■ CLOUDED MAGPIE. 259 



rings, which are pale in colour ; a blackish line above the 

 black-edged spiracles is broken up into dashes on the middle 

 rings. Several other forms of the caterpillar, which is a 

 variable one, have been described by Hellins. The food 

 comprises groundsel, knotgrass, chrysanthemum, and various 

 other plants. There are several generations during the year, 

 and in hot weather the caterpillars feed up rapidly, so quickly 

 indeed that in about a month the whole round of changes from 

 egg to moth is effected. The species is migratory in habit, 

 and there is little doubt that the specimens taken in this 

 country in late spring or early summer are immigrants ; those 

 examples obtained later in the year are probably the descen- 

 dants of such aliens. It is more frequently noted from southern 

 England, chiefly from the seaboard counties, but it has been 

 recorded from Lancashire and Yorkshire ; also from Wales, 

 and from several parts of Ireland: April to November. 



BOARMIIN/E. 



t' 



Clouded Magpie {Abraxas sylvaia). 



A more or less typical example of each sex of this variable 

 species will be found on Plate 103. Fig. 7 represents a male, 

 and Fig. 8 a female ; the slightly marked specimen (Fig. 6) 

 somewhat approaches the continental species A. pa7itaria^ L., 

 in appearance, and it is probable that such individuals have 

 done duty for the species just named in some of the older 

 collections of British lepidoptera. On Plate 104 are shown the 

 leaden tinted form (Fig. 6), sometimes not infrequent in certain 

 Yorkshire localities ; a specimen with smoky fore wings (Fig. 7), 

 taken with a few other examples of the same form in a wood in 

 Buckinghamshire, in 1907, when also the strongly banded form 

 (Fig. 8) was secured by Mr. A. J. Scollick. Between these 



