GEOMETERS. 



123 



264. Guenee's Pug (Eupithecia pernotata). 



264. GUENEE'S PUG. The four wings 

 are of a delicate pearly gray colour, with an 

 ochreous tinge diffused uniformly over the 

 entire surface, which is also traversed by 

 numerous transverse lines, all of them more 

 or less waved, and more or less oblique ; these 

 transverse lines are paler than the ground- 

 colour, but not very conspicuously so, neither 

 are they quite continuous ; the wing-rays 

 are spotted with dark brown; there is also a 

 series of transverse dark markings bet ween the 

 costal and sub-costal rays, and a slender inter- 

 rupted dark brown line on the hind margin ; 

 the hind wings are of a pearly gray colour, 

 without the ochreous tint, but their markings 

 are very nearly the same as those of the fore 

 wings. I am unable to find the usual discoidal 

 spot on either of the wings ; the fringe is 

 spotted ; the head, thorax, and body are 

 ochreous-brown, speckled with darker brown, 

 and there is an evident darker belt at the junc- 

 tion of the thorax and body : it is a large and 

 interesting species; although the colours are 

 very subdued, and present no strong contrast, 

 the pattern, so to speak, is very elegant ; when 

 fresh from the chrysalis the specimen de- 

 scribed had a distinct reddish marginal band 

 on all the wings. 



The only specimen I have seen is in Mr. 

 Doubledny's collection ; it was bred from a 

 caterpillar which was found by Mr. Machin, 

 feeding on the flowers of the golden rod. (The 

 scientific name is Eupithecia pernotata.) 



J65. The Lead -coloured Png (Eupitheciaplumbeolata) . 

 265. THE LEAD-COLOURED PUG. All the 

 wings are lead-coloured, with slightly darker, 

 delicate, transverse waved lines, but these are 

 rery indistinct, and tend rather to increase 

 than diminish the plain lead-coloured nppear- 



ance of the insect ; there is a splendid inter- 

 rupted black lin on the hind margin, just 

 wiihin the fringe ; the hind wings are rather 

 paler than the fore wiugs. I am unable to 

 find any trace of the discoidal spot on either 

 of the wings. The head, thorax, and body 

 are of the same colour as the fore wings. 



The CATERPILLAR is thus described by Mr. 

 Ore we : 



"Somewhat short and stumpy ; the ground- 

 colour is pale yellowish green ; the central 

 dorsal line broad, continuous, dull purplish 

 red, enlarged into a somewhat pear-shaped 

 blotch on the centre of each segment ; sub- 

 dorsal lines narrower, sinuous, dull purplish 

 red ; dorsal and subdorsal lines sometimes 

 merged into one, leaving the whole back and 

 sides suffused with purplish red ; a few slender 

 yellowish hairs sprinkled over the dorsal and 

 latei'al segments ; the belly is naked, pale, 

 dull greenish yellow ; central ventral line 

 wanting ; subventral lines narrow, purplish 

 red. It feeds on the flowers of the common 

 cow- wheat (Melampyrum pratense); when 

 quite young on the stamens only, afterwards 

 on the whole corolla tube ; it is full-fed fro n 

 the middle of July to the middle of August. 

 The CHRYSALIS is enclosed in a slight cocoon, 

 either in a dry corolla tube, or in the surface 

 of the earth; its general colour is golden yel- 

 low, with the abdominal divisions and tip red." 

 The MOTH appears on the wing at the end 

 of May, and occurs in most of our English 

 counties, also in Scotland ; and Mr. Birchall 

 informs us it is common at Killarney, in Ire- 

 land. (The scientific name of this homely 

 little moth has been changed a great many 

 times ; it has been called Plumbfolata, Pusil- 

 lata, Scabiosata,, Begrandaria., and Valeria- 

 nata, but I think the oldest intelligible de- 

 scription is Haworth's, under the name of 

 Eupithecia plumbeolata.) 



266. Haworth's Png (Eupithecia isogrammata). 



266. HAWORTH'S PUG. All the wings are 

 brownish gray, the colour being given by 

 numerous waved and clo<ely approximate 



