SCARLET TIGER-MOTH. 209 



each of them ornamented with about a dozen cream- 

 coloured or yellowish spots of various dimensions, 

 the two largest placed rather beyond the middle. 

 The secondary wings are of a. fine carmine-red, 

 with three large and irregular black spots; the 

 fringe of all the wings black. The thorax is black 

 glossed with green, and marked with two yellow 

 longitudinal spots : abdomen the colour of the un- 

 der wings on the surface, the under side, basal 

 segment, and a dorsal line, black ; the under side 

 highly glossed with green. Several varieties occur, 

 of which the most remarkable are those in which 

 the red colour is replaced by pale yellow, and such 

 as have the abdomen entirely black, and the under 

 wings dull brown, without any vestige of the gay 

 colouring of ordinary specimens. This latter variety 

 is represented on Plate xix. fig. 4. 



On issuing from the egg, the caterpillar is of a 

 dirty yellow, with the head and numerous small 

 spots over the body black. After its first moult 

 it becomes black, with three yellow longitudinal 

 lines, one on the back and another on each side ; 

 the black portion with many small blue tubercles, 

 from which issue diverging greyish hairs. The 

 moth appears in June ; but is not of frequent oc- 

 currence in this country. It has been found in 

 some plenty in the vicinity of Cambridge and in 

 Darenth Wood ; also, but much more sparingly, at 

 Blackheath, Oxford, near Reading, &c. 



