GEOMETERS. 



181 



beyond the middle of the wing; it is fre- 

 quently interrupted in the middle, or broken 

 into two pale blotches, one on the costal, the 

 other on the inner margin ; each of these 

 blotches is intersected by a slender darker 

 line, and they are connected by a slender 

 paler line, sometimes scarcely perceptible, but 

 always sufficiently so to indicate the direction 

 of the bar, even when its centre is suffused 

 with dark gray-green ; the blotch on the 

 costal margin is the paler of the two, that on 

 the inner margin is rufous in the middle, 

 white on the sides ; near the middle of 

 the wing is a very obscure discoidal spot ; 

 the hind wings are dark gray-brown, with 

 a transverse waved whitish line parallel 

 with the hind margin ; they have also an in- 

 distinct linear discoidal spot ; the head and 

 thorax are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings ; the body of the same colour as the 

 hind wings. 



The CATERPILLARS are very rarely met with, 

 and we are without much information respect- 

 ing them ; they are almost uniformly cylindri- 

 cal, and the anal segment terminates in two 

 acute points directed backwards ; in colour 

 they are very variable, some of them being 

 yellowish green as regards the dorsal, olive- 

 green as regards the ventral area ; others 

 have the green dorsal area relieved by a medio- 

 dorsal series of bright red blotches, and the 

 anal points are also red ; others, again, have 

 a pink medio- ventral stripe and pink legs. 

 In 1863, Mr. Hellins beat four of these 

 caterpillars from oak, two of them, very 

 small, on the 15th of June, and two larger 

 ones on the 10th of July ; July and August 

 are probably the right months to find the 

 caterpillar full-fed. 



The MOTH does not appear until October 

 and November, and may then be occasionally 

 found on the blossoms of ivy and Laurus- 

 tinus. It occurs in most of the southern 

 counties of England, also in Durham, the 

 Lake District, Yorkshire, and Scotland, and 

 Mr. Birchall informs us it is common at ivy- 

 bloom in the county of Wicklow, in Ireland. 

 The impregnated female hybernates. (The 

 scientific name is Cidaria psittacata. ) 



351. The Autumn Green Carpet (Cidaria miata). 



351. THE AUTUMN GREEN CARPET. The 

 palpi are rather long and porrected, the 

 antennae are simple in both sexes ; the fore 

 wings are blunt at the tip, and of a pale green 

 colour, with two pale or gray-green bars, the 

 first before the middle of the wjng, the 

 second beyond it ; the green ground colour is 

 thus divided into a basal blotch, a median 

 band, and a hind-marginal band ; and this 

 last is intersected by a transverse zigzag white 

 line ; the green parts include a number of 

 waved and interrupted black lines, and a dis- 

 coidal spot is indistinctly visible in the median 

 band ; on the hind margin itself is a series of 

 jet-black dots arranged in pairs, and between 

 them and the white line already described, 

 are six, and sometimes a seventh, jet-black 

 streaks ; the hind wings are gray, with a 

 discoidal spot ; the head and thorax are 

 green, the body gray-green. 



The CATERPILLAR of this species has been 

 found by Mr. Machin in August, feeding on 

 alder, oak, and birch ; it is green, with two 

 points projecting from the anal segment. 

 This very slemder information is recorded in 

 Mr. Stainton's Manual. The caterpillar was 

 unknown to Guenee. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in October, 

 and frequents the blossoms of ivy ; like some 

 other species of geometer, the impregnated 

 female hybernates, and deposits her EGGS in 

 the following spring ; it is very commonly 

 found in sheds, outhouses, and other build- 

 ings, during the winter, but the male has not 

 been seen in such situations, and it is pre- 

 sumed that he perishes with the early frosts. 

 This moth occurs in many English counties, 

 both northern and southern, also in Scotland, 

 and in the county of Wicklow and at Howth, 

 in Ireland. (The scientific name is Cidaria 

 miata ) 



