THE WHITE PROMINENT. 75 



The White Prominent {Lencodouta hicohma). 



The glossy white moth, prettily marked with orange and 

 black, shown on Plate 33, was not known to inhabit the British 

 Isles until 1858 when Bonchard obtained one specimen in a 

 large birch wood in the Killarney district, Ireland ; in the 

 following year he took a second specimen. Both captures 

 were made in the month of June. In June, 1861, one example 

 of the moth was found in Burnt Wood, Staffordshire ; and in 

 the same wood, June, 1865, no fewer than six specimens were 

 secured, and eggs obtained from one of the females. The 

 caterpillars duly hatched out, but most of them were lost, only 

 seven attaining the moth state. Kane states that in 1866 a 

 specimen was taken in Mucross demesne, and caterpillars "were 

 said also to have been beaten." Miss Vernon of Clontarf 

 showed him her collection of insects from Kerry, and he found 

 therein two rather poor specimens of the White Prominent from 

 a new locality in Kerry. Barrett mentions the capture, in 1880, 

 of a specimen near Exeter, Devonshire. From the foregoing, 

 which comprises all that appears to be definitely known about 

 British L. bicoloria, it will be gathered that the species is not 

 only very local, but exceedingly rare. 



The caterpillar, figured on Plate 32, from a coloured drawing 

 by Mr. A. Sich, is pale yellowish green, rather whiter on the 

 upper surface ; the lines are green, the central one darkest ; the 

 stripe along the spiracles is yellow edged with green. It feeds 

 on birch in July, and changes in due course to a dark reddish 

 brown chrysalis, which is enclosed in a compact silken cocoon 

 spun up between leaves. The moth emerges in May or June. 

 Abroad the species seems to be generally distributed in Central 

 Plurope, and is also found in the Ural, Amurland, Ussuri, and 

 Japan. 



