464 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



The CATERPILLAR rests with the ventral sur- 

 face closely appressed to a branch or twig of 

 the food-plant, and has no power of rolling in 

 a ring, and does not fall off or relinquish its 

 hold if annoyed, but seems to clasp the bark 

 all the more firmly, and to defy all at- 

 tempts at removal ; the head is placed trans- 

 versely, the position being prone and the face 

 flattened ; it is much broader than the second, 

 third, or fourth segments ; the body is convex 

 above amd flattened beneath, and appears to 

 have fourteen segments, the one which is ad- 

 ditional occurring after the thirteenth ; the 

 number of claspers is ten, situated, as usual, 

 on the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and ter- 

 minal segments; after the fifth segment the 

 body is gradually incrassated to the ninth seg- 

 ment, which has a dorsal lump, and the fifth 

 and sixth segments have each a pair of small 

 lobes in the venu-al surface somewhat resem- 

 bling false claspers, and along each side where 

 the convex dorsal and flattened ventral surface 

 meet, is a continuous series of pointed fleshy 

 appendages mixed with hairs exactly similar 

 to those I have described as possessed by 

 Metrocampa margaritata at page 53 : the use 

 of these curious appendages no one has been 

 able * > detect ; their resemblance to the 

 rootlets of ivy is very striking, and the imita- 

 tion of an ivy twig climbing on the branch of 

 the ash is absolutely perfect : the colour is 

 brownish-gray sprinkled with black ; the 



underside is somewhat putty-coloured, with 

 a large black spot on each segment : it feeds on 

 ash (Fraxinus excelsior), the poplar, and is full- 

 fed in July, when it spins a net- work of silk 

 among the leaves, and in this changes to a 

 smooth CHRYSALIS covered with amealy powder 

 or bloom of a bluish-gray colour. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August 

 and September, and is always esteemed a great 

 prize, and some supposed English specimens 

 are sold by dealers at a very high price, a 

 fact that holds out a perpetual premium to 

 fraud. I strongly recommend entomologists 

 never to buy an English specimen : if they 

 desire to place an example of this beautiful 

 insect in their cabinets, let them give a few 

 pence for a French or German specimen, and, 

 having labelled it with care, place it in its aj>- 

 pointed station : it is an excess of folly to 

 give two or three pounds for an insect just 

 because it is supposed to be taken on the 

 English instead of the French side of the 

 Channel. This practice, however, prevails to 

 so great an extent as to render it next GO im- 

 possible to unravel the history of every 

 reputed British specimen. Single specimens 

 have been occasionally reported as captured in 

 Somerset, Wilts, Dorset, Hants, Isle of Wight, 

 Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, 

 Cambridge, Shropshire, Lancashire, and York- 

 shire. (The scientific name is Catoccdu 

 Fraxini.) 



716. The Bed Underwing (Catocala nupta). 



716. THE RED UNDERWING. The palpiare 

 porrected and slightly curved upwards, the 



second joint being densely covered witL scale?, 

 the terminal joint erect and nearly ii 



