406 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



which give it a variegated appearance ; the 

 discoidal spots are outlined in pure black, but 

 their median area is so nearly filled up with 

 the ground- colour as to render them incon- 

 spicuous : there is a large pale blotch outside 

 the reniform, a white dot at the base of the 

 wing, another near the base of the inner 

 margin, and a series of four white spots seated 

 on the wing-rays and parallel with the lower 

 half of the hind margin ; several zigzag trans- 

 verse lines cross the wing, but are inconstant 

 in colour and intensity : the hind wings are 

 dark smoky-brown with a pale fringe : the 

 antennae are white at the base ; the head and 

 front of the thorax are pale gray; the disk of 

 the thorax is darker, and the body smoke- 

 colour. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a nearly straight 

 position, but falls from its food-plant, rolled in 

 a compact ring, when annoyed ; the head is 

 porrected, rather flattened, obscurely trian- 

 gular, and not notched on the crown ; it is 

 narrower than the second segment, into which 

 it can be partially withdrawn ; the body is 

 obese and velvety, rather narrowed towards 

 the head, and rather swollen and dorsally 

 elevated on the twelfth segment ; the head 

 is very glabrous, of a testaceous-red colour, 

 and having two very dark, almost black lines 

 down the face; the body is plum-coloured 

 with a double series of large dark spots 

 occupying a great portion of the dorsal area ; 

 each pair of these spots forms a kind of semi- 

 circle, the convexity of which is posterior, 

 the straight portion anterior, and a pale and 

 narrow medio-dorsal stripe divides each semi- 

 circle ; there is a rather dark stripe on each 

 side including the spiracles which are pale ; 

 the legs are testaceous-red like the head and 

 the ventral area and claspers, and rather paler 

 than the dorsal area : the general colour of 

 the body may be described as plum-colour or 

 violet-brown. It feeds on dock (Rvmex) and 

 other low-growing plants. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, and has occurred in most of our English 

 counties north and south, extending its range 

 into Scotland. Mr. Birchall says it is widely 

 distributed, and common in many places in 



Ireland. (The scientific name is Avlecta, 

 fierbida.) 



638. The Great Brocade (Aplecta occulta). 



638. THE GREAT BROCADE. The palpi are 

 slightly incurved, and sometimes almost con- 

 nivent at the tips ; the second joint is very 

 slender at the base ; the fore wings are almost 

 straight on the costal margin, and scalloped on 

 the hind margin ; their colour is very dark 

 smoky-gray almost black, with two transverse 

 pale gray z'gzag lines, the first nearly straight 

 and situated before the orbicular, the second 

 much bent and beyond the reniform ; the 

 orbicular is oblique, it has a pale gray circum- 

 scription and darker median area ; the reni- 

 form is less distinct, its circumscription is also 

 pale gray, and its median area dark smoke- 

 colour : the hind wings are smoky with a 

 white fringe : the head, thorax, the body are 

 very dark. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a straight position, 

 but falls to the ground rolled in a compact 

 ring if annoyed : the head is narrower than 

 the second segment, and the face is rather 

 flattened; the body is almost uniformly cylin- 

 drical, but there is a slight diminution in 

 circumference towards the head : the anal 

 claspers are rather long, stretched out behind, 

 and spreading ; the colour of both head and 

 body is a rich bistre-brown, the head shining 



