74 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



margin, of linear black spots : these are just 

 within the fringe, and constitute an almost 

 continuous marginal line : the head, thorax, 

 and body are of the same colour as the 

 wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 August, and is nowhere common. I used to 

 take it on the palings of my garden at Dept- 

 ford forty years ago, and then it was reckoned 

 a great rarity; there was a rope-walk im- 

 mediately adjoining the garden, and a double 

 row of willows seven hundred yards in length : 

 it has since been taken at Brighton and 

 Lewes, and in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Sur- 

 rey, and Worcestershire. (The scientific 

 name is Ephyra orbicularia.} 



164. The Birch Mocha (Ephyra pendularia). 



164. THE BIRCH MOCHA. The antennae are 

 very slightly pectinated in the male, simple 

 in the female: the wings are pale gray, 

 sprinkled thinly over with specks of smoke- 

 colour : in the middle of each wing is a round 

 white spot, surrounded by a smoke-coloured 

 cloud; between this white spot and the base 

 of the wing is a transverse row of three or four 

 smoke-coloured dots; and half-way between 

 the white spot and the hind margin is a 

 second row, consisting of ten or twelve smoke- 

 coloured dots; and again, on the hind margin 

 itself, is a third row of linear black dots: the 

 head, thorax, and body are of the same pale 

 colour as the wings. 



The CATERPILLAR is green, tr,wny, or brown, 

 with paler spiracular line; the head and legs 

 reddish (Hub.) ; it feeds on birch (Betula alba}. 

 Stainton's Manual, vol. ii., p. 39. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 August, and occurs in most of our English 

 and Scotch counties : the name is inserted in 

 Mr. Greene's list of Irish Lepidoptera. (The 

 scientific name is Ephyrt pen<lvf f ">*ia.^ 



165. The Golden-bordered Purple (Hyria aurorcuria). 



165. THE GOLDEN-BORDERED PURPLE. 

 The antennae in both sexes ar^ simple and of a 

 yellow colour : the wings are of a purple-red 

 colour, with a double blotch in the middle of 

 tlie fore wings, a single blotch in the middle 

 of the hind wings, and a broad border on the 

 hind margin of all the wings, deep fulvous- 

 yellow : the thorax is purple; the body bluish, 

 tipped with orange. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 has been taken in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, 

 Norfolk, Cambiidgeshire, Lancashire, and in 

 the Lake District. Mr. Birchall informs xis 

 it is common on the heaths of the south and 

 west of Ireland. (Tde scientific name is 

 Hyria auroraria.) 



166. The Small Yellow Wave (Asthena, luteata). 



166. THE SMALL YELLOW WAVE. The 

 antennae are simple in both sexes: the wings 

 are rich fulvous-yellow, with zigzag transverse 

 lines, which are a darker tint of the same 

 fulvous colour; these zigzag lines are arranged 

 in pairs, but not very distinctly so : there are 

 four pairs on the fore wings, and two pairs on 

 the hind wings ; and between the second and 

 third pair of these zigzag lines on the fore 

 wings, is a conspicuous central dot of the 

 same colour as the lines : the head, thorax, 

 and body, of the same colour as the ground- 

 colour of the wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing at Midsum- 

 mer, and has been taken occasionally in nearly 

 all the English counties, but I think neither 

 in Scotland nor Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Asthena luteata.} 



