THE MUSLIN. 1 53 



tinted line down the middle of the back. Head glossy 

 brown. 



The glossy reddish-brown chrysalis is enclosed in a dingy 

 coloured web-like cocoon, which is spun up among leaves or 

 litter on the ground. Mr. R. Adkin found some of these 

 cocoons spun up between the folds of an old brown blanket 

 used as a covering for a rabbit hutch in winter. The moth 

 emerges in June. Occasionally, in confinement, specimens will 

 leave the chrysalis in the autumn instead of passing the winter 

 therein, as they more usually do (Plate 76). 



A common and often abundant species over the greater part 

 of the British Isles. Its range abroad extends through Central 

 and Northern Europe, South Russia, and Tartary to Amurland, 

 Corea, and West China. 



The Muslin {Diaphora nwidicd). 



The early British authors knew this moth as the "Spotted 

 Muslin" or "Seven Spot Ermine" (Harris, 1778). The male 

 is dark brown or blackish, with a few usually obscure black 

 dots on each wing. The female is silky white, with more 

 clearly defined, and often more numerous, black dots (Plate 75, 

 Figs. 4-6). On Plate 78 will be found figures of the rarer and 

 more extreme aberrations of the female. Those represented by 

 Figs. 3, 4, 6, 7, were reared some years ago by Mr. G. T. 

 Porritt, of Huddersfield, who at the same time obtained a 

 number of other interesting intermediate examples ("Trans. 

 P^nt. Soc. Lond.," 1889, P- 44 ij PI- H)- Variation in the other 

 direction is towards the complete suppression of the black dots ; 

 and I have seen specimens with only one such dot on each wing. 



In the var. rustica, shown on the same plate, it will be noted 

 that the males assimilate somewhat to the female coloration ; 

 the specimens (Figs, i, 2), were bred by Mr. Robert Adkin 

 in 1887. This form was not known to occur in the British 



