GEOMETEES. 



97 



October are certainly a second brood. It 

 occurs very sparingly in the south of Eng- 

 land, and Mr. Birchall records the occur- 

 rence of one specimen in Ireland in 1864. 

 I ought to add, that from the singular 

 varieties of this moth bred from the egg 

 by the Eev. John Hellins, I am inclined to 

 think it comprises many of the so-called 

 species described by continental entomolo- 

 gists as distinct, such, for instance, as 

 Sanguinaria of Esper, Labdaria of Cramer, 

 Eosearia of Treitschke, &c., &c. (The 

 scientific name is Sterrha sacraria.*) 



223. The Grass Wave (Aspilates strigillaria). 



223. THE GRASS WAVE. The antennae 

 of the male are pectinated throughout their 

 length ; those of the female are simple ; the 

 margin of the hind wing is slightly scal- 

 loped. All the wings are gray, sprinkled 

 with innumerable dots, each consisting of a 

 single scale, of a dark brown colour ; the 

 fore wings have three pale, but distinct, 

 very oblique brown bars ; and the hind 

 wings have three transverse bars of the 

 same colour; the head, thorax, and body 

 are gray. 



The EGO of this moth is laid in the 

 autumn on the common ling (Calluna vul- 

 garis), on which plant the CATERPILLAR feeds. 

 This is very small at the approach of win- 

 ter, and then hybernates at the roots of 

 heath and grass ; in the spring it feeds 

 again, and when full-fed, in April and May, 

 it rests in nearly a straight posture, but 

 falls from its food, and feigns death when 

 touched or disturbed ; the head is stretched 

 forward, simple, and undivided on the 

 crown, and is rather narrower than the 

 body; the body is uniformly cylindrical, 

 emitting here and there, throughout its 

 length, short black bristles ; it has two 

 small dorsal warts on the eighth segment ; 

 two larger and nipple-shaped humps on the 

 ninth segment, and two still smaller excres- 



cences on the tenth segment, besides many 

 other minute warts on different parts of 

 the body ; on the thirteenth segment, 

 immediately above the anal claspers and 

 below the anal aperture, are two points 

 directed backwards. The colours are very 

 obscure gray-brown of different shades, 

 producing a somewhat mottled appearance, 

 and the lighter colour assuming the form of 

 narrow longitudinal stripes. It spins a 

 slight web among the twigs of its food- 

 plant, and therein changes to a CHRYSALIS. 

 The MOTH, which is common on heaths in 

 the south of England, appears on the wing 

 about midsummer. It is very abundant in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is Aspilates 

 strigillaria.) 



224. The Yellow Belle (Aspilatet citraria). 



224. THE YELLOW BELLE. The antennae 

 of the male are pectinated throughout their 

 length ; those of the female are simple ; the 

 fore wings are yellow, obscurely spotted with 

 purplish brown, and having two transverse 

 lines of the same colour ; the first of these 

 is short and somewhat scalloped, the second 

 is somewhat bent and more oblique ; be- 

 tween these transverse lines is a spot of the 

 same colour ; hind wings paler, almost 

 white, with a transverse waved gray line 

 extending from the costal margin two-thirds 

 of the way to the inner margin ; there is a 

 round spot of the same pale colour in the 

 middle of the wing ; the shaft of the an- 

 tennae is white, the fringe black : the eyes 

 are black, the head and thorax yellow, the 

 body white. 



The insect is double-brooded ; the eggs 

 of the first brood are laid about the 20th of 

 August, and probably during the ensuing 

 fortnight, and those of the second brood are 

 deposited in May on the wild carrot, bii'd's- 

 foot trefoil, and several other plants : the 

 young caterpillar of this second brood 

 emerges about the 17th of June, and is 

 full-fed at the end of July : it rests in a 



