BOMBYCES 237 



The Chocolate Tip (Pygcera curtuld) 



This species is not nearly so common as the last, but is to be 

 met with more or less in most of the English counties in the month 

 of May. 



Its fore wings are light greyish brown, crossed with four trans- 

 verse paler streaks, and tipped with a patch of chocolate brown. 

 The hind wings are pale yellowish 



grey - 



The young caterpillars feed in com- 

 panies between leaves which they have 

 spun together, but when nearly full 

 grown they cease to be gregarious. 



They are also very different in appear- FIG. 135. THE CHOCOLATE 

 ance at different ages. When fully TIP. 



fed, the larva is of a reddish-grey 



colour, spotted with black, with a double row of orange-coloured 

 warts on each side. There is also a little black hump on each of 

 the fifth and twelfth segments. 



The food plants of this species are sallows (Salix caprea and 

 S. cinerea), poplar (Populus nigra), and aspen (P. tremula). 



Family CYMATOPHORID^E 



This, the last family of the Bombyces, contains seven species of 

 moderate size, the larvee of which are either quite smooth or have 

 small warty prominences. The seven species are grouped into 

 three genera, from two of which we shall select a representative. 



The Peach Blossom (Thyatira Batis) 



The popular name of this pretty little moth is given on account 

 of the resemblance of the pink 

 patches of its olive-brown fore wings 

 to the petals of the peach flower. 

 It is a moderately common moth, 

 widely distributed in England and 

 Ireland, and flies during June and 

 July. 



The caterpillar is marbled with FIG. 136. THE PEACH BLOSSOM. 

 reddish grey and brown, and has 

 a hump on the third segment, and a smaller prominence on each 



