THE SALLOW KITTEN. 6l 



The Sallow Kitten ( Centra furcida). 



This moth differs from the last in its generally smaller size, 

 but more especially in the shape of the black line forming the 

 outer margin of the central band ; this is always more or less 

 angled or dentate towards the front margin of the wings, 

 whereas, in the Poplar Kitten, this portion of the line forms a 

 clean curve (Plate 22, Figs. 4, 5). 



The eggs are black, rather glossy, and are generally deposited 

 in pairs, but rarely more than three, and often only singly, on 

 the upper surface of a leaf of sallow or willow. The caterpillar 

 feeds from July to September, sometimes as early as the end of 

 June, or as late as October. It is green, with a yellow tinge ; 

 the markings on the back are similar to these characters in the 

 caterpillar of the preceding species, but, as Avill be seen by 

 looking at the figures on Plate 23, they are not quite the same in 

 outline. The figure of the young caterpillar on this plate was 

 made soon after it left the egg, and the shell from which it 

 emerged is also depicted. Sallow and willow are the usual 

 food plants, but in August, 1906, I found a half-grown cater- 

 pillar of this species on aspen, but it died a few days afterwards. 

 The reddish-brown chrysalis is enclosed in the usual hard 

 cocoon of its kind, which is affixed to a branch or the trunk of 

 the tree upon which the caterpillar fed. A depression is usually 

 selected, and when the cocoon is finished off with its covering 

 of bark fragments it is difficult to see. 



The species is well distributed over England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland ; perhaps more frequently obtained on the mosses of 

 Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, than in other parts of 

 England. It is found in Central and Northern Europe, and., 

 according to Staudinger, in Amurland and North America- 



