154 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



scarcely notched on the crown ; it is porrected 

 in crawling ; the body is rather depressed, 

 and slightly attenuated anteriorly. The colour 

 of the head is clear brown, rather glabrous, 

 the cheeks are reticulated with black, the lip 

 is entirely black; the dorsal surface of the 

 second segment brown and shining, that of 

 the folio wing segments pale brown or smoky- 

 black, of a very varied tint in different indi- 

 viduals, but in each individual the tint of the 

 dorsal area is pretty uniform as far as the 

 spiracles ; it is, however, intersected through- 

 out by two distinct pairs of white stripes, the 

 inner stripe of each pair being the broader and 

 i^ore distinct; both are irregular and inter- 

 rupted, and just below the spiracles is a third 

 white stripe, still more obscure and inter- 

 rupted. This third stripe serves as a boundary 

 between the dorsal and ventral area. The 

 ventral area, anal flap, and claspers are tes- 

 taceous brown; the legs testaceous brown, 

 spotted with black. These caterpillars con- 

 struct themselves cells in the down of the 

 sallow seeil, and therein change to bright 

 brown and very glabrous CHRYSALIDS in the 

 beginning of June. The caudal extremity of 

 the chrysalis terminates in two setiform pro- 

 cesses, which are approximate at the base, 

 but divergent at the tip. 



This extremely variable MOTH appears in 

 July, and occurs in almost every English 

 county, and also in Scotland. Mr. Birchall 

 reports it as common and generally distrib- 

 uted in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Ypsipetes elutata.) 



Obs. In the genus Ypsipetes the species 

 have a decided resemblance to each other, 

 both in the economy of the caterpillars, and in 

 the size and general colour of the moths. 

 They are liable to infinite variation, but the 

 variations are too numerous to describe, and 

 too confused to be expressed by representa- 

 tions, except in the third or common species 

 Y. elutata. It will be seen that I have 

 figured five specimens of this insect, selecting 

 such as I considered particularly interesting. 

 As a general observation, Y. ruberata maybe 

 distinguished by its longer }>alpi, and its 

 ferruginous bars, which, however indistinct, 



seem to be always present ; Y. impluviata by 

 its median gray bar containing the discoidal 

 spot ; and Y. elutata by its decided green tint, 

 and the round whitish spot near the hind 

 margin. "With these exceptions, no markings 

 possess any decided constancy 



316. The Blue-bordered Carpet (Melanthia 

 rubiginata). 



316. THE BLUE-BORDERED CARPET. The 

 palpi are rather short, the antennae of the 

 male slightly fringed, of the female simpla 

 The fore wings are white, with a dark and 

 almost triangular blotch at the base, and 

 another large one on the costal margin ; 

 both of these are smoky- black, and the latter 

 includes the discoidal spot, which is intensely 

 black ; between this costal blotch and the 

 inner margin is a series of small blotches, 

 which are rarely similar in two specimens ; 

 sometimes they are entirely wanting, and 

 sometimes they are united so as to form with 

 the costal blotch a continuous band across the 

 middle of the wing. Between these extremes 

 every conceivable variation occurs. There are 

 two smoky-blue bars parallel with the hind 

 margin : the hind wings are white, excepting 

 a faint discoidal spot, and two-smoky blue bars 

 parallel to the hind margin, and similar to 

 those on the fore wings ; the head and thorax 

 are smoky-brown, with some small white 

 markings ; the body is white. 



The CATERPILLAR is full-grown about the 

 beginning of June, and then rests with the 

 claspers tightly attached to a twig of the food- 

 plant, and all the body anterior to the ventral 

 pair porrected in a straight line, at an angle 

 of 45 degrees. When annoyed, the anterior 

 part of the body is waved backwards and 

 forwards in the air. The head is prone, and 

 about equal in width to the second segment. 

 The body is long, slender, and smooth, entirely 

 without humps; the thirteenth segment ter- 

 minates beneath the anal flap, in two rather 

 long parallel points, directed backwards. 



