128 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



the centre, and having a dusky central line 

 running the whole length ; the body is stud- 

 ded with variously-sized white tubercles, and 

 is thinly clothed with short hairs. It feeds 

 upon the flowers of the golden rod (Solidago 

 virgaurea), in August and September. I have 

 found it by iio means rare in the Kentish 

 woods, where the underwood is of one or two 

 years' growth, and the golden rod has room to 

 grow and flower freely. In confinement this 

 caterpillar will feed freely upon ragwort (Se- 

 nedo jacobcea) and S. Palustris. The CHRYSA- 

 LIS, which isenelose'l in a slightly-spun earthen 

 cocoon, is very distinct from all the rest of the 

 family. The thorax is yellowish green, wit'i 

 a very accurately and distinctly defined bor- 

 der, and looks almost as if set in a frame. 

 When examined with a glass, some singular 

 dark spots and markings are seen, which give 

 it very much the appearance of a skull. The 

 body is a yellowish red, with two indistinct 

 interrupted dorsal, and two more distinct sub- 

 dorsal dusky lines ; the wing-cases are yellow- 

 ish olive, streaked with dusky markings, and 

 having the wing rays very prominent." 



The caterpillar is rather slender, and tapers 

 towards the head. In general appearance it 

 resembles E. castigata and E. vulgata. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 the beginning of June, and has been taken by 

 Mr. Doubleday at Epping : it has been re 

 ported from other southern localities, and is 

 common ne*r Liverpool, but has not occurred 

 in Scotland or Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Eupithecia virgaureata.) 



Obs. This insect has for many years stood 

 under the name of E. pimpinellata in our 

 cabinets, and under fhat name Mr. Crewe has 

 described tl>e caterpillar; but this gentleman 

 was, I believe, the first to suspect and to point 

 out the error, for he appends to his description 

 the following judicious remarks: "I am 

 inclined to suspect that this insect has been 

 wrongly named ; I have constantly and most 

 closely examined both the flowers and seeds 

 of Pimpinella magna and P, saxi/raga, but 

 could never detect the slightest trace of the 

 caterpillar, but I have repeatedly beaten it 

 from the flowers of the golden rod, and from 



that plant alone, although both species of 

 Pimpinella are common in this locality/' I 

 may state that Mr. Doubleday entirely agrees 

 with this change of name, which I trust will 

 hereafter be generally adopted. 



274. THE WHITE-SPOTTED PUG. The fore 

 wings are brown, minutely speckled with 

 darker brown, and the wing-rays are spotted 

 alternately dark and pale ; near the middle of 

 the wing is the usual discoidal dark spot very 

 conspicuous, and almost round, and below the 

 hind margin is an interrupted transverse series 

 of white markings, three of which, situated 

 towards the anal angle, are very conspicuous ; 

 between this series and the fringe the wing- 

 rays are entirely dark ; the hind wings are 

 brown, and very minutely speckled with 

 darker brown, and these have also a trans- 

 verse and almost marginal series of white 

 markings, terminating in a conspicuous white 

 spot near the anal angle; the head, thorax, 

 and body are brown ; the thorax being marked 

 with a white bar across the middle, and a 

 white triangle where it joins the body. 



Mr. Crewe has described two varieties of. 

 the caterpillar as under : 



"Far. 1. Groundcolour, pale lemon yellow, 

 more or less suffused with rich brown. Down 

 the centre of the back is a series of deep 

 brown lily-shaped spots, bordered on either 

 side by a slender sub-dorsal line of the same 

 colour ; on each side is a row of slanting 

 bright yellow stripes and deep brown blotches; 

 the belly is greenish yellow ; the central 

 ventral line deep brown ; the sub-ventral line 

 deep brown, much broader than the central 

 one. Body studded with numerous white 

 tubercles. 



" For. 2. Ground colour pale yellowish 

 green ; down the centre of the back is a series 

 of semi-lozenge-shaped dusky brown spots, 

 connected by a central line of the same colour, 

 and becoming indistinct on the posterior, and 

 confluent on the anterior segments; sub-dorsal 

 lines dusky, indistinct. On each side is a 

 series of dusky blotches ; the central ventral 

 line dusky, interrupted ; the whole body, 

 especially the back, is studded wilh minute 

 white tubercles, and a few short blackish 



