76 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The Maple Prominent {Lophoptcryx cnailla). 



To Donovan and the entomologists of his time this moth 

 (Plate 33, Fig. 4) was known by the English name still in use, 

 Stephens considered it a rare insect, and remarks that he once 

 caught a specimen at Darenth Wood, by " mothing," in June, 

 1820 ; several other examples had been taken in the same place, 

 and in the neighbouring woods. Although many more localities 

 are now known for the moth, it still continues to be rather a 

 scarce species. It appears to inhabit woods on a chalky soil 

 almost exclusively, and is found less uncommonly in the woods of 

 Buckinghamshire than in its other haunts in Berkshire, Oxford- 

 shire, Kent, Sussex, Devonshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, 

 and Norfolk. The bulk of the specimens in collections were 

 probably reared from the ^'g%^ or from caterpillars obtained by 

 beating or searching the maple bushes growing in the woods 

 frequented by the moth. 



The caterpillar is whitish green, rather glossy, with a dark 

 green line along the middle of the back, which is broadest 

 on the front rings, and a pale yellow stripe on the sides, 

 the latter edged above with pale green ; spiracles pinkish 

 edged with black ; a hump on the eleventh ring is purplish 

 tinted. Head pale ochreous broun marked with reddish 

 brown. Sometimes the general colour is yellowish or pinkish 

 ochreous. May be found in June and July on maple (Acer 

 campestris) and in confinement will feed very well on syca- 

 more (A. pscudoplatiDius). The moth usually emerges in May 

 or June, but in 1901 Mr. Adkin reared ten moths, July 24 

 to 31, from eggs deposited in the spring of that year. The 

 species does not seem to be a common one even abroad ; its 

 range extends through Central Europe to Italy and Sicily, and 

 it is also found in Ussuri. 



