ata_) 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.

Another modification with respect to seasonal change is shown by the
Turnip moth (_Agrotis segetum_) and other allied Noctuidae (Owl-moths).
These are insects with brown-coloured wings, flying after dark in June.
The dull greyish larvae feed on many kinds of low-growing plants,
usually hiding in the earth by day and wandering along the surface of
the ground by night, biting off the farmer's ripening corn, or burrowing
into his turnips or potatoes. On account of the burrowing habits of this
insect it can feed throughout the winter, except when a hard frost puts
a temporary stop to its activity. By April it has become fully grown and
pupates in an earthen chamber a few inches below the surface. The Turnip
moth in our countries is partially double-brooded, a minority of the
autumn caterpillars growing more rapidly than their comrades so that
they pupate, and a second brood of moths appear in Sept