LEPIDOPTERA. 89 



antennae proclaim it to be a moth. It flies at dusk, 

 and is readily captured, making its appearance in July. 

 It is unknown in Scotland. 



The larva has several small lumps on some of the 

 segments. It is yellowish or reddish brown in colour, w^ith 

 paler longitudinal streaks. It feeds on oak, bramble, elder 

 (hence the specific name), and ivy. The chrysalis is con- 

 tained in a su.-pended cocoon. The Emerald moths, re- 

 markably handsome for the beautiful green, like grass or 

 emerald, which, however, very soon fades, belong to the 

 group. The Magpie moth {Abraxas grossularia), spotted 

 black and wdiite, with a yellow patch at the base of each 

 wing, sometimes called the Currant or Gooseberry moth, 

 from its depositing its eggs and the larvae feeding on the 

 leaves of the black currant and gooseberry, is extremely 

 common in gardens, where the caterpillar, which is 

 marked very like the perfect insect, often does consider- 

 able damage. After feeding for a few weeks the larva 

 spins together the edges of a leaf, after having fastened 

 it to a twig by a number of silk threads. Here it re- 

 mains as a larva all the winter. Early in spring, when 

 the gooseberry tree puts forth its green leaves, the larvae, 

 to use Mr. Newman's words, " cuts an opening in his 

 pensile cradle, emerges, and begins to eat." It is full 

 fed in May, when it spins a transparent cocoon, in 

 which it changes to a chrysalis, the moth appearing 

 about midsummer. It is very variable in its markings. 

 The species in this group are elegantly formed, and the 

 wings often delicately pencilled. 



The group to which I now come (Pi/ralidi?ia) is less 

 extensive than the two previous ones. The fore-wings 

 are long and triangular, the whole outline of the insect, 



