122 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



262. THE TAWNY SPECK. The central disk 

 of the fore wings is bright ferruginous, the 

 base, costal margin and hind margin being 

 smoky brown, and a nearly circular discoidal 

 spot is quite black ; the costal margin is in- 

 terrupted by nu men us short, transverse, 

 wavtd, gray lines, and the hind marginal band 

 is intersected by a zi>:z4g whitish line ; the 

 hind wings ate smoke-coloured ; the head > 

 thorax, and bi.dy are also smoke-coh-ured ; 

 the body has a blight feiruginous belt near 

 the ba fc e. 



Two varieties of the CATERPILLAR are thus 

 described by Mr. Crewe : 



" Var. 1. Reddish biown; the central 

 dorsal line pale olive, connecting a seiies of 

 perfectly oval, dusky olive blotches, which 

 become confluent on the am erior and posterior 

 segments ; the sub-dorsal lines are blackish 

 red, interrupted ; they are dark oppo.-ite the 

 dorsal blotches, and pale and almost, if not 

 quite, evanescent between them ; the median 

 dorsal blotches are pale in the centre, very 

 close together, and almost confluent ; the 

 spiracular line is white ; the back is thickly 

 studded with minute white tubercles, and less 

 thickly with whitish hairs ; the belly is 

 whitish, with a purplish central line. 



" Var. 2. Ground colour pale yellowish 

 brown. Markings similar to Var. 1." 



It feeds <-n the leaves, floweis, and S'eds of 

 the common \arrow (Achillea miUefolium). 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 and occurs nor. unfrequently in most of our 

 English counties, more especially in gardens, 

 and Mr. B'ichall reports it as common in the 

 county Gdlway, in Ireland. 



263. The Shaded Pug (FU. ithecia subumbrata). 



263. THE SHADED PUG. The ground colour 

 of toe tore wings is white, intermixed, espec- 

 ially along the costal and hind margins, with 

 smoke colour ; there is a ve\y small discoidal 

 spot, but so indistinct that in some specimens 



it is scarcely to be perceived; the smoke- 

 colour is arranged transversely, and inter- 

 rupted by waved whitish transverse lines ; 

 the hind wings are almost white, with a 

 smoke-coloured hind marginal band, but this 

 and is also interrupted with whitish mark- 

 ings ; the head, thorax, and body are mottled 

 with white, au-d smoke-colour, and greatly 

 resemble the fore wings. 



Mr. Crewe describes two varieties of the 

 CATERPILLAR as under : 



" Var. 1. Very long and slender, tapering 

 very much towards the head ; ground colour 

 dull yellowish green ; the central doisal line is 

 broad, dark green, narrower at the segmental 

 divisi"ns ; the sub-dot sal lines are dusky, very 

 narrow, and indistinct ; the dorsal i-e^mental 

 divisions aie orange; the ventral divisions 

 yellow ; the spiracular line is dusky green. 

 On each side of the head and segment is a 

 yellowish line. 



" Var. 2. The ground colour is dirty 

 greenish brown ; the central dorsal line dusky 

 olive ; the subdorsal lines are of the same 

 colour ; and the narrow posterior segments 

 are reddish. In other respects it resembles 

 Var. 1." 



This singular long thin caterpillar I have 

 been in the habit of taking at intervals for 

 some years past in Buckinghamshire. It feeds 

 in the open spaces between and near beech- 

 woods, on the petals of almost any flower 

 which hap, ens to grow in such localities, for 

 instance, Centaur ea nigra Kwmtia arvensis, 

 Gentiana amarella, and6r. campestris, Apargia 

 hisjtida, Origanum vulgare, Prunella vulgaris. 

 Galium mollugo, &c., preferring, perhaps, 

 Apargia hispida, and Grepis t'ir avid folia. It 

 is full-fed at the end of August and through- 

 out September. 



The CHRYSALIS is enclosed in an earthen 

 cocoon, and has the thorax and wing-cases 

 dark green ; the body is ochreous, with the 

 tip dusky red. 



The MOTH appears in June, and is not very 

 uncommon in England ; and Mr. Birchall 

 informs us that it is common in the county 

 Galwar, in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Eupithecia subuiribrata.} 



