PHRAGMATOBIA. 1 37 



Eyprepia fuUginosa^ Ochsenheimer, Schmett. Eur. iii. p. 346 



(1810). 

 Chelonia fuligtnosa, Godart, Lepid. France, iv. p. 351, pi. 36, 



fig. 4 (1822). 

 Phragmatobia fidiginosa^ Stephens, 111. Brit. Ent. Haust. ii. p. 74 



(1828); Kirby, Eur. Butterflies & Moths, p. 106 (1880); 



Buckler, Larvae of Brit. Lepid. iii. pi. 45, fig. i (1889) ; 



Barrett, Lepid. Brit. Isl. ii. p. 274, pi. 75, figs, i, la-d 



(1894). 



This Moth occurs throughout Europe, and in Northern and 

 Western Asia. It expands from \y(^ to i}^ inch. 



The Ruby Tiger varies much in colour, but has the fore- 

 wings and thorax usually reddish-brown, and the hind-wings 

 rosy-red, with a series of black marks running together to form 

 a band on the hind margin. Near the centre of all the wings 

 are two black points, and the fringes are red. The abdomen 

 is carmine-red. with a row of black dorsal spots, and a similar 

 row on each side. 



The larva is thickly covered with hairs, which vary in colour 

 in different individuals, but are commonly brown or reddish, 

 the head and legs being of a corresponding hue ; the head is 

 coppery-brown or black. Scarcely any of our ordinary plants 

 are rejected by it as food. Fabricius has remarked of this 

 larva, that when it is seen to run over the snow in winter, it 

 may be taken as a sign that the ensuing summer will be cold 

 and ungenial, " Hyenie in nive obainbulans, cestates fn'gidiores 

 et ajinoncB caritatem prcemmciat^^^ a prognostication which the 

 French naturalist Godart proves not to be infallible by gravely 

 stating the result of his observations to the contrary, and he has 

 actually known a beautiful summer and plentiful harvest to 

 follow the phenomenon alluded to. 



The pupa is black, with yellow incisions, and is enclosed in 

 a brownish elongated oval cocoon. 



