GEOMETERS. 



159 



described. On the back of each segment are 

 two or four black dots ; the sixth, seventh, 

 eighth, and ninth segments are slightly darker 

 than the rest ; the spiracles are black. It 

 feeds on the traveller's joy (Clematis vitalba), 

 and is full-fed about the middle of September, 

 when it spins a slight web, and remains in 

 the CHRYSALIS state throughout the winter. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May, 

 June, and July, principally in June ; it occurs 

 in the southern counties of England, but not 

 in the north, nor have I seen specimens from 

 Scotland or Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Melanippe procellata.) 



322. The Sharp-angled Carpet (Melanippe 

 unangulata). 



322. THE SHARP-ANGLED CARPET. The 

 basal portion of the fore winga is smoky- 

 brown, marbled with paler brown and gray, 

 and bounded by a zigzag white line j the 

 middle of the wings is occupied by a broad 

 band which includes the discoidal spot, and is 

 sharply angled on its outer, and concave on its 

 inner margin ; beyond the dark band is a 

 white bar, bent in the middle, and double or 

 intersected throughout by a faint brown line ; 

 the hind margin of the wing is occupied by 

 a smoky-brown band, which has a median 

 zigzag white line, a pale oblique streak at the 

 tip, and a pale and vague blotch in the 

 middle ; the hind wings are grayish white, 

 with a faint discoidal spot and a double 

 smoke-coloured bar on the hind margin. The 

 head, thorax, and body are marbled with gray 

 and brown. 



The CATERPILLAR is stout, rather attenuated 

 at both ends, and rests with the head tucked 

 in the anterior part of the body, when dis- 



turbed, being curled in, or carved in the man- 

 ner of the Ionic volute. The head is brown, 

 beautifully dotted, and marked with black. 

 The body is smoky-brown, delicately mottled 

 and varied ; the back may be said to have 

 seven smoke-coloured stripes, alternating with 

 paler stripes ; the medio-dorsal stripe is not 

 perceptible on either the second or thirteenth 

 segments, but is distinct and uninterrupted oil 

 the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and 

 eighth segments ; it is suddenly dilated an- 

 teriorly, and more gradually posteriorly, and 

 is extremely attenuated and scarcely percep- 

 tible on the remaining segments. On each of 

 the interstices between the segments com- 

 mencing between the fourth and fifth is a 

 short transverse reddish band, terminating at 

 each extremity by a longitudinal black spot ; 

 the remaining smoke-coloured stripes, three in 

 number, on each side of the median stripe, are 

 scarcely susceptible of verbal definition. Each 

 segment of the belly after the fourth has a 

 cluster of black dots, which are not piesent 

 in any other British species of the genus; but 

 Mr. Hellins informs me that markings of the 

 same colour and character occur in Cidaria 

 picata. It feeds on the common chickweed 

 (Alsine media), and is full-fed at the beginning 

 of August. It spins its cocoon on or just 

 under the surface of the earth, and remains in 

 the CHRYSALIS state all the winter. In cap- 

 tivity it is sometimes double-brooded, but not 

 in a state of nature. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June ; it 

 occurs in many of our English counties, but 

 not yet observed in Scotland. Mr. Bristow 

 has taken it near Belfast in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Melanippe unangulata.) 



323. The Wood Carpet (Melanippe rivatn], 



323. THE WOOD CAKPET. The basal por- 

 tion of the fore wirg is smoky-gray, bounded 

 by a slender curved white line, and beyond is 



