GEOMETERS. 



variable. The following varieties are described 

 by Mr. Crewe : 



" Var. 1 . Bright yellowish or blueish green, 

 with a number of dorsal or sub-dorsal spots 

 and lines of a darker shade, the dorsal mark- 

 ings very often forming a series of disjointed 

 lozenge-shaped spots. 



" Var. 2. Uniformly yellow, yellowish, or 

 bluish green, without any spots or markings 

 whatever. 



" Var. 3. Greenish or pinkish- white, with a 

 chain of deep red, trident-shaped dorsal spots, 

 connected together by the central prong, and 

 becoming confluent towards the head ; belly 

 whitish, with a short red line or spot in the 

 centre of several of the segments. It feeds in 

 August and September up<>n the flowers of 

 the ragwort (Senecio jacobcea and S. erucifo- 

 lius), of golden rod (Solidago Virgaurea Achil- 

 Icea Millefolium, hemp agrimony (Eupatorium 

 cannabianum), Pimpinella magna, and P. saxi- 

 fraga, Silaus pratensis, Campanula glome- 

 rata, and Scabiosa columbaria. Vars. I and 2 

 I have almost invariably found upon the three 

 first- named plants, whilst those on the other 

 flowers were Var. 3." 



The CHRYSALIS is enclosed in an earthen 

 cocoon. There are two varieties, one of which 

 is of an uniform pale red colour. The perfect 

 insect appears more or less from May to 

 August. 



The MOTH appears on the wing more or less 

 abundantly from May to August ; it is one of 

 our common species of Eupithecia, and is to 

 be seen on every fence or park paling early in 

 the morning, resting with expanded wings ; 

 it certainly occurs more frequently in such 

 situations, but also is to be found on trunks 

 of trees, and stone walls ; it occurs in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Eupithecia centaureata.) 



261. THE BORDERED LIME SPECK. The 

 fore wings are white, clouded, and marked 

 with smoky gray, and having a nearly circular 

 discoidal spot, intensely black ; the smoky 

 markings occupy the entire costal margin, 

 except a square white spot situa: ed at about 

 two-thirds of its length ; the hind margin is 

 lo occupied by a broad smoky band, and the 



inner margin with a lighter smoky area, 

 traversed throughout by delicate transverse 

 white lines ; half-way between the central 

 black spot and the hind margin is a transverse 

 series of black dots, in some specimens scarcely 

 perceptible, in others vet y manifest ; the hind 

 wings are nearly white, clouded, and delicately 

 barred with smoke-colour ; the crown of the 

 head is white ; the collar brown ; the disk of 

 the thorax white ; the body brown except 

 near the tip, where it is white, the extreme 

 tip being brown. 



Three varieties of the CATERPILLAR are thus 

 described by Mr. Crewe : 



" Var. 1. Dull, dark, reddish brown ; the 

 central dorsal line is dingy black, connecting 

 a chain of dull black inverted, kite-shaped 

 blotches, which become confluent on the an- 

 terior and posterior segments; sub-dorsal lines 

 dusky, slender, waved, uninterrupted, darker 

 between the dorsal blotches ; median dorsal 

 blotches at some distance from each other ; 

 the border generally pale, and the centre 

 dusky ; the spiracular line is dirty white, in- 

 terrupted ; the head is bordered by a reddish 

 line ; the belly is dusky at the edges, and 

 pinkish white in the middle ; the central 

 ventral line blackish ; the back and sides 

 sprinkled with a few reddish hairs ; the cen- 

 tral area dingy. 



"For. 2. Pale reddish brown ; the central 

 dorsal line and blotches being dingy olive; 

 the sub-dorsal lines dusky, very indistinct. 

 In other respects resembling Var. 1. 



" Var. 3. Ground colour dark, dingy olive. 

 In other respects like Var. 1." 



The CHRYSALIS is enclosed in an earthen 

 cocoon. 



It feeds on the leaflets of the mugwort 

 (Artemisia vulgaris.) 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, 

 and occurs in some of our English counties, as 

 also in Scotland and Ireland. 



Obs. I possess a specimen of the male, in 

 which the hind border has a series of eight 

 ferruginous spots, and it differs also in several 

 minor characters; this is the Disparata of 

 Hiibner, the Eupithecia succenturiata, Var. 

 disparata of Guen^e. 



