y' 



138 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Barrett, in Devonshire and i.n the fens of Norfolk and Cam- 

 bridge. It occurs in the Clydesdale district, Ross, and Argyll- 

 shire in Scotland ; and in Ireland it seems to be widely spread 

 and common in some localities. 



\J^c^^ The Chinese Ch^LVSiQtQV (Ci/Lx g/a/zarfa). 



'^'^ Probably in reference to the grey-brown oval blotch on the 

 middle of the white fore wings, this moth was known to the 

 older entomologists by the English name of " Goose-egg." On 

 the blotch, however^ there are silvery marks on the veins, and 

 below it (often attached) there is a blackish blotch with some 

 bluish silvery scales upon it. These markings probably sug- 

 gested to Haworth the name Chinese Character by which it is 

 commonly known (Plate 71). 



The caterpillar is reddish brown, with a darker line along the 

 back, and a paler patch on rings three to five, extending as 

 a narrow stripe to the dark-brown spiked tail ; two raised warts 

 on rings two and three, with a white dot between the hinder 

 pair. Head darker brown, paler in front. It feeds in June and 

 early July, and in September and October, chiefly on hawthorn 

 and sloe, but it will also eat apple and pear. The chrysalis, 

 which is enclosed in a brown, rather tough, silken cocoon, spun 

 up among leaves or under loose bark, is greyish on the wing 

 covers, and reddish on the body. 



The moth is out in May and early June, and again from late 

 July well into August. Sometimes it may be seen resting on a 

 leaf in a hedgerow. When disturbed in the daytime, which may 

 happen where one is beating the bushes, it falls, rather than flies, 

 to the ground. At night it may be netted as it flies along the 

 hedgeside or wood borders in almost every county of England 

 and Wales. In Scotland its range seems not to extend north 

 of Clydesdale. Kane states that it is " widely spread, but not 

 generally at all numerous" in Ireland. 



