to feed on the young foliage and grow rapidly into
the conspicuous cream, yellow and black 'looper' caterpillars mentioned
in a previous chapter (p. 60). These, when fully-grown, spin among the
twigs of the food-plant a light cocoon, in which the black and
yellow-banded wasp-like pupa spends its short summer term before the
emergence of the moth.

An equally familiar garden insect, the common 'Tiger' moth (_Arctia
caia_) with its 'woolly bear' caterpillar, affords a life-cycle slightly
differing from that of the 'Magpie.' The gaudy winged insects are seen
in July and August, and lay their eggs on a great variety of plants. The
larvae hatched from these eggs begin to feed at once, and having moulted
once or twice and attained about half their full size, they rest through
the winter, the dense hairy covering wherewith they are provided forming
an effective protection against the cold. At the approach of spring they
begin to feed again, and the fully-grown 'woolly bear' is a common
object on garden paths in May and June. Before midsummer it has usually
spun its yellow cocoon under some shelter on the ground and changed into
a pupa.