RUBIACE^E 



the most interesting being those of the White 

 Admiral Butterfly (Limenitis Sibylla), and of the 

 Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyld). The 

 White Admiral is a black butterfly with a white 

 band of connected spots across the wings, which 

 measure nearly 2k inches in expanse. A century 

 ago it was common in almost every wood in 

 England ; but, like so many other butterflies it 

 has been growing more and more rare and local, 

 till very few places are left (except, perhaps, the 

 New Forest) from which it has not almost or 

 entirely disappeared. 



The Twenty-plume Moth is the only British 

 species in which each wing is divided almost to 

 the base into six distinct feathers. It is a slender 

 grey or yellowish moth, with broad wings, which 

 it is fond of spreading widely as it sits on a wall 

 or fence. In this position the wing-clefts are not 

 seen, and it resembles one of the small brown 

 Looper Moths called Pugs (genus Eupithecia). 

 It measures rather more than half an inch across 

 the wings. It is common in gardens in autumn, 

 and its flesh-coloured caterpillar feeds in the un- 



expanded buds of the honeysuckle, 

 is brownish yellow. 



85 

 The chrysalis 



Order XLII. Rubiacece (4 genera) 



This is an extensive Order, comprising many 

 plants of great economic importance, but it is poorly 

 represented in Europe by a few herbaceous plants. 

 They have angular stems and entire leaves, and 

 stipules simulating and forming whorls with them. 

 In the flower the calyx is combined with the ovary, 

 and the corolla is more or less tubular, with 4 or 5 

 terminal lobes, alternating with the stamens. The 

 fruit consists of two united carpels, each containing 

 a single seed, and is dry or berrylike. 



Dyer's Madder — -Rubin tinctorum 



Plate XLVII 



This is not a British plant, but it closely 

 resembles our Wild Madder (Rubia peregrind). 

 Dyer's Madder is largely cultivated in Central and 

 Southern Europe for the red dye obtained from 



