69 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



46. The Annulet (Gnophos dbscurata). 



middle, is another annulet : the head, thorax, 

 and body are of the same colour as the wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 has occurred abundantly in Cornwall, Devon- 

 shire, Somerset, Dorset, in the New Forest, 

 Hampshire, Tilgate Forest in Sussex, Farn- 

 ham Heath in Surrey, and also in Wales, 

 the North of England, and Scotland; Mr. 

 Birchall says it is generally distributed and 

 common in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Gnophos obscurata.) 



The CATERPILLAR very much resembles the 

 moth in colour, being gray of various shades, 

 the back paler than the sides, and the fore 

 part of each segment paler than the hind part ; 

 it feeds at night on the salad burnet (Poterium 

 sanguisorba), and the sun cistus (Helianthe- 

 mum vulgare), concealing itself tinder stones 

 or among the roots of the grass by day, and 

 may be obtained by pulling up and shaking 

 tufts of grass. The EGG is laid in July and 

 August, and the young caterpillar is hatched 

 in a few days, and continues to feed and to 

 grow slowly until the end of September, when 

 it is about half-grown, and then hybernates, 

 reappearing in the spring, and beginning to 

 feed again in April, 



147. The Scotch Annulet (Dasydia obfuscata). 



147. THE SCOTCH ANNULET. The antennae 

 are very long and slender, ciliated in the male, 

 simple in the female : the colour of the wings 

 is smoky-gray, suffused in recent specimens 

 with greenish or purplish, pearly i-eflection?, 

 rarely to be observed in cabinet specimens : 

 near the middle of each of the fore wings is a 

 faint ring of a darker colour, and there is a 

 dark spot in the middle of each hind wing ; 

 there are two very obscure transverse darker 

 lines on the fore wings, and one on the hind 

 wings, and these are accompanied by paler and 

 broken white lines equally obscure ; the fore- 

 wings are rather pointed, and the hind margin 

 of the hind wings is waved, but not scalloped : 

 the head, thorax, and body are smoky-gray. 



The CATERPILLAR is described by Guenee as 

 of a violet-gray colour, with a white spiracular 

 liue, and an oblique dark gray streak on the 

 side of each segment ; it has two small humps 

 on the twelfth segment ; it feeds on the dyer's 

 green weed (Genista tinctoria\ and various 

 species of vetch. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July and 

 August ; it has only been taken among the 

 Scotch mountains, and in the county Wicklow 

 in Ireland by Mr. Bristow. (The scientific 

 name is Dasydia obfuscata.) 



148. The Black Mountain Moth (Psodos trepidaria). 



148. THE BLACK MOUNTAIN MOTH. The 

 antennae are simple in both sexes : the forg 



