NOCTUAS. 



899 



but each has a dark centre : in many speci- 

 mens I have received from the North of 

 England, the darker colour is diffused over 

 the whole wing, as represented in the lower 

 figure : the hind wings are pale gray in the 

 iiiiile, smoky-gray in the female : the body is 

 of nearly the same colour as the wings. 



The EGGS are laid in August, but are not 

 hatched until the spring : the plants usually 

 selected by the female are two species of Salix, 

 S. capreaand S. cinerea, both familiarly known 

 by the name of sallow : on both these species 

 the CATERPILLARS feed, previously spinning 

 together the edges of some of the leaves, and 

 constructing a kind of imperfect tent, in which 

 they are concealed from birds. The cater- 

 pillar is full-grown at the beginning of June ; 

 it then rests in a tolerably straight position, 

 and if disturbed falls from its food-plant, curled 

 up into a very lax and imperfect ring, and 

 remains motionless fcv many minutes ; the 

 head is rather small, decidedly narrower than 

 the body, and porrected in ( rawling : the 

 body is smooth and velvety, almost uniformly 

 cylindrical, but evidently attenuated towards 

 both extremities, and having the ventral flatter 

 than the dorsal surface ; the colour of the 

 head is almost white, having an extremely 

 slight tint of green, and being finely reticu- 

 lated on the cheeks with a darker colour ; it 

 also has black mandibles, a straight black 

 transverse line just above the mandibles and 

 labrum, and a black margin where received 

 into the second segment ; this black margin is 

 only observable when the caterpillar is crawl- 

 ing : the body is pale glaucous-green, with five 

 still paler but scarcely white equidistant dorsal 

 stripes ; the broadest of these is medio-dor.-al, 

 and, together with the next on each side, 

 extends from the head to the extremity of the 

 anal flap ; the exterior stripe on each side 

 passes just below the spiracles, touching all of 

 them except the ninth ; the spiracles are 

 perfectly white, encircled with a black ring ; 

 between the medio-dorsal and the next stripe 

 is a series of about thirty small circular spots, 

 or rather dots, of exactly the same colour; 

 there are three on each segment, the middle 

 one being nearest the medio-dorsa 1 stripe: 



each has a minute black dot in the centre, and 

 from the black dot emanates a very slender 

 bristle : the ventral surface and claspers are 

 concolorous with the back ; th*e legs paler and 

 almost transparent, and encircling the base of 

 each in a black ring, which emits two spread- 

 ing branches anteriorly. The caterpillars in 

 my possession were full-fed the first week in 

 June, when they spun up in leaves that had 

 fallen on the earth at the bottom of the 

 breeding cage. 



The MOTH appears on the wing at the end 

 of June and during the whole of July, and 

 has been taken in most of our English counties, 

 and also in the Highlands of Scotland : Mr. 

 Birchall reports it from Belfast andKillarney, 

 in Ireland. (The scientific name is Epunda 

 viminalis.) 



630. The Feathered Ranunculus (Epunda Liehenea) . 



630. THE FEATHERED RANUNCULUS. The 

 palpi are porrected, their acutely-pointed tips 

 projecting very slightly beyond the head ; 

 the antennae are decidedly pectinated in the 

 male, simple in the female ; the fore wings 

 are straight on the costa almost to the tip, 

 very slightly scalloped on the hind margin : 

 their colour is a mottled mixture of green, 

 gray, and ochreous ; the discoidal spots are 

 perceptible, but not conspicuous; both partake 

 of the mixed colours which surround them ; 

 the orbicular is generally small and circular, 

 and has a dark centre and pale circumscrip- 

 tion ; the wings have tnree transverse zigzag 

 lines, or rather zigzag series of pale spots, each 



