122 THE LYCHNIS MOTHS. 



marked with a greyish chevron and a bar and 

 two round dots of the same colour. The Moth 

 appears at the beginning of August. 



Another species of this genus is the Marbled 

 Coronet {Dianthcecia conspersa), an insect which 

 is more conspicuous in its colouring than the 

 preceding species. The grouna hue of the fore 

 wings is nearly black, and the markings, which 

 are somewhat variable, are of a soft white. 

 Perhaps the most constant and conspicuous of 

 these marks is a narrow and slightly waved 

 line, which runs nearly parallel to and not far 

 from the hind margin, and widening into a 

 white patch near the corner of the wing. 



Marbled Coronet. 



Like the larva of the preceding insect, the 

 caterpillar feeds on a lychnis, but prefers another 

 species, the common Ragged Eobin (^Lychnis 

 flos-cuculi), sometimes called the Meadow Lych- 

 nis. When full-fed, it burrows slightly beneath 

 the ground, spinning for itself a silken cocoon 



