270 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



The larva is grey, with conspicuous black spots ; it 

 feeds in May and June on hawthorn, apple, sloe, etc.; 

 the Iarv83 hatched from one batch of eggs keep together 

 all their lives, spinning a considerable amount of web, 

 and devouring rapidly all the leaves within their reach. 



The perfect insect appears in July and August ; it is 

 a sluggish creature, and if disturbed flies with a slow, 

 straight flight, and soon settles again ; when at rest its 

 narrow wings are compactly placed round the body, so 

 that it has a very elongate appearance. 



An allied species, H. evonymellus, devours the spindle 

 bushes, sometimes not leaving a single leaf, and the 

 larger, handsomer H. padi feeds on the bird-cherry, 

 Primus Padus. 



FAMILY IV. HYPONOMEUTID.E. 

 PRATS CURTISELLUS. 



(Plate XV., Fig. 5.) 



This species is generally distributed throughout 

 England, and tolerably common ; in Scotland it is 

 abundant near Edinburgh, and in Ireland it has oc- 

 curred near Belfast and Howth. On the continent of 

 Europe this species is comparatively scarce. 



The expansion of the wings is rather more than 

 i inch. The fore-wings are white, with a rather trian- 

 gular blackish blotch on the costa, reaching from the 

 base to beyond the middle, in its broadest part it reaches 

 a little below the fold ; in the white portion of the wing- 

 are several short, transverse, grey streaks, and the hind 

 margin is clouded with dark grey. In a variety which 

 is sometimes met with, the fore-wings are almost 

 entirely of a sooty-brown. 



