46 



THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



brown shaded with greenish, with a whitish, waved cross Hne. 



The colours of the head, thorax, and body are similar to those 



of the wings. 



The caterpillar feeds on the Oleander {Neriion oleander), and 



also on the lesser periwinkle {Vinca minor). When full grown 



it is olive green on the back 

 from the hinder part of the third 

 ring to the small, rough, and 

 drooping, horn ; the under sur- 

 face and the whole of the first 

 three rings ochreous ; there is a 

 livided brown spot on the ring 

 nearest the head (first thoracic 

 segment), and two larger blue- 

 black spots on the third ring. 

 These spots each enclose two 

 whitish clouds ; on the front edge 

 of rings five to nine (second to 

 sixth abdominal segments) are 

 whitish dots, but these are fewer 

 on rings eight and nine than on 

 the others ; a narrow whitish 

 stripe, edged above and below 

 with whitish dots, runs along the 

 sides from ring five to the horn ; 



spiracles are black with pale margins (Plate i). 



Chrysalis brown with blackish central line, which l^ecomes 



broken and obscure on the body rings, broken again on the 



head, but continued thence along the under surface to the tips 



of the wing cases. The spiracles are blackish ; the body is 



dotted, and the last rings are clouded with blackish. 



I have only seen a preserved example of this caterpillar and 



a dead chrysalis ; descriptions of each are from these. 



The first published notification of the occurrence of this moth 



Fig. i8. 

 Chrysalis of Oleander-Moth. 



(Photo by W. J. Lucas.) 



