BOMB YCID.E. 7 



on the back and sides, with a brilliant white subdorsal stripe 

 composed of numerous blotches ; beneath it an ill-defined 

 series of small yellowish spots, and two orange dorsal spots 

 on each segment. Another has the back black, sides dark 

 bluish-grey, a broad and much interrupted orange-tawny 

 subdorsal band, and a transverse, dorsal, similarly coloured 

 stripe on each segment. Below the tawny band is a broad 

 white stripe much interrupted with black spots, and shading 

 into the grey ground colour at the sides. Again, another is 

 sooty-black, with broad velvety-black transverse bands, one 

 on the back of each segment ; a series of very conspicuous 

 orange subdorsal dashes — two on each segment — alternating 

 with small whitish blotches, the latter being only visible 

 when the larva is curled up ; hairs yellowish-brown. And a 

 variety from Scotland is velvety-black, having on the sides a 

 series of cream-coloured blotches conspicuously produced 

 transversely, and interrupting the black ground colour ; the 

 blotches alternate with small lateral silvery-white spots ; 

 upper part of each of the larger blotches shaded with orange ; 

 hairs pale greyish-brown. (0. Fenn.) The head has some- 

 times white spots on the lobes or a red bar across the upper 

 portion ; the dorsal spots are sometimes brilliant orange-red ; 

 and all possible variations from clear white to yellow and 

 brilliant red seem to be produced, while the ground colour in 

 some cases is of a slate-blue. 



March or April to the beginning of June; on oak, hazel, birch, 

 hawthorn, blackthorn, sallow, and rarely on poplar. The Qg^ 

 is acorn-shaped, and of a rich chestnut colour-. It is laid in the 

 autumn, and covered by the parent with down from her anal 

 tuft; hatches in the early spring, and the larva feeds up 

 tolerably rapidly. It remains usually on the leaves of trees 

 or large bushes, and rarely shows itself on the trunk, though 

 fond of sunning itself on the leaves. A statement has been 

 made that in the north-east of Scotland it does not feed up 

 within the year, but hybernates as a larva, producing the 

 moth in the following season ; but this appears so improbable 



