THE KNTOMOLOGIST. 1()3 



The following sketch of its life-history and distinguishing 

 characters are derived almost exclusively from Guenee. The 

 larva occurs in April and September, on Ononis spinosa 

 (rest-harrow), the only plant on which it has been known to 

 ieed : it is extremely sluggish, and never leaves its food- 

 plant : it is short, fusiform, obese and without tubercles, and 

 is entirely covered with short stiff hairs ; its colour is pale 

 dull green, with a darker medio-dorsal stripe, and a paler but 

 indistinct spiracular stripe. When full-fed it spins a cocoon 

 on the surface of the earth amongst moss, and therein under- 

 goes its change to a pupa. The moth appears on the wing 

 at the end of May, and again in July and August. It would 

 perhaps be rash to state, without farther proof, that there are 

 two broods of this insect in the year ; but the facts of the 

 case seem fairly to lead us to that conclusion : it is highly 

 probable that the larvae observed in September hybernate at 

 the roots of the rest-harrow, and feed again in April, and 

 thus that these apparent broods are nothing more than sea- 

 sonal appearances of the same individuals ; such hybernating 

 larvae would spin their cocoons in the beginning of May, and 

 appear on the wing at the end of the month. Neither larvae 

 nor perfect insects appear to have been observed in June, 

 but at the end of July and in August the moth again ap- 

 pears : it seems therefore reasonable to suppose that a gene- 

 ration is matured between May and August, and if so the 

 readiest way to obtain a series would be to cut the rest- 

 harrow in June, and shake it over a collecting-net, or into an 

 umbrella : if the larvae were then feeding they would in- 

 evitably be found. The antennae of the moth are perfectly 

 simple and setaceous in both sexes ; the labial palpi ap- 

 proximate, scaly, sharp-pointed and slightly curved at the 

 extremity ; the maxilla? are small, almost rudimentary ; the 

 fore wings are rather pointed ; the hind wings rounded, but 

 truncate at the anal angle : the colour of the wings is dull 

 ochre, thickly iirorated whh brick-red dots, and having a 

 scarcely perceptible median shade common to them all, and 

 due to the crowding of the dots ; the hind wings are rather 

 paler than the fore wings ; the under side has the median 

 shade more distinctly marked than the upper side : the sexes 

 are alike. 7'his insect is almost sure to occur wherever the 

 rest-harrow is abundant: Guenee describes it as common 

 near his residence at Chateaudun, — Edward Newman. 



