420 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



shining, very pale green ; the body has a broad 

 medio-dorsal stripe olive-green and most 

 delicately irrorated and margined with black; 

 on each side of this is a narrower stripe of 

 bright clear yellow ; and again, below the 

 yellow stripe is a broader stripe of olive-green, 

 which, like the medio-dorsal stripe, is deli- 

 cately irrorated and margined with black ; 

 then follows on each side a narrow stripe, the 

 upper half of which is white, the lower half 

 yellow ; this stripe includes the spiracles ; 

 the belly is pale green sprinkled with black 

 along the spiracular line ; the legs and 

 claspers are pale green. After the last change 

 of skin, the green parts frequently become 

 rich purple-brown. It is said to feed on broom 

 and other shrubs, but I have invariably found 

 it on the common brake (Pteris aquilina). 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, and 

 seems to be very generally distributed in 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland. (The scien- 

 tific name is Hadena Pisi.) 



654. The Pale-shonldered Brocade (Hadena 



thalassina) . 



654. THE PALE-SHOULDERED BROCADE. The 

 palpi are scarcely porrected and inconspicuous, 

 the second joint being very scaly ; the antennae 

 are simple in both sexes : the colour of the 



fore wings is reddish-brown, brightly varie- 

 gated with darker shades ; both the discoidal 

 spots are clearly defined by a slender black 

 circumscription ; the orbicular has also a 

 white circle within this black one : there is a 

 pale blotch at the base of the costal margin, 

 which gives its name to the species, and there 

 are three transverse pale lines, the first before 

 the orbicular and nearly direct ; the second 

 beyond the orbicular and much bent ; and the 

 third parallel with the hind margin, and near 

 its middle projecting a W-mark towai-ds the 

 hind margin; resting on this third pale line 

 are two or more acutely-pointed dark wedge- 

 shaped marks which point towards the base of 

 the wing ; in connection with the second of 

 these transverse lines, and bet ween it and the 

 third, is a transverse series of six white dots, 

 all of them seated on the wing-rays, and each 

 preceded, as well as followed, by a black dot : 

 the hind wings are reddish gray-brown, the 

 wing-rays being slightly darker and the fringe 

 slightly paler : the thorax is crested, and, like 

 the fore wings, much variegated; the body is 

 also crested and gray-brown, and much redder 

 in the male at the extremity. 



The CATERPILLAR feeds freely in confine- 

 ment on the common knotgrass (Polygonum 

 aviculare) by night, almost invariably retiring 

 just below the surface of the earth by day. 

 I once observed a specimen at rest, stretched 

 at full lengthen one of the stems of knotgrass 

 during the day, with its back downwards and 

 its anal claspers stretched out behind, but 

 still grasping the food-plant; on being touched 

 it instantly rolled in a compact ring. The 

 head is rather narrower than the second 

 segment, porrected, and highly glabrous ; the 

 body is velvety and almost uniformly cylin- 

 drical, but slightly attenuated anteriorly ; the 

 twelfth segment is slightly gibbose dorsally : 

 the colour of the head is pale dingy-brown, 

 delicately reticulated with darker brown ; the 

 body is dull brown, tinged with pink, every 

 part beautifully and delicately reticulated 

 with dark umber-brown, which colour lorois 

 a pair of oblique sub-dorsal markings; these 

 paira are indistinct towards the head, but 

 increase in intensity to the twelfth segment, 



