454 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



crest is very prominent, and tipped with darker 

 brown. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a bent position, 

 the anterior extremity being elevated and held 

 away from its food-plant ; it has but six clasp- 

 ers ; the head is small, shining, and porrected ; 

 the anterior part of the body is slender and 

 stretched out leech-like in crawling, when the 

 back is arched after the manner of a Geometer; 

 the body increases in thickness to the twelfth 

 segment, which is swollen and rather humped; 

 the colour of both the head and bo ly is apple- 

 green; there are three slender white lines on 

 each side of the medio-dorsal vessel, which is 

 scarcely visible ; and on each side just above 

 the spiracles is a slender yellow line perfectly 

 continuous from the mouth to the anal claspers, 

 this is bordered above by a darker stripe also 

 very slender; this dark or black border is 

 sometimes interrupted, and sometimes almost 

 absent ; on each side of this side-stripe is a 

 series of white dots, generally three on the dor- 

 sal surface of each segment, and four below the 

 stripe ; the spiracles are whitish and scarcely 

 perceptible : it feeds on the white dead-nettle 

 (Lamium album), the stinging nettle ( Urtica 

 dioica), and other low plants, and is full-fed at 

 the beginning of June, when it spins a whitish 

 cocoon among the leaves of its food-plant and 

 in this changes to a black CHRYSALIS, which has 

 the incisions of the ventral segments greenish- 

 brown, and the wing-case is prolonged beneath 

 the segments of the body; the body terminates 

 in a small black knob, which is rather pro- 

 minent and furnished with six short spines 

 placed side by side; the two middle ones are 

 longer than the rest, placed close together and 

 bent in the form of a hook ; the spiracles are 

 reddish. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, more plentifuly in the latter; it occurs in 

 all our English and Scotch counties, and Mr. 

 Birchall says it is common and widely distri- 

 buted in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Plusia Iota.) 



Obs. My knowledge of the caterpillar and 

 chrysalis is derived from the " Collection des 



702. The Beautiful Golden Y (Plusia pulclvrma). 



702. THE BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN Y. The palpi 

 are porrected and ascending, and, excepting 

 the terminal joint, which is erect and pointed, 

 they are completely muffled in scales; the 

 antennae are simple; the fore wings are straight 

 on the costal margin, and slightly bent towards 

 the pointed tip ; their colour is rosy-brown, 

 blotched and variegated with dark rich umber- 

 brown ; there is a large lozenge-shaped blotch 

 near the middle of the inner margin, which 

 contains two bright marks of burnished gold ; 

 the lower and smaller of these is round, the 

 upper somewhat V-shaped, and emitting a 

 thread-like line of glittering scales, which 

 meanders nearly to the base of tho inner 

 margin ; both the discoidal spots are per- 

 ceptible, and are always either partially or 

 entirely circumscribed with a thread-like 

 boundary of metallic scales : the hind wings 

 are gray-brown, paler towards the base, 

 the paler area having a darker median bar, 

 wing-rays, and discoidal spot ; the fringe of 

 all the wings is rosy-brown, alternating with 

 darker brown ; the head and thorax are varied 

 with the two shades of brown ; the body is 

 gray-brown, redder towards the extremity : 

 its back is crested, the crests being darker. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 has been taken in most of our English and 

 Scotch counties, and Mr. Birchall informs us 

 it is widely distributed and common in Ire- 

 land. (The scientific name is Plusia pul- 

 chrina.) 



Obs. Contrasted with the preceding species, 

 Pulchrina is more decidedly variegated than 

 Iota ; the boundaries of the shades being more 

 sharply defined. 



