474 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



full-fed on or about the 15th of June, and 

 then roll in a ring and fall off their food-plant 

 if touched or annoyed : it is stony ground 

 where they principally occur, and a small 

 shell a species of Planorbis ? abounds in 

 the same locality, and has almost exactly the 

 appearance, in form, colour, and size, of a 

 rolled-up Caniola caterpillar, a circumstance 

 which greatly increases the difficulty of 

 finding them when thus feigning death. In 

 confinement, as at large, they feed exclusively 

 on LeguminoscK, and seek no change of diet, 

 pertinaciously refusing to touch, and indeed 

 appearing to avoid, the lichens that my solici- 

 tude for their well-being had provided. The 

 head is narrower than the body ; when per- 

 fectly at rest, it is partially concealed by the 

 second segment. The body is of nearly 

 uniform thickness, but slightly decreasing 

 towards the anal extremity ; the segraental 

 divisions are deeply incised ; the second seg- 

 ment has the dorsal surface scabrous behind 

 the head, the scabrous part emitting bristles 

 which project over the head ; this segment 

 has also two scabrous warts on each side ; the 

 other segments have twelve scabrous warts, 

 that is, six on each side, and each wart emits 

 a fascicle of radiating bristles ; four of these 

 warts are strictly dorsal ; two anterior 

 smaller and approximate ; two posterior, 

 larger and more distant ; the third on each 

 side is large and circular ; the fourth smaller 

 and linear ; and the fifth much smaller, and 

 immediately above the claspers when these 

 occur. The colour of the head is black and 

 shining ; there is a white spot on each side at 

 the base of the mandibles. The body has a 

 very narrow black medio-dorsal stripe, bounded 

 on each side by a still narrower and very 

 sinuous gray stripe ; this is followed by a 

 somewhat broader smoky-black stripe, and 

 this, again, by a sinuous and irregular orange 

 stripe ; this last contains, and is interrupted 

 by, the second row of scabrous warts ; next 

 on each side follows a broad stripe of smoky- 

 black, delicately tessellated with sinuous gray 

 markings ; this lateral stripe contains the 

 third series of warts, and also the spiracles, 

 which are pale orange ; finally comes a narrow 



sub-spiracular stripe of a dingy orange-colour, 

 and this contains a fourth series of warts. 

 The ventral surface is smoky flesh-colour ; the 

 legs and claspers ratb,er less dingy. On or 

 about the 8th of July it spins a slight cocoon 

 at the roots of the clover, and changes to a 

 smooth brown CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 and has been taken at Torquay, and more 

 abundantly in the county Dublin, in Ireland, 

 by Mr. Birchall, to whose unremitting kind- 

 ness I am indebted for a most abundant 

 supply, both of the perfect insect and cater- 

 pillar, as also for the interesting details of 

 its life-history given above. (The scientific 

 name is Lithosia caniola.) 



Obs, 1. The males assemble freely, after 

 the manner of Bombyces, to seek the company 

 of the females. 



Obs. 2. Mr. Doubleday, with his usual 

 acumen, discovered this species in a collection 

 of insects brought by Mr. G. King from 

 Torquay. 



59*. The Leaden Footman (Lithosia, molybdeola) . 



59*. THE LEADEN FOOTMAN. "Is inter- 

 mediate between L. complana and L. plum- 

 beola ; it has the figure of the former, the 

 colour of the latter, and is rather more shining 

 than either. It may be distinguished from 

 L. complana by its darker hue, and in having 

 the yellow costal stripe straighter, and ter- 

 minating in a point before arriving at the apex 

 as in L. plumbeola ; the hind wings are always 

 strongly tinged with gray along the inner 

 margin, this colour even extending, in some 

 specimens, over the whole surface, and leaving 

 none of the usual ochreous colour visible, 

 except a tolerably broad border, which forms 

 a notch between the median and internal ner- 

 vures : the head and neck are of a very bright 

 yellow ; the thorax and abdomen lead-coloured, 

 this last not exhibiting any yellow except at 



