BRITISH AXD EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES AXD MOTHS. 



153 



gular brownish spots and there is a similar 

 row preceding it. The fringes are dark brown, 

 intersected with hghter on the nervures. The 

 iiind wings are brownish grey, somewhat Hghter 

 towards the base, with a large central lunule, 

 an interrupted marginal line and whitish 

 fringes. The head and collar are ashy grey, 

 the centre of the thorax is dark brown, and 

 the abdomen brownish grey. It is common 

 throughout the greater part of Europe in August 

 and September. The larva is green with a 

 yellowish lateral line edged with black, and a 

 red line above the legs edged with white. 

 Above the latter, on each segment, are three 

 white dots in black rings, and above the former 

 two similar dots, placed side by side, connected 

 by a somewhat oblique longitudinal streak. It 

 feeds on various low plants, including pea and 

 cypress spurge. 



C. solidaginis, Hiibn. The Golden-rod 

 Brindle. Fore wings with waved hind margins 

 and rather pointed tips, shining dark grey, 

 with a brownish tinge, darkest in the central 

 area. The two dark transverse lines are deeply 

 dentated. The orbicular stigma is very small 

 and round ; the reniform is the lightest and is 

 doubly ringed. The submarginal line is white, 

 with a black longitudinal streak towards the 

 base in cells 4 and 3; the marginal line is 

 formed of black lunules, edged with whitish 

 towards the base. The fringes are dark, 

 chequered with lighter. The hind wings are 

 reddish grey, darker towards the hind margins, 

 whitish towards the base, with a dark central 

 lunule, a faint curved line, a black interrupted 

 marginal line and white fringes. The collar 

 has black transverse lines in front of the hind 

 margin. It is found in Northern and Central 

 Europe, including Switzerland, chiefly in moun- 

 tainous localities, and appears in August and 

 September. The larva is brown with a pale 

 dorsal and lateral line, with white dots and 

 reddish streaks between them, and a sulphur- 

 yellow band above the legs. The spiracles 

 are surrounded with darker. It feeds in May 

 and June on bilberry. 



Genus Xylomyges, Guen. 



Resembles the last genus, but has the hair 

 more erect on the front and the eyes hairy. 

 There is a tuft of hair on the first segments 



of the abdomen and a broad anal fold, trun- 

 cated at the end and consequently angular 

 above and below. 



X. conspicillaris, Linn. The Silver Cloud. 

 Fore wings whitish, varied with brownish or 

 blackish, lighter on the inner margin from the 

 claviform stigma to the submarginal line, with 

 dark nervures. The anterior transverse line 

 together with the large black-bordered clavi- 

 form stigma is distinct ; the posterior is 

 absent. There is a black streak from the 

 middle of the base. The two stigmata are 

 more or less distinct, surrounded with black', 

 with a brown spot from the reniform stigma 

 to the apex. The submarginal line is indistinct, 

 and the space behind is darker. The fringes 

 are dark intersected by the light nervures, 

 especially in the position of the hardly visible 

 W of the submarginal line. The hind wings 

 are white with brown nervures, lunules, inter- 

 rupted marginal line and an incomplete row 

 of spots through the fringes. The head and 

 thorax are grey and the abdomen greyish 

 brown. It is found in Central Europe, in 

 March and April. The variety melaleuca. 

 View, is darker brown, almost black. It is 

 found with the type. The larva is green or 

 brown with yellowish white stripes. It feeds 

 on the roots of grasses and other low plants 

 in July. 



Genus AsterOSCOpuS, Boisd. 



Middle-sized grey moths with a thickly 

 woolly head and thorax, without regular tufts; 

 long, tolerably narrow fore wings, the nervures 

 of which and the indistinct longitudinal stripes 

 between them, are darker and the transverse 

 lines confused. Nervure 6 rises from the dis- 

 coidal cell, 7 and 8 from a point, by a short 

 stalk, 9 from 8, and 10 from the appendicular 

 cell. On the hind wings nervures 3 and 4 rise 

 from a point, 6 and 7 by a short stalk, 8 

 uniting beyond its origin with the subcostal 

 nervure. The front tibiae are scarcely half as 

 long as the femora and are provided with long 

 spurs. The larvae are thick and smooth with 

 a somewhat raised twelfth segment. They rest 

 with the front part of the body arched. They 

 pass into the pupa state in the ground. 



A. nubeculosus, Esp. The Rannoch 

 Sprawler. Fore wings slightly suffused, brown- 



