390 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



segment ; the colour of the head is pale wains- 

 cot-brown, with four slender and rather darker 

 lines down the face ; the body is also wainscot- 

 brown, with a dorsal series of ten darker V- 

 shaped markings ; the apices of the Y's point- 

 ing towards the anal extremity; a very narrow 

 pale medio-dorsal stripe passes through all 

 these, intersecting each V at its apex ; there is 

 also a black dot on each side of each V near 

 its apex: it has two lateral stripes rather 

 darker than the ground-colour, but still veiy 

 pale; and below the lowermost of these is a 

 third stripe paler than the ground-colour in- 

 deed almost white; this contains the spi- 

 racles, which are pink encircled with black ; 

 the ventral surface is pale flesh-colour, 

 tinged more or less with yellow; the legs and 

 claspers are of the same colour as the ventral 

 area : when full-fed it finally descends to the 

 ground, and constructs a rather imperfect 

 cocoon of silk and earth just below the sur- 

 face, and in this changes to a CHRYSALIS, which 

 is rather long and slender, the wing-cases 

 being detached and projecting at their ex- 

 tremity, the body conical and terminating in 

 two sharp diverging spines ; its colour is 

 bright reddish-brown, the tip and spines being 

 black. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June; it 

 is by no means an abundant species, but has 

 nevertheless been obtained in most of our 

 English and Scotch counties, and Mr. Birchall 

 informs me it occurs at Howth in Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Dianthcecia conspersa.) 



Obs. The so-called " black " Conspersa, 

 taken in Ireland in company with the usual 

 form by the late Mr. Weaver, and sold for so 

 high a price, would probably now be referred 

 to the next species : I thought the late Mr. 

 Stephens was a purchaser of these, but do not 

 find them in the British Museum. The beau- 

 tiful specimen represented in the lower figure 

 was kindly lent me for this work by Mr. C. 

 Fenn. It seems highly desirable, now that a 

 question has been raised as to the identity of 

 this and the next species, that entomologists 

 should endeavour to procure an extensive 

 series whenever practicable. 



620. Barrett's Marbled Coronet (Dianthcecia 

 Barrettii). 



620. BARRETT'S MARBLED CORONET. The 

 palpi are scarcely porrected ; the second joint 

 is very scaly, the scales unequal and having a 

 rough appearance, the terminal joint is 

 scarcely perceptible; the antennae appear 

 rather incrassated in the male, quite simple in 

 the female : the fore wings have the costal 

 margin almost straight, the tip blunt, and the 

 hind margin slightly waved ; their colour is 

 dingy brown with a somewhat metallic tinge 

 of ochreous-olive ; there are many markings 

 both darker and lighter, but all of them are 

 obscure; both discoidal spots are to be traced 

 without difficulty, both of them are slightly 

 paler than the ground-colour, and both have a 

 median shade ; the orbicular is rather oblong 

 and rather oblique ; they are apparently almost 

 connected at the lower extremity by a blotch 

 of their own colour, occupying nearly the 

 middle of the wing; there are several pale 

 markings at the base of the wing, and others 

 on the inner margin, more particularly a large 

 one nearly opposite the reniform; there is 

 also a paler blotch at the tip of the wing, and 

 these two blotches are connected by a trans- 

 verse, bent, and interrupted zigzag line which 

 is parallel with the hind margin ; the fringe 

 is spotted with the shades of the ground- 

 colour : the hind wings are smoke-coloured, 

 the base and fringe being rather paler ; the 

 wing-rays and two narrow transverse waved 

 lines are rather darker, and there is a small 

 linear whitish spot near the hind margin, and 



