PORTHETRIA. 1 97 



This rather scarce species expands an inch or a little more. 

 The fore-wings are reddish-grey with a double dark transverse 

 line near the base, and a whitish central spot, edged with 

 darker. The hind-wings are dull rosy-red with a blackish 

 central shade, bordered externally by an interrupted black line. 

 In the female the scaling is less dense, the markings less dis- 

 tinct, and the colour redder. 



The larva hibernates when half-grown, and is fully grown in 

 May. It is yellow, suffused with brown on the back, and has 

 two irregular blackish stripes on the sides of the back, con- 

 taining a distinct black dot at the commencement of each 

 segment. There are, moreover, twelve rows of tubercles on 

 the body, set with grey and blackish hair. The head is 

 reddish-brown. 



It feeds on low oaks (Quercus robur and Q. ilex\ remaining 

 hidden under the fallen leaves by day, and emerging only at 

 night to take food. 



The pupa is light brown, with tufts of yellow hair. 



This species has been reputed British, but without any re- 

 liable authority, and as it is a South European insect, it is 

 not at all likely to occur with us. Many of the older English 

 writers appear to have indicated species as British in the most 

 careless and haphazard manner. Most of these, however, 

 were practically eliminated by Stephens, though since his time, 

 entomologists have erred in the opposite direction, and struck 

 out many species of the occurrence of which in England there 

 is little reasonable doubt. Indeed, several of them have since 

 been reinstated in our lists. 



GENUS PORTHETRIA. 



LipariS) Ochsenheimer, Schmett. Eur. iii. p. 186 (1810). 

 Porthetria, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 160 (1822 ?). 

 Hypogymna, Stephens, 111. Brit. Ent. Haust. ii. p. 55 (1828). 



