BRITISH MOTHS. 



141. The Square Spot (Tephrosia consonaria). 



141. THE SQUABE SPOT. The antennae are 

 almost simple in the male, quite so in the 

 female : the male and female of this insect 

 are very dissimilar as regards the colour of 

 their wings : the male has a gray ground- 

 colour tinged with red-brown ; it possesses 

 several transverse shades and markings, but 

 they are very indistinct : the ground-colour of 

 the female is gray, without the red-brown 

 tinge, and its markings are most distinct and 

 conspicuous ; near the base are two short, 

 curved, transversed bars, the outer narrower 

 but more distinct than the inner; beyond the 

 middle of the wings are two more distinct and 

 zigzag dark lines, and these are united in the 

 middle by a square brown spot ; the outer of 

 these lines is accompanied by a pale line of the 

 same form : the head, thorax, and body are 

 gray. 



The EGG is laid in May, on the trunks of 

 birch (Betula alba), beech (Fagus sylvatica\ 

 and more rarely on hornbean (Carpinus betu- 

 lus), on which trees the CATERPILLARS feed. 

 They are full-fed in June and July. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 June, and has been taken freely at Brighton ; 

 in the New Forest, Hampshire ; at Pembury 

 and Worthing in Sussex ; in Halton in Buck- 

 inghamshire ; at Stowmarket in Suffolk ; and 

 more particularly at Birch wood in Kent, 

 where I have repeatedly found it on the trunks 

 of the larch trees formerly so abundant there 

 a fact the more noteworthy, since the 

 caterpillar has never been known to feed on 

 any species of fir. Mr. Birchall says it is 

 common in Ireland : he has taken it in the 

 counties Wicklow and Kerry. (The scientific 

 name is Tephrosia consonaria.) 



142. The Small Engrailed (Tephrosia crepuscularia). 



142. THE SMALL ENGRAILED. The an- 

 tennae of the male are very slightly ciliated, 

 those of the female simple : the colour of the 

 wings is gray, with a yellow-brown tinge ; 

 all the wings have transverse zigzag black 

 lines, the most conspicuous of them crosses 

 each of the four wings about the middle, the 

 other black or dark lines follow the same 

 direction as this, but are more liable to vary. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in April, 

 and occurs in most of our English counties, 

 and Mr. Bristow is said to have taken it in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is Tephrosia 

 crepuscularia.) 



143. The Engrailed (Tephrosia biundularia). 



143. THE ENGRAILED. The antennae of 

 the male are slightly ciliated, those of the 

 female simple : the colour of the wings is 

 gray, with a slight tinge of ochreous, and 

 having numerous transverse dark lines, the 

 most conspicuous of which are two on the fore 

 wings and one on the hind ; the first of these 

 on the fore wings is short and near the base of 

 the wing ; the second is oblique and situated 

 beyond the middle of the wing. 



Some EGGS of this species were laid by a 

 captured female from the 21st to the 27th of 

 May, and were hatched on the 5th of June. 

 These CATERPILLARS vary exceedingly, buc 

 more in the colour than in the disposition o? 



