GEOMETERS. 



53 



the wing, and innumerable minute transverse 

 streaks of brown over the entire surface of 

 all the wings. It is, however, a most variable 

 insect, the wings sometimes being of a uni- 

 form plain brown, the fore wings only having 

 a large central orange blotch : when the wings 

 are orange, the head, thorax and body are of 

 the same colour ; when the wings are brown, 

 the head, thorax and body are brown also. 

 The caterpillar is grey -brown or yellow-brown: 

 sometimes red-brown specimens occur, mar- 

 bled with darker markings. It has a double 

 lump on the fifth segment, and another with 

 much more acute points on the ninth. It 

 feeds on blackthorn, beech, and sometimes 

 on broom. At the beginning of May it spins 

 a slight web between two leaves of its food- 

 plant, and in it changes to a reddish-brown 

 chrysalis, from which the moth emerges in 

 about twenty-four days. (The scientific name 

 is Angerona prunaria.) 



110. Light Emerald (Melrocampa, margantaria). 



110. LIGHT EMERALD. All the wings are 

 pale green, with an oblique transverse white 

 stripe crossing both wings from near the tip 

 of the fore wing to the anal angle of the hind 

 wing; the inside of this stripe is margined 

 with darker green ; on the fore wing there 

 is a less conspicuous transverse white stripe, 

 exactly intermediate between that already 

 described and the base of the wing. The 

 head, thorax and body are pale green, but the 

 eyes intensely black. The caterpillar has six 

 clampers instead of four, and it holds firmly 

 with all of them. It is of a dull olive-green 

 colour, with a darker line down the middle 

 of the back, margined on both sides with a 

 series of whitish marks. I have often found 

 the caterpillar feeding on broom, but the 

 Germans give elm, hornbeam, birch and oak 

 as its food-plants ; it is probably a general 



feeder. The caterpillar is found in September 

 and again in May, living through the winter; 

 the moth appears in July, and is not uncom- 

 mon. (The scientific name is Melrocampa 

 margaritaria.) 



111. The Barred Red (Ettopia fasciaria). 



111. THE BARRED BED. Wings rounded, 

 pale brick-dust red ; the fore wings have two 

 transverse oblique lines, both of them bent 

 before they reach the costal margin; these 

 lines are of clearer, brighter red than the rest 

 of the wing, and are each accompanied by a 

 paler and almost white line ; that accompany- 

 ing the inner red line is on its inner side; 

 that accompanying the outer red line is on 

 its outer side : hind wings with one central 

 transverse line bordered outside with white: 

 eyes black ; head, thorax and body of the 

 same pale red as the wings. Caterpillar red- 

 dish brown with a pale-grey line down the 

 back : it has six claspers : it feeds on the 

 Scotch fir in September and October, and, 

 descending the trunk, changes to a chrysalis 

 amongst the fallen needles about the root of 

 the tree on which it has fed. The moth flies 

 about Midsummer. (The scientific name is 

 Ellopia fasciaria) 



112. The Scorched Wing (Eurymene dolobraria). 



112. THE SCORCHED WING. Fore wings 

 slightly angled, pale delicate brown, trans- 

 versely barred with a number of very slen- 

 der lines, of a dark umber-brown ; near the 

 base of the wing are eight or ten perfectly 

 black dots ; the costal margin near the base 

 is dark umber ; and beyond the middle of 

 the wing is an oblique indistinct band of the 



