116 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



second and third bars approach, and are united 

 near the middle ; half way between the third 

 bar and the hind margin is a single delicate 

 white line, regularly serrated; the hind wings 

 are pale smoke-coloured, with transverse 

 lighter lines faintly indicated. 



The MOTH appears on t'ie wing in June and 

 July; it is purely a heath insect, occurring in 

 the lake district of the north of England, near 

 Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and on 

 the Mourne Mountains in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Emmelesia ericetata.) 



255. The Pretty Pinion (Emmelesia blandiata). 



255. THE PRETTY PINION. The antennae 

 are simple in both sexes ; the fore wings are 

 whitish-gray, with a uearly triangular blotch 

 at the base, aud a narrow, angled, transverse, 

 median band, dark smoke-coloured ; this band 

 contains a conspicuous black discoidal spot 

 above the middle, but just below this black 

 spot the band is obscure, and sometimes looks 

 as though washed out ; beyond this band are 

 three transverse markings, all of them smoke- 

 coloured ; the first of these is a pale and 

 narrow waved line the second a broad 

 waved bar the third is marginal; the hind 

 wings are light smoke-colour, with a dark 

 discoidal spot, and several pale waved lines 

 below it. 



" The CATERPILLAR is green, with a dorsal 

 row of reddish triangles; spiracular line, yel- 

 lowish green." Freyer,as translated in Stain- 

 ton's Manual, vol. ii., p. 82. It feeds on 

 eyebright ( Euphrasia officinalis). 



The MOTH appears on the wii.g in May and 

 June, and again in July and August. I took 

 it rather abundantly at the end of June in 

 Argyleshire, between Loch Fyne head and 

 Loch Goil, but the specimens, even of the 

 early brood, are much wasted ; Mr. Birchall 

 took it in the county Galway, and Dr. Wal- 

 lace at Killarney. (The scientific name is 

 Emmelesia blandiata.) 



THE GENUS EUPITHECIA. 



Before entering on the hitherto unattempted, 

 and confessedly difficult, task of distinguishing 

 from each other the little moths which con- 

 stitute the Genus Eupithecia, or, as called by 

 collectors, "Pugs," itr is desirable to follow 

 the course adopted by that eminent French 

 entomologist, M. Guenee, in devoting a short 

 space to general observations. A few years 

 back, even so lately as 1859, when Mr. Stain- 

 ton's Manual appeared, the caterpillars and 

 life-histories of thirty-two British species had 

 never been observed in this country, and those 

 of eighteen species were absolutely unknown. 

 It was probably this great deficiency of 

 satisfactory and reliable information that in- 

 duced the Rev. H. Harper Crewe to investi- 

 gate and make known the life-histories of 

 most of our British species. This gentleman's 

 invaluable researches were published from 

 time to time in the Zoologist, and it is with 

 feelings of gratitude that I now publicly 

 announce that I have received Mr. Crewe's 

 permission to transfer them to these pages. 

 Free access to Mr. Doubleday's matchless 

 collection of the perfect insects, has also been 

 granted me, without any reserve, and with a 

 generosity that only finds a parallel in the 

 liberality of this distinguished entomologist 

 on all previous occasions, to whomsoever has 

 sought assistance and instruction at his hands*. 

 No one, therefore, could possibly have better 

 materials for a labour of this kind than I 

 have, and my readers will please accept the 

 assurance, once for all, that while I express 

 my deep gratitude for the assistance I have 

 received, I by no means desire to remove the 

 responsibility of errors from my own shoulders- 

 and it must be obvious that in a work par- 

 taking so largely of the character of a com- 

 pilation, errors are very likely to creep in. 



The caterpillars of the Enpitheciae are 

 various, in food, economy, shape, and colour. 

 A few feed on leaves, but the greater number 

 revel in the flowers of trees, shrubs, and her- 

 baceous plants, devouring the petals, sepals, 

 stamens, and pistils; and, in not a few in 

 stances, they penetrate the capsules, and feast 



