Eriogaster. 131 



3. C. Franconica (W. V.). — Wings thinly scaled, dark olive-brown in the male, with whitish 

 irregularly-spotted fringes ; fore-wings with two indistinct pale yellow transverse stripes ; those of 

 the female uniform brownish-red. The fore-wings form an obtuse angle below the tip. Expands 

 about 1 3- inches. It is found in South Europe and Western Asia in July and August, and is also 

 met with in some parts of South- Western Germany. The larva is bluish-black, with yellow 

 hairs, and a blue stripe on the back followed by four yellowish-red lines. There is also a pale 

 blue streak on the sides, and a reddish-yellow line below it. It feeds on various plants in May and 

 June. {C. Alpicola, Staud., found in the high Alps, is smaller, with more rounded and opaque 

 wings. The fore-wings of the male are chocolate-brown, with a very broad oblique transverse 

 band, and those of the female are dark reddish-brown, with an indistinct oblique line, but not paler 

 in the centre. It appears from July to September, and the larva lives on different species of 

 willow, and on Rosa piinpincUifolia^ 



*4. C. Neustria (Linn.), {Lackey Moth). — Fore-wings ochre-yellow, with two brown nearly 

 straight transverse stripes ; or brownish-red, with two pale yellow ones ; the intermediate space is 

 generally darker. The hind-wings are paler, and the fringes are irregularly spotted with brown. 

 Expands from ij to i^ inches. Common throughout Europe and Northern and Western Asia in 

 July and August. The larva is covered with soft, thin hair ; there is a white line on the back, and 

 blue, red, and yellow longitudinal streaks. The eggs are laid closely together in a broad ring 

 round a branch ; the larvK hatch in the following April, and live till June under a common 

 web on forest and fruit trees. They are often destructive, but the eggs, or the nests with the 

 young larvaj, are readily discovered and destroyed. The moth and larva are figured at PL 28, 

 Fjg. 6, a, b. 



* 5. C. Castrensis (Linn.). — Fore-wings of the male pale yellow, with two brown transverse 

 stripes connected in the middle and shaded with brown beyond ; those of the female are reddish- 

 brown, with two indistinct pale yellow tran.sverse stripes ; hind-wings brown, fringes irregularly 

 spotted. The variety Taraxacoides (Bell.), from South France, has unicolorous straw-coloured wings. 

 Size, times of appearance, distribution, &c., similar to Neustria, but Castrensis is a much scarcer 

 species. The larva is orange on the back, and blue on the sides, with black streaks and spots, and 

 a whitish line on the back bordered with blue. It lives on heath, spurge, &c., in May and June. 

 The sexes and larva are figured at PI. 28, Fig. 7, a—c. (C. Neogena, Waldh., is brown, with an ash- 

 coloured spot in the middle of the fore-wings, and a double row of connected ashy lunules before 

 the hind margin ; the hind-wings are also ashy. It occurs in South Russia and Western Asia.) 



GENUS IV.— ERIOGASTER (GERM.). 



Wings rounded; fore-wings with a white spot in the middle ; abdomen of the female with an 

 anal tuft. The moths appear from August to October, except Lanestris, which is met with in 

 February. The larvae live gregariously under a web when young, and disperse when older. They 

 may be looked for in May and June. The moths e.xpand from i^ to if inches. 



I. E. Rimicola (W. V.). — Fore-wings reddish-grey, with the hind margins more thinly scaled, 

 and with a white spot in the middle ; hind-wings paler. Widely distributed in Central Europe, 

 except the north-west. It has not hitherto been recorded as British, but it is quite possible that 

 an insect which has been stated to appear a week before Lanestris, in Worcestershire, may really 

 be Rimicola. The larva is thinly hairy, ashy-grey, with a blue stripe on the back, edged first witli 

 black and then with white, on each of which stand rcddish-)-clIow warts. It feeds on oak, and is 

 figured, with the moth, at PI. 29, Fig. 3, a, b. 



