NOTODONTID^.— CERURA. 15 



Ph. Bo. coeruleocephala. Linne. — Don.iii.pl. 100. — Ep. cceruleocephala. Steph. 

 CaiaL No. 5957. 



Griseous : anterior wings ashy-grey, with an oblique black line at the base, then 

 an undulated transvere black streak, followed behind the middle by another, 

 very much waved, and somewhat parallel with the hinder margin, bordered 

 externally towards the costa with whitish; between these are two kidney- 

 shaped confluent stigmata with whitish edges and a double greyish white 

 centre ; on the hinder margin is a cinereous fascia, bounded externally by a 

 narrow indented black line ; on the anal angle is an abbreviated black streak ; 

 the ciha griseous spotted with brown : posterior wings whitish, with a black 

 streak at the anal angle, and the nervures and a central spot dusky: thorax 

 anteriorly griseous, posteriorly cinereous : abdomen dusky-griseous, with the 

 apex brownish. Female rather darker. 



Caterpillar stout, smooth, and bluish, with yellow longitudinal lines and black 

 spots : it appears early in the spring, feeds on the blackthorn, whitethorn, 

 pear, &c., and changes to pupa in the beginning of June, within a strong 

 silken web. 



A very common species, appearing towards the beginning or 

 middle of September : the larvae are very abundant towards the 

 end of May, in hedges, near Coombe, Peckham, and Cohiey- hatch 

 woods. 



Genus XXXVII — Cerura, Schranh. 



Palpi four; labial small, three-jointed, compressed, with the apex obtuse; 

 maxillary minute, attenuated at the tip ; maxillcB short, flat, not spiral. An- 

 tennw curved at the apex, bipectinated in both sexes, the pectinations longest 

 in the males, and ciliated : head moderate : thorax rather stout, not crested : 

 abdomen moderate, robust in the females, with the apex obtuse, slightly tufted 

 in the males : wings entire, somewhat diaphanous, anterior elongate ; neura~ 

 tion various: legs and abdomen beneath woolly: anterior tibice with an 

 elongate, compressed lobe; posterior simple. Larva robust, truncate ante- 

 riorly, with an elevation on the third segment; the anal feet produced into 

 two long retractile filaments, with two short spines between: pupa inclosed in 

 a hard case, generally formed of pieces of woody matter united by gluten. 



As a genus Cerura is well marked, and may be at once known 

 by its pallid, subdiaphanous, strongly-veined wings, deeply bipec- 

 tinated, somewhat uncinnated antennae, and robust pilose body and 

 legs, exclusively of the distinctions in the trophi, which can only 

 be observed by dissection : the species have been greatly neglected 

 in this country ; but having, for several years past, attended parti- 

 cularly to them, I have detected several nondescripts, one of which 

 has, however, been lately published. The species may be very 

 readily detected by the differences in the neuration of the wings, a 



