THE LEPIDOPTERIST'S CALENDAR 



OVA] 



APRIL 



c. 



E. 



fulvata on dog rose; rose 



pink, large 

 dotata on black and red 



currant ; large 

 cervinaria ...on mallow 

 lineolata ... on Galium; in clusters 



of eight or ten ; at first pale 



yellow, but soon change to 



bright ochreous-brown 



spartiata on broom 



Cassinea on oak 



nubeculosa ...on birch 



curtula on poplars & sallow 



ridens on oak; upon the 



twigs 

 flavago on steins of marsh 



thistles, burdock, &c.; in heaps 

 suffusa on grass, lettuce, 



radish, &c. 

 gothica on sallow, oak, and 



other trees, also many low plants 

 leucographa...on plantain; oval, 



bright yellow 



rubricosa on dock; pale yellow 



opima onRosaspinosissima; 



in large clusters, conspicuous at 



a distance ; at first pale yellow, 



but soon change to pinkish 

 brown. The eggs of this species 

 are, however, as often deposited 

 upon the dead seed-heads of 

 ragwort and houndstongue ; also 

 upon marum grass (Ammophila 

 arundinacea) and sallow, grow- 

 ing on sandy sea- shores, as upon 

 the food-plant 



T. populeti on twigs of aspen 



and poplar, especially Populus 

 nigra ; in clusters below the 

 axils 



gracilis on willow, sallow, 



and low plants ; often upon 

 seed-heads of plantain ; also 

 upon dead reed-heads 



, r miniosa on oak ; in clusters 



below the leaf-buds 



H. croceago on oak 



C . vetusta on poplar, & various 



meadow and marsh plants 

 exoleta on scabious cam- 

 pion, rest harrow 



X. petrificata ...on oak, lime, birch; 

 oval, greyish, thickly dotted 

 with purple 



LARVJE] 



The indications of past hibernation become numerous in the list this month. 

 It might be supposed that moths and butterflies have a very brief life, as they 

 are often only visible in the winged state for a short time ; but with many of 

 the larger species the period of life extends over eleven or twelve months, of 

 which nearly nine are passed in the larva state, though a portion of this time, 

 during the severe cold of winter, they are in a torpid condition. In others, 

 though the total length of life is about the same, the larval life is short, and 

 the imago life is long, commencing at the latter part of the summer, and ex- 

 tending through the winter, to the commencement of the succeeding sum- 

 mer, interrupted, as in the larval life, by a period of torpidity during the 

 winter. Of course with those insects of which two, or three broods appear 

 in the year, the life is very much briefer. Some species hibernate nearly 

 full-fed, or feeding occasionally during mild weather, are found during this 

 and the next month as larvae, still unchanged. E. Lichenea will be found in 

 its haunts on the coast full-fed, and about to change, from now to July. It 

 is a species which is hard to breed away from its native habitat. The two 

 chief modes of capturing larvae are by beating, and by searching with a lantern 

 in the evening. It is yet too early in the season, now that we only see 



"the first 

 Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst," 



