BOMBYCES 



237 



TJie Chocolate Tip (Pi/gcera curtula) 



This species is not nearly so common as the last, bnt is to be 

 met with more or less in most of the English counties in the month 

 of May. 



Its fore wings are light greyish brown, crossed with four trans- 

 verse paler streaks, and tipped with a patcli of chocolate brown. 

 The hind wings are pale yellowish 



grey. 



The young caterpillars feed in com- 

 panies between leaves which they have 

 spun together, but when nearly full 

 grown thej cease to be gregarious. 

 They are also verj- different in appear- Fig. 135. 

 ance at different ages. When fully 

 fed, the larva is of a reddish-grey 



colour, spotted with black, with a double row of orange-coloured 

 warts on each side. There is also a little black hump on each of 

 the fifth and twelfth segments. 



The food plants of this species are sallows (Sali-r caprca and 

 S. cinerca), poplar {Popiilns nigra), and aspen (P. tremida). 



-The Chocolate 

 Tip. 



Family — Cymatophorid.e 



This, the last family of the Bomhijccs, contains seven species of 

 moderate size, the larvae of which are either quite smooth or have 

 small warty prominences. The seven species are grouped into 

 three genera, from two of which we shall select a representative. 



Tlir Peach Bios 



Tlnjatira Batis) 



The popular name of this pretty little moth is given on account 

 of the resemblance of the pink 

 patches of its olive-brown fore wings 

 to the petals of the peach flower. 

 It is a moderately common moth, 

 widely distributed in England and 

 Ireland, and Hies during .June and 

 July. 



The caterpillar is marbled with 

 reddish grey and brown, and has 

 a hump on the third segment, and a smaller prominence on each 



Fig. lb(j.- The Peach Blossom. 



