1 32 HAUSTELLATA. — LEPIDOPTERA. 



Similar to the last, but considerably smaller : the anterior wings are of an ochra- 

 ceous yellow, with various irregular purple clouds on the costa, and a broad, 

 internally notched, purple margin ; two obsolete dusky lines cross the disc 

 obliquely, and the fringe is purplish spotted with white towards the anal 

 angle; the posterior wings are dusky-black at the base, and purplish at the 

 hinder margin, the intermediate space being more or less ochraceous-yellow : 

 the cilia white, spotted irregularly with purplish : head, thorax, and abdomen 

 sometimes entirely of a rich reddish purple ; at others with the disc of each 

 yellowish : at the base of the anterior wings is a tuft of whitish hairs. 



Caterpillar with a very minute caudal appendage : brown or green, with a large 

 blue oceUated spot on each side of the fourth, fifth, and sixth segments, and 

 a narrow paler lateral streak : its food is similar to that of De. Elpenor. The 

 chrysalis is pale brown, with the head and wing-cases dusky. 



Found occasionally near London, at Croydon, Birch and Coombe- 

 woods, on Wandsworth-common, &c. in the beginning of June. 

 " Netley, Salop/'—Rev. F. W. Hope. " Bred abundantly by the 

 collectors at Birmingham." — Rev. W. T. Bree. "One taken near 

 York." — W. C. Hewitson, Esq. " Near Gussage, Dorset ; and very 

 common at Winterslow, near Salisbury." — Mr. Ingpen. " Ames- 

 bury, Hants." — Rev. G. T. Rudd. " I took a single specimen on 

 the Devil's Ditch, Cambridgeshire, June 12, 1827, resting on a 

 stem of bur net." — Rev. L. Jenyns. 



Family 111.— SESIID^. 



AntemuE prismatic, ciliated in the males, slightly hooked, the apex terminating 

 in an oblique scaly process : palpi short, clothed with scales, the terminal 

 joint extremely minute : abdmnen conical, with the apex tufted. Larva 

 naked, with a horny appendage on the hinder segment : pupa smooth, without 

 spines, enclosed in a coccoon upon the ground. 



In common with the Zygaenidue and ^geriidse, though unlike 

 the Sphingidse, the insects of this family fly in fine weather 

 only, towards the middle of the day, their flight being suspended 

 about noon for a short period; it is performed with the utmost 

 rapidity, and is accompanied by a considerable humming noise ; 

 whence the insects have been termed Humming-bird, or Ree-moths. 

 They may be known from the Sphingidse by their comparatively 

 diminutive size, by the form of the apex of the antennae, and more 

 especially by the tuft of scaly hairs with which the abdomen is 

 terminated : from the -^geriidse they may be distinguished by their 

 antennaj being straight, destitute of a tuft at the apex, and pris- 

 matic. Their larvae feed on the leaves of plants, and their pupae 

 are enclosed in a coccoon on the surface of the ground. 



