THE COXCOMB PROMINENT. ^^ 



The Coxcomb Prominent {Lophopteryx camelina). 



• Probably the commonest of the true Prominents, and certainly 

 the most variable. The early stages are figured on Plate 32, and 

 two forms of the moth on Plate 33. In its typical and southern 

 form the fore wings are more or less pale reddish brown with a 

 darker cloud on the inner marginal area ; there are three dusky, 

 or blackish, cross lines, but two of these are generally very 

 indistinct, the third runs from the blackish " tooth " on the inner 

 margin to the front edge of the wing, and is followed by a pale 

 wavy band often outwardly bordered with dusky. Sometimes 

 the fore wings are clouded with dark brown, and in the North 

 of England a dark reddish form occurs. In Scotland the fore 

 wings vary in colour from dusky brown through reddish to 

 pale yellowish brown; sometimes the "tooth" is reddish in 

 chestnut coloured specimens. The whitish eggs are laid on 

 the undersides of the leaves of various trees and bushes upon 

 which the caterpillar feeds ; these are chiefly birch, oak, hazel, 

 sallow, and beech. 



The caterpillar, which appears in July to October, and 

 sometimes even later, is green, with a darker line on the 

 back, and a yellow one on the sides ; two reddish tipped 

 wart-like projections on the back of ring eleven. Occasionally 

 the general colour is ochreous with a pinkish tinge, or it may 

 be e\en purplish. There are two broods in the south of 

 England, but only one in the north. The moths of the first 

 brood fly in May and June, and those of the second in July and 

 August, sometimes rather later. Pretty generally distributed 

 throughout England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Abroad 

 its range extends over Northern and Central Europe to Northern 

 Spain, Northern and Central Italy, Dalmatia, Turkey, Armenia, 

 Siberia, Amurland, Corea, and Japan. 



