GEOMETERS. 



137 



yellow stripes, forming a sort of border to the 

 dorsal spots; spiracular line waved, yellow; 

 body wrinkled, thickly studded with minute 

 white tubercles, and somewhat more sparingly 

 with short white hairs ; segmental divisions 

 yellow : it is thick and stumpy, tiering but 

 little. It feeds from the end of August to the 

 beginning of November on the flowers of the 

 common yellow and hoary-leaved ragwort 

 (Seneciojacobceaand /S. erucifolius), on the hem p 

 agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum),the mug- 

 wort (Artemisia vulgaris), the yarrow (AcMllea 

 millefolium), the golden rod (Solidago rir- 

 gaurea), and other plants. The CHRYSALIS, 

 which is enclosed in a tightly-spun earthen 

 cocoon, has the wing-cases bright green, the 

 rays very prominent ; the thorax yellowish 

 green, and the body reddish yellow, with a 

 dark green dorsal line." 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, and is common in most of the English 

 counties, and occurs also in Scotland and 

 Ireland. 



290. THE LING PUG. The fore wings are 

 rather long, narrow, and pointed; they have a 

 reddish brown tinge, with a distinct but not 

 very large discoidal spot; between the costal 

 and sub-costal rays are several transverse 

 markings of a dark brown colour, and on the 

 inner margin are other somewhat similar 

 markings ; these form, as it were, the two 

 extremities of transverse lines, the presence of 

 which is slightly indicated on the disk of the 

 wing ; parallel with the hind margin is an 

 interrupted series of white spots, most of them 

 linear and very obscure ; but there is one 

 more distinct and larger at the anal angle ; 

 the hind wings are pale dingy brown, with a 

 whitish spot at the anal angle; the head, 

 thorax, and body are of the same colour as the 

 fore wings ; the sides of the body are dark 

 brown. 



The CATERPILLAR is described by Mr. Crewe 

 as " short, thick, and stumpy ; the ground 

 colour is dull pink or flesh-tint, with a series 

 of dusky Y-shaped dorsal spots, connected by 

 a central pink line, and becoming faint on 

 the anterior, and almost obliterated on the 

 posterior segments; each dorsal segment is 



studded with four yellowish tubercles ; the 

 spiracular line is yellowish, interrupted at 

 intervals by dusky blotches. The head is 

 dusky olive, marked with black ; the belly is 

 dusky or pinkish white ; the back thickly 

 studded with small white, and a few black, 

 tubercles, and sprinkled here and there with 

 short hairs. It feeds on the flowers of the 

 common ling (CaUunavulgaris), in August and 

 September. The CHRYSALIS is enclosed in an 

 earthen cocoon ; it is short and thick, with 

 the thorax and wing-cases golden yellow; 

 the body yellow, generally suffused with red ; 

 the wing-cases very transparent, and the tips 

 of the body blood-red." 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, and 

 has been taken at West "Wickham, in Surrey, 

 at Glasgow, in Scotland, and is common in 

 Ireland. Mr. Crewe believes it to be common 

 wherever its food-plant occurs. (The scientific 

 name is Eupithecia minutata.) 



Obs. M. Guenee confesses himself unable 

 to define any essential difference between 

 E. absynthiata and E. minutata; he had united 

 them in his " Species Gen6ral," until Mr. 

 Doubleday, who has reared both species from 

 the caterpillar, carefully keeping them sepa- 

 rate, induced him to alter his opinion ; in 

 examining long series of both species obligingly 

 sent to him by Mr. Doubleday, he finds the 

 prevailing colour of Absynthiata more of an 

 isabelline brown, and less liver-coloured than 

 in E. minutata ; the costal markings darker, 

 the discoidal spot blacker, oblong and well- 

 defined ; the series of white markings near the 

 hind margin is more or less interrupted, but 

 is always continued to the anal angle, where 

 it terminates in a large semi-double white 

 spot. Of the present species, E. minutata, 

 M. Guene"e says it only differs from E. absyn- 

 thiata in its smaller size, its more cinereous 

 tint of colour, and its markings being more 

 distinct. My own impression, with Mr. 

 Doubleday's specimens before me, is that E. 

 minutata is a less insect ; the fore wings, 

 measured from the costal margin to the anal 

 angle, are decidedly narrower ; relatirely, but 

 not actually, longer ; and certainly more 

 pointed ; of the difference in colour, I am not 



