THE SILVER CLOUD. 259 



blackish. Another has a larger portion of the inner marginal area 

 ochreous brown, or whitish, ab. melaleuca^ Vieweg ; a third form, 

 and the least frequent, may be described as pale ochreous brown 

 with darker mottling on the basal half, and black central markings 

 representing a broken streak from the base of the wing to the 

 outer margin, in this form the pale outlined stigmata are fairly 

 distinct, and there is a blackish shade between them extending 

 from the front to the inner margin. From chrysalids obtained 

 by digging under oak and elm trees in a private park several miles 

 from Taunton, Somerset, Mr. H. Doidge (1901) reared moths 

 and obtained eggs which were laid in a batch on the covering 

 of the cage in which the female was placed with a growing 

 plant of bird's-foot trefoil. The eggs hatched on May 31, ten 

 days after they were laid. The young caterpillars were purplish 

 grey, but after feeding on the yellow flowers they assumed the 

 same colour. " After finishing the flowers they commenced on 

 the leaves, by which time they were a pale green colour, with 

 a yellow spiracular stripe, and were fond of resting by day on 

 the stems of the plant. As they approached the final stage, the 

 green became shaded with brown and black," and then 

 resembled the ripening seed pods. They were afterwards 

 supplied with blackthorn, and did not object to the change of 

 food. They also ate dock (sparingly), and TrifoUum Diinus. 

 " About July 8 they began to go under ground to pupate. The 

 pupae, which were of a dark reddish-brown colour, and some- 

 what obese and blunt, being enclosed in a very compact and 

 brittle earthy cocoon " (Doidge). 



The moth is out in April and May, but is very local in 

 England. It has occasionally been found at rest on isolated 

 tree trunks or on posts, but very rarely captured in any other 

 way. Specimens have been obtained from chrysalids dug up 

 now and then from about the roots of trees, but perhaps most of 

 the specimens in collections, not numerous altogether, have 

 been reared from eggs. In England the species is only known 



