NOCTUAS. 



457 



the dorsal area, than to divide the dorsal from 

 the ventral; the legs andclaspers are glaucous- 

 green ; the spiracles are yellowish. It feeds 

 on the sallow (Salix caprea), and when full-fed, 

 which is towards the end of June, it binds to- 

 gether the leaves at the end of one of the 

 twigs, and within the domicile thus formed it 

 spins a beautifully white, oval cocoon, in which 

 it turns to a black CHRYSALIS, which has a 

 sharp -pointed extremity furnished with 

 hooks. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August 

 and September, but is very fond of hybernat- 

 ing in the perfect state almost as soon as it 

 has left the chrysalis : common as it appears 

 to be throughout the kingdom, I have only 

 found it in stables, outhouses, and the dwell- 

 ings of man ; I have seen more than a dozen 

 in a thatched tool-house that was kept locked, 

 and into which they must have entered through 

 a small square aperture leftforthe admission of 

 light, and always closed unless when the tools 

 were required ; and they seemed to remain 

 quite stationary all the winter, each keeping 

 to the site it had originally selected. (The 

 scientific name is Gonoptera Libatrix.) 



707. The Copper ~Un(le'rw'mg(Amphipyra pyramided). 



707. THE COPPER UNDERWING. The palpi 

 are rather long, and ascend in front of the 

 frontal tuft ; the second j oint is somewhat club- 

 shaped, slender at the base, and gradually 

 thickened towards the tip ; they are scaly, but 

 the scales lie flat and are closely appressed ; 

 'he terminal joint is rather long, naked and 

 pointed, and the points incline towards each 

 other, sometimes even meeting ; the antennae 

 are simple : the fore wings are broad, slightly 

 arched on the costal margin, rounded at the 

 tip, and slightly scalloped on the hind margin, 

 t 1 ^ir colour is brown ; the orbicular is a mere 



black dot in a pale ring, the reniform is indis- 

 tinguishable; there is an imperfect pale zigzag 

 line between the base and the orbicular, and a 

 more distinct zigzag line beyond the orbicular, 

 followed by a suffused pale bar and two 

 transverse series of white dots of diverse 

 forms : the hind wings are dull orange-brown 

 towards the costal margin : the head, body 

 and thorax are gray-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in nearly a straight 

 position ; it does not fall from its food-plant if 

 annoyed, unless compelled to do so, and it 

 never rolls in a ring. It is stout, obese, of 

 nearly uniform width throughout; the second, 

 third and fourth segments, however, are 

 rather more slender, and the twelfth rises in 

 a pyramidal form, and is surmounted with a 

 medio-dorsal horn-like point which is slightly 

 curved backwards. The colour of the head i.s 

 apple-green ; the body in some examples 

 apple-green, in others glaucous-green : in all 

 there is a narrow medio-dorsal stripe extend- 

 ing from the head to the anal flap, and inter- 

 rupted only by the horn-like summit of the 

 twelfth segment, which is red : a lateral 

 stripe passes along each side, just below the 

 spiracles, from the head to the extremity of 

 the anal flap, the spiracles themselves being 

 white and surrounded by a black ring on each 

 side ; exactly intermediate between the medio- 

 dorsal and lateral stripe is a waved and much 

 interrupted stripe which originates imme- 

 diately behind the head, and, after pursuing 

 its sinuous course along eleven segments, 

 ascends to the summit of the pyramidal pro- 

 tuberance on the twelfth, and again descends 

 in a curve, vanishing in the anal flap ; looking 

 down on the summit of the pyramidal pro- 

 tuberance, six stripes seem to radiate from 16 

 in as many different directions : besides these 

 stripes there are several dots on every segment, 

 excepting the second ; on the third and fourth 

 segments these dots are eight in number, and 

 arranged in a transverse dorsal series ; on ^he 

 following segmen j there are generally three 

 of these d^ between the medio-dorsal stripe 

 and the interrupted stripe, and one between 

 the interrupted stripe and the lateral stripe : 

 the whole of these stripes and dots are of a 



