26o EuROPEAx Butterflies and Moths. 



FAMILY XII.— PLUSID^. 



Middle-sized moths, the fore-wings brown, grey, yellowish, or greenish, rarely with the 

 ordinary Noctna-'^-dXX.&xw, and often with metallic markings ; hind-wings broad, rounded, and 

 slightly contracted below the tips ; the antennae simple, and the palpi nearly always strongly 

 developed, the collar round, and not concave, and the abdomen convex. The larvje are 

 naked, or furnished with scattered hairs, and have twelve or sixteen legs. The moths 

 slope their wings when at rest, and many fly by day, while others fly at dusk, or later. 



GENUS I. — TELESILLA (HERR.-SCHAFF.), 



Fore-wings with the hind margin nearly straight below the tips, with no metallic 

 markings, the fringes not longer at the hinder angle, the stigmata distinctly dark, surrounded 

 with paler ; the abdomen extending nearly to the anal angle of the hind-wings, and the 

 antennae scarcely half the length of the costa. The larvae are slender, tapering gradually 

 in front, with sixteen full)'-developed legs ; and they undergo their transformations in the 

 ground. 



1. T. Ametliystina (Hiibn.). — Fore-wings olive-brown, with the outside of the half-line, 

 the spaces between the double transverse lines, the suffused submarginal band, the stigmata, 

 which are partly bordered with white, and a triangular spot connecting them below, all 

 dusted with reddish-violet. Hind-wings pale grey, with an indistinct central lunule, the 

 nervures darker, and the fringes rosy. Expands from i^ to li inches. A scarce insect, 

 inhabiting some parts of Central Europe from May to July. The larva is green, with 

 three white lines on the back, and one on the sides ; the latter shades into red at both 

 ends. It may be found early in the morning in July and August among the umbels 

 of the \\ild carrot, and of Pciiccdaiiian paliistre. 



2. T. ]^irgo (Tr.). — Fore-wings coffee-brown, everywhere more or less suffused with rose- 

 colour, except round the two stigmata, which are placed obliquely together in the form of 

 a V ; the transverse lines are white, and converge on the inner margin, and there are 

 traces of a whitish submarginal band, which is suffused, double, and dentated. Hind-wings 

 unicolorous shining yellowish-grey. Rather larger than Ametliystina. It inhabits Hungary 

 and the Ural, and flies by day. 



GENUS 11. — ABROSTOLA (lIUBN.). 



Includes three very similar species. Fore-wings dark grey, with a short curved hind 

 margin and waved fringes, the transverse lines widely apart and not dentated, the inner 

 line slightly arched, and the elbowed line rather curved. Both lines are single, narrow, 

 black, and bordered with rust-colour. The orbicular and reniform stigmata are indicated 

 by a narrow black outline, and there is generally another slender black ring beneath 

 the former. The stigmata and transverse lines are covered with raised scales. The subter- 

 minal line is finely zigzag, and marked with narrow deep black arrow-heads below the 

 costa. Hind-wings brownish-grey, paler towards the base ; palpi rather large and ascending, 

 with the last joint linear; abdomen extending considerably beyond the anal angle 

 of tin; hind-wings. The larvae are attenuated in front, and have sixteen legs, but the 

 fust two pairs of legs are rudimentary, so that they walk like Loopers. They feed 

 chiefly b\- day from July to September, and undergo their transformations in a soft cocoon 



