LUNAR THORN. 6i 



wings "being orange. It flies about the end of 

 summer and beginning of autumn, and is very- 

 common. 



A rather rarer s2:)ecies, the Dark Bordered 

 Beauty (Epione vespertaria), bears some re- 

 semblance to the preceding insect, but may be 

 known from it by the purple-brown dots whicn 

 are scattered over the orange part of the wing. 

 The wings of the female are yellow instead of 

 orange. 



We now pass on to the Lunar Thorn {Selenia 

 lunaria), so called from the brown semilunar 

 marks at the tips of the wings. A figure of the 

 female is given in Plate V. fig. 2. The male has 

 pectinated antennae, and the wings are much 

 darker. The general colour is pale reddish 

 brown, barred with a darker brown. Upon the 

 bar that crosses the middle of the upper wings 

 is a tiny crescent-shaped mark nearly white. A 

 similar, but paler mark occurs in the band that 

 crosses the hinder wings. 



The insect flies in the beginning of summer, 

 and the larvae can be taken on the blackthorn at 

 the end of autumn. 



There is another Moth which may easily be 

 mistaken for the preceding insect. This is the 

 Purple Thorn {Selenia illustraria)^ which is ver/ 



