GEOMETERS. 



189. The Smoky Wave (Acidalia fumata) . 



189. THE SMOKY WAVE. The antennae are 

 qxiite simple in the female ; almost so in the 

 male ; the very short pubescence being imper- 

 ceptible to the naked eye. All the wings of 

 the male are smoky gray, sprinkled over with 

 darker dots. There are four very indistinct 

 transverse bars on the fore wings, and three on 

 the hind wings ; but they can scarcely be per- 

 ceived unless in fresh and perfect specimens. 

 There is no central dot on either of the wings. 

 The female is less than the male ; the wings 

 paler gray, without any tinge of smoke colour. 

 The face is dark brown ; the crown of the head 

 gray ; the thorax and body gray, with dark or 

 almost black dots ; the fringe is dotted in the 

 same manner as the wings. 



The CATERPILLAR has the headand body about 

 equal in width ; the head broadly but very in- 

 distinctly notched on the crown ; the body 

 extremely slender, notwithstanding the pre- 

 sence of a dilated lateral skinfold ; the twelfth 

 segment is slightly elevated ; the segments are 

 transversely wrinkled, and divided by the 

 wrinkles into fourteen or sixteen extremely 

 narrow but distinct sections. Colour of the 

 head wainscot-brown, with four longitudinal 

 darkermarks, which are continuous with dorsal 

 stripes on the body ; body pale wainscot-brown, 

 with a medio-dorsal darker stripe, which in- 

 creases in intensity at the divisions of the seg- 

 ments, and still more at the anal extremity ; 

 it is traversed throughout by a threadlike paler 

 stripe ; between this medio-dorsal stripe and the 

 spiracles is a rather paler stripe, also intersected 

 by a paler threadlike stripe ; the skinfold is 

 paler than the dorsal area, and below the skin- 

 fold is a darker stripe, which becomes more 

 intense towards the anal extremity, and termi- 

 nates in the ventral claspers ; the ventral area 

 is very pale, except between the ventral and 

 anal claspers; the spiracles are black, and 

 there is a black dot below the second, third, 

 nd fourth spiracles ; the feet are very pale ; 



the claspers darker, but having a pale external 

 area. It feeds on heath. 



The MOTH flies about midsummer; it is 

 extremely common on heaths in the west of! 

 Scotland, occurs in the north of England, but 

 I have not seen a southern specimen. Tt is 

 widely distributed in Ireland. (The scientific 

 name is Acidalia fumata.) 



190. The Subangled Wave (Acidalia, prataria). 



190. THE SUBANGLED WAVE. The antennae 

 of the male are slightly pectinated ; the pec- 

 tinations very short ; those of the female are 

 simple : the fore wings are simple ; the hir.d 

 wings slightly angulated : all the wings of 

 yellowish gray, sprinkled with black dots, and 

 having several indistinct darker transverse 

 lines on all the wings ; there is a black dot 

 between the first and second of these lines on 

 the fore wings ; the first line is short, slightly 

 waved, oblique, and very indistinct ; the second 

 is more distinct and broader : this is continuous 

 with the first line on the hind wings, thus 

 passing on the outside of the black central spot 

 on the fore wings, and on the inside of the 

 black central spot on the hind wings : the 

 third line on the fore wings is narrower and 

 more waved than the second ; it is continuous 

 with the second line on the hind wings ; be- 

 yond this third line is a fourth, exactly of the 

 same form but of lighter shade ; on the hind 

 margin itself is a very delicate but distinct 

 dark line. 



The CATERPILLAR is of an ochreous-gray 

 ground-colour, with a darker gray medio- 

 dorsal stripe, and a paler, almost white, stripe 

 on each side in the region of the spiracles, 

 some of which it includes. It feeds on the 

 hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica), and 

 may be found during April and May. 



The MOTH appears on the wing at mid- 

 summer, and is almost confined to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Folkestone, on our south coast. It 

 has not been found in Scotland or Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Acidalia prataria.} 



M 6 



