252 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



ings ; there is a hind-marginal series of 

 eight black dots, and opposite each of these 

 the gray fringe is interrupted by a smoke- 

 coloured streak : the hind wings have the 

 hind margin slightly scalloped ; they are 

 white, occasionally but not constantly, with 

 black wing-rays : the head, thorax, and body 

 are uniformly gray. 



The EOOS are laid in July, but whether on 

 the leaves, twigs, or trunk of the food-plant, 

 I am uuable to state with any certainty. 

 The CATERPILLAR is full-fed in August and 

 September, and then if annoyed, rolls itself 

 into a compact ring, with the head on one 

 side like an lulus ; and in this position it 

 remains for a long time most pertinaciously. 

 The head is as wide as the body, wider than 

 the second segment ; the body is almost 

 uniformly cylindrical, densely clothed with 

 long hairs, which on each segment converge 

 at the extremities : along each side is a 

 slender skinfold passing immediately below 

 the spiracles : the head is black and shining, 

 with a white mark on the face, shaped like 

 an inverted letter V ; the labrum is white. 

 The body is pale gray, sometimes approach- 

 ing to flesh-colour, and sometimes having a 

 tinge of smoke-colour, especially near the 

 head, with a medio-dorsal series of kite- 

 shaped, snow-white spots ; eight of these, 

 those from the fifth and the twelfth seg- 

 ments, both inclusive, are bordered with 

 intense velvety -black ; three others, those 

 on the second, third, and fourth segments, 

 are linear and almost confluent, but still 

 bordered by the same intense black ; on the 

 thirteenth segment the black is present, but 

 the white is wanting : the converging hairs 

 form a double series of dorsal fascicles, each 

 series composed of nine fascicles, and ar- 

 ranged on each side of the medio-dorsal 

 ornamentation just described ; these fas- 

 cicles are usually of a uniform dingy orange- 

 red or salmon-colour, but in some specimens 

 are ochreous -yellow ; in one specimen I have 

 examined, six of these fascicles were salmon- 

 coloured, and the rest ochreous ; all the 

 other hairs on the body are ochreous ; the 

 spiracles are black, the legs nearly black ; 

 the claspers dark brown. This caterpillar 

 feeds on the sycamore {Acer pseudopla- 

 tanus), often on the loftiest branches ; also 



on the horse chestnut (JEsculus hippo- 

 castanum), and more rarely on the oak 

 (Quercus rdbwr) : when these beautiful 

 and very conspicuous caterpillars are full- 

 fed, they may be observed crawling down 

 the trunks in order to undergo pupation, 

 which takes place in a web on the surface 

 of the ground, amongst fallen leaves, under 

 loose bark, &c. : it remains in the chrysalis 

 state all the winter. 



The MOTH does not appear on the wing 

 until June, generally between the 8th and 

 the 23rd, when it may occasionally be found 

 resting on the trunks of the sycamores. It 

 occurs every year all round London, and 

 also in the eastern and south-eastern coun- 

 ties, as at Ipswich, Norwich, Stowmarket, 

 Co'.chester, Maidstone, Lewes, Worthing, 

 and Brighton, and Mr. Birchall records its 

 occurrence in the county Gralway, in Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Acronycta Aceris.) 



Obs. The second figure represents an un- 

 common variety in Mr. Bond's collection, in 

 which the entire surface of the fore wings 

 is suffused with ochreous-brown. 



429. The Poplar Gray (Acronycta megacephala). 



429. THE POPLAR GRAY. The antennae 

 are rather short and rather slender ; they 

 are simple in both sexes : the fore wings are 

 pale gray, mottled with darker or smoky- 

 gray ; the orbicular spot is clearly defined, 

 the reniform is vague and amalgamated 

 with a large pale blotch nearer the tip, and 

 this large blotch is also vague and its boun- 

 daries undefined : the hind wings are white 

 with smoky wing- rays, and not unf requently 

 also with two very vague and indistinct 

 smoky transverse bars : the head and thorax 

 are very dark gray, the body pale gray. 



The CATERPILLAR rests on the surface of 

 a leaf in a curved posture, the head being 



