NOCTUENI. 



47 



101. THE KENTISH GLORY. Fore -wings of 

 the male brown ; hind wings orange-colour : 

 all the wings of the female alike, pale smoky- 

 brown and almost transparent : both male and 

 female are adorned with various marks ; the 

 first is a white spot at the base of the fore 

 wings ; then comes a narrow white bar across 

 the wing, and outside this is a narrow black 

 bar ; beyond this is a V-shaped mark near the 

 middle of the wing ; anl beyond this is an 

 angulated narrow black bar ; and this is bor- 

 dered by a narrow white bar of exactly the 

 same shape ; almost at the tip of the wing 

 are three semicircular white marks in a row ; 

 the hind wings have an angulated narrow 

 black bar across the middle ; the front of the 

 thorax is almost white, the remainder of the 

 thorax brown : the body of the male orange- 

 brown, of the female greyish. In April, the 

 female lays her eggs on the slender twigs of 

 the birch tree, and the caterpillars come out 

 about the first of May. At first they are grega- 



rious, spinning a web over the twig and attach- 

 ing themselves by their claspers, and holding 

 their heads straight up in the air ; when just 

 hatched they are smoke-coloured, with a 

 darker line down the back, and a dark oblique 

 mark on each segment : there are pimples or 

 warts all over the body, each emitting five or 

 six black hairs ; the lip in front of the head 

 is yellow, and there are two yellow crescent- 

 shaped marks immediately behind the head . 

 the legs are reddish-yellow. After changing 

 its skin the first time, and eating it* cast-off 

 coat, an operation which it invariably per- 

 forms, the caterpillar becomes of a dull pale- 

 green colour, covered with minute black 

 points, and having a conspicuous narrow dark 

 line down the middle of its back ; on each 

 side is a series of paler green diagonal lines : 

 the head is yellowish, with two pairs of lon- 

 gitudinal blackish stripes and a black spot 

 between them ; the claspers are yellow. After 

 the second change the caterpillar becomes 



The Kentish Glory (Female). 



brigh't apple-green colour, still powdered with 

 innumerable minute black points on the sides 

 and claspers : the back is whiter green, with a 

 narrow dark line down the very middle ; there 

 is a pale oblique stripe on each segment, bor- 

 dered with darker green ; the second, third, 

 and fourth segments have a whitish line on 

 each side ; the head has two blackish longi- 

 tudinal lines on each side. The third change 

 produces little difference in colour. When full 

 grown, and after it has changed its skin four 

 timts, the caterpillar is an inch and a half 

 long, and very stout, its colour green, paler 



and whiter on the back, darker and ricner on 

 the sides and belly, where it is also thickly 

 sprinkled with minute circular black dots : 

 the spiracles are white, with a black edge ; the 

 head pale green, with four white longitudinal 

 stripes, the outer ones broadest ; a narrow 

 dark-green line runs down the very centre of 

 the back : on each side of each segment is an 

 oblique white stripe, bordered on each side 

 with darker green ; all these white stripes com- 

 mence near the straight green line on the 

 back, and each is continued faintly on the seg- 

 ment next to that which it adorns ; on each 



