424 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



towards the end of March they appear to 

 become more lively, and crawl about the cage ; 

 they are, however, much reduced in size by 

 the winter's abstinence; if supplied with 

 twigs of sallow, they do not appear to eat the 

 opening leaves, but pi-epare for pupation. The 

 caterpillar now rests with its head frequently 

 turned on one side until it touches the ninth 

 segment ; if annoyed, it falls to the ground 

 rolled in a compact ring, feigning death, and 

 remains in that posture several minutes : the 

 head is semi-porrect, sub-globose, highly 

 glabrous, slightly narrower than the second 

 segment : the body is nearly uniformly cylin- 

 drical, but slightly attenuated towards the 

 anterior extremity ; the twelfth segment is 

 transversely dorsally elevated, but not very 

 conspicuously so ; the surface is velvety and 

 iridescent, the iridescence resulting from the 

 light falling on the delicate soft short pile 

 with which it is covered ; the anal claspers 

 are spreading : the colour of the head is dark 

 brown, and, like the body, iridescent : the 

 dorsal surface of the body is dark rich umber- 

 brown, clouded and variegated with lighter 

 and darker shades ; a darker shade forms an 

 obscurely-defined medio-dorsal stripe, which 

 emits at the posterior margin of each segment 

 a branch, extending obliquely downwards and 

 forwards, until it reaches a broad dark lateral 

 stripe that terminates abruptly on a level with 

 the spiracles, which are wainscot-brown : 

 ventral surface extending upwards towards 

 the spiracles, purple-brown, with a bloom like 

 that of a ripe plum, and delicately reticulated ; 

 twelfth segment crowned with two dorsal 

 yellow spots placed transversely ; dorsal and 

 ventral surfaces separated on the second, third, 

 twelfth, and thirteenth segments by a yellow 

 line; legs and claspers reddish-brown. It 

 descends to the ground and undergoes pupa- 

 bion just below the surface of the earth. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, and 

 seems to be entirely a northern species, oc- 

 curring only in Yorkshire and Scotland : Mr. 

 Birchall took it at Killarney, in Ireland, but 

 did not find it common. (The scientific name 

 is Hadena rectitinea.) 



658. The Early Gray (Xylocampa lithorhiza). 



658. THE EARLY GRAY. The palpi are 

 short and clothed with bristle-like scales, the 

 terminal joint is slightly porrected and naked ; 

 the antennae are perfectly simple in both sexes, 

 but slightly stouter in the males than in the 

 females : the fore wings are rather narrow, 

 straight on the costa, and very slightly 

 scalloped on their hind margin ; their colour is 

 gray with smoky markings; the discoidal 

 spots have their median area gray, their cir- 

 cumscription dark, but very incomplete ; in 

 fact, the pale gray colour of the median area 

 is continued below them, so that they are 

 united at the lower extremity ; there is a 

 black longitudinal streak at the base of the 

 wing, and there are seven or eight very dark 

 wedge-shaped marks on the hind margin, and 

 pointing towards the base of the wing ; each 

 of these appears attached to a very slender 

 crescentic line on the margin itself; the 

 fringe is very long and of a pale gray colour 

 slightly spotted with darker gray : the hind 

 wings are gray and slightly tinted with 

 ochreous iridescence ; they have a darker dis- 

 coidal spot, a darker transverse median line, 

 and a very- slender dark line on the hind 

 margin : the head, thorax, and body are gray, 

 the latter is rather unusually long, and has 

 the basal segments crested. Mr. Doubleday 

 observes that, when fresh out of the chrysalis, 

 the whole insect is suffused with a beautiful 

 rose tint. 



The EGG is laid in April on the slender 

 stems of the honeysuckle (Lonicera pericly- 

 menum), and the CATERPILLAR feeds on the 

 leaves of this favourite and familiar climber 

 in June, July, and August ; in the last-named 

 month I have found it full-grown and ready 

 to descend to the ground ; it then rests in a 

 perfectly straight position with the head por- 

 rected, and a twig of the food-plant held 



