164 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



FAMILY VII. BOMBYCID^:. 

 LASIOCAMPA RUB I. THE FOX MOTH. 



Common throughout the country, particularly in 

 heathy places. 



The expansion of the wings of the male is ahout 

 2 inches of the female nearly 2J inches. All the 

 wings are of a reddish-brown (more of a purplish-brown 

 in the female), with two pale yellowish, slender, trans- 

 verse lines near the middle of the fore- wings. 



The larva is golden-brown on the back, black between 

 the segments ; it is clothed with rather long hairs ; 

 when it is only about half grown it is black with 

 yellowish rings; it feeds on heath and various low 

 plants in the months of August and September. 



The perfect insect appears at the end of May and 

 beginning of June ; the males fly swiftly and wildly 

 towards dusk ; they may easily be attracted in numbers 

 by means of a bred specimen of the female. 



FAMILY VII. BOMBYCID^;. 

 LASIOCAMPA TRIFOLII. THE GKASS EGGAB. 



This species seems fond of sea-breezes, and has gene- 

 rally been found in the greatest plenty on the coast, as 

 at Plymouth, Lytham in Lancashire, and Eastbourne. 



The expansion of the wings varies from 2 to 2J inches. 



The fore-wings are of a pale reddish-brown, with a 

 central white spot on the disk ; between it and the base 

 is generally a faint, pale band, and beyond the middle 

 is a narrow, curved, yellowish band, which goes from 

 the costa, near the tip, to the middle of the inner 

 margin (the position of this band is much more oblique 

 that in the Oak Eggar). 



