BOARMIDAC— ABRAXAS. 263 



have seldom noticed it to attack anything but the red and 

 white currant bushes ; but this year scarcely anything has 

 escaped its ravages ; red, white, and black currants, goose- 

 berries, apple-trees, hollyhocks, cabbages ; indeed, there is 

 scarcely a vegetable or flower which has not more or less of 

 the pest upon it. In our own garden the larvae came out 

 very early, feeding upon the unopen buds of the gooseberry, 

 which they devoured so effectually that many of the smaller 

 bushes never showed a leaf, and latterly many of the larger 

 ones have been completely cleared of foliage, fruit, and young 

 shoots." 



Pupa plump and short, thickest in the middle, the ends of 

 the wing-covers very much filled out ; abdominal segments 

 but little tapering; anal segment full and rounded; cre- 

 master very curious,— a short, broad, flattened projection, 

 deep black, furnished with two thick, middle, black, project- 

 ing hoops which curl outwards ; one similar on each side of 

 them, also short and thick and curling outwards, and a short 

 pointed spike at each side of the base ; limb-covers com- 

 pressed, hardly sculptured, but with the covers of the head 

 and eyes smooth and brilliantly shining ; wing-covers equally 

 so, and very smooth ; antenna-cases thick and distinctly 

 sculptured in cross-channels ; anterior portions of the dorsal 

 and abdominal segments shining, but dotted with minute 

 pits ; the hinder area occupied by a broad, swollen, smooth 

 yellow band, except in the terminal segment where the band 

 is equally smooth, but of the ground colour— dark shining 

 bistre-brown. In a very slight cocoon of a few threads- 

 which do not in the least conceal it, among the leaves or on 

 the branches of its food plant, or on any convenient fence, 

 wall, tree trunk, or piece of woodwork close by ; usually 

 under a ledge, piece of bark, or covering of some kind 



The moth is slow and heavy upon the wing, with a flapping 

 lazy motion, and may often be caught with ease in the hand. 

 During the day it sits conspicuously on any fence, garden 



