GEOMETEKS. 



195 



female. The fore wings are ample, pointed 

 at the tip, slightly falcate, and have a sinu- 

 ous hind margin ; their colour is brown, 

 with a tinge of vinous red, particularly 

 observable in recently disclosed specimens, 

 but always present in a greater or less 

 degree; they have a basal blotch, and a 

 median band somewhat darker, and both 

 these markings are darker at their margins, 

 which are succeeded and bounded by a 

 slender sinuous white line ; the hind wings 

 are rather lighter than the fore wings, and 

 exhibit traces of a darker median band ; 

 there is a thread-like white line on the hind 

 margin of all the wings ; the head and 

 thorax are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings ; the body of the same colour as the 

 hind wings. 



The CATERPILLAR rests by day in a 

 straight position on the under side of the 

 leaves, or on the leaf-stalk, of the common 

 mallow (Malva sylvestris) , on which plant 

 it feeds : when annoyed it tucks in its head, 

 forming the anterior part of the body into 

 an Ionic volute, which becomes tighter as 

 the annoyance continues, until at last the 

 claspers lose their attachment, and the 

 caterpillar falls to the ground, a compact 

 but not uniform ring, which closely resem- 

 bles the curious seed of the 'mallow, so 

 familiar to all of us, when children, under 

 the name of " cheeses." When the cater- 

 pillar is stretched out at length, and rigidly 

 straight, it has an equal resemblance to the 

 leaf-stalks of the same plant. The head is 

 rather narrower than the second segment, 

 scarcely notched on the crown, and semi- 

 porrect : the body is cylindrical and slightly 

 scabrous, the scabrosity being caused by the 

 presence of minute warts, some of which 

 are somewhat larger than the rest, and each 

 emits a bristle from its summit ; on each 

 segment there are usually six of these 

 bristle -bearing warts, four of them arranged 

 in a dorsal quadrangle : the colour of both 

 head and body is opaque apple-green, the 

 latter with a medio-dorsal, narrow, and 

 indistinct stripe of a smoky-green hue, 

 evidently due to the presence of food in the 

 alimentary canal : the warts are white ; the 

 ventral is concolorous with the dorsal area, 

 and the claspers are of the same hue ; but 



the legs are almost colourless, and very 

 nearly transparent. These caterpillars are 

 full-fed in June, and then retire below the 

 surface of the earth to undergo pupation. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in Sep- 

 tember, and is recorded as having been 

 taken in many English counties, and also 

 in Scotland, and Mr. Birchall says it is 

 common at Howth, in Ireland. (The scien- 

 tific name is Eubolia cervinaria.) 



368. The Fortified Carpet (Eubolia mceniata). 



368. THE FORTIFIED CARPET. The 

 antennae of the male are slightly pecti- 

 nated ; the fore wings are pointed at the tip, 

 but in no degree falcate ; their colour is 

 leaden-gray, with a broad median band, the 

 interior margin of which is very straight, 

 and is bordered by a quadruple line, the 

 first portion of which is ochreous, the 

 second ferruginous, the third ochreous, and 

 the fourth ferruginous ; equidistant be- 

 tween this and the band is a zigzag fer- 

 ruginous line ; the exterior margin of the 

 band has a prominent median lobe directed 

 towards the hind margin, and bordered by 

 a distinct white line ; the band itself has 

 the middle area leaden-gray, shading off to 

 rich sepia-brown at both margins ; the 

 exterior brown portion is much the broad- 

 est ; there are two small and circular dis- 

 coidal spots ; the hind margin is clouded 

 with darker brown ; the hind wings are 

 gray-brown; the head, thorax, and body 

 have the same tints as the wing. 



The CATERPILLAR is " ashy-gray, more or 

 less reddish, dotted with brown ; dorsal 

 line brownish, with black longitudinal 

 streak. (Treitschke) On broom." Stain- 

 ton's Manual, vol. ii. p. 119. 



" The MOTH appears on the wing in June 

 and again in August in pine woods and 



