194 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



366. The Dark Spinach (Pelurga comitata), 



366. THE DARK SPINACH. The antennae 

 are simple in both sexes ; the fore wings are 

 ample, pointed, and slightly falcate ; their 

 colour is tawny yellow, with a small trian- 

 gular basal blotch, and a broad median 

 band, the exterior margin of which has a 

 large rounded lobe in the middle, and a 

 smaller one near the hind margin ; the basal 

 portion of the blotch and the middle of the 

 band are of the same colour as the rest of 

 the wing, but the margins of both are 

 darker, approaching to brown, the brown 

 being disposed in waved lines ; there is a 

 small but intensely black discoidal spot in 

 the median band : the hind wings are dull 

 brownish yellow, the basal portion slightly 

 darker ; the head, thorax, and body are dull 

 ochreous yellow. 



The CATERPILLAR generally rests in a 

 straight position, except that the posterior 

 extremity is raised and the anal claspers 

 are not attached to the food-plant; but 

 sometimes the ventral and anal claspers are 

 both firmly attached, the legs and anterior 

 segments held clear of the food-plant, and 

 the back arched; when annoyed it falls 

 to the ground and lies quite motionless, 

 bent nearly double, and bent again at the 

 ventral claspers, the following segments 

 standing out at an obtuse angle with the 

 loop. The head is narrower than the second 

 segment, the anterior margin of which 

 forms a kind of cup, receiving the head ; the 

 face is very flat, and the crown without any 

 conspicuous notch ; the body is stout and 

 has a dilated skinfold, which is deeply 

 indented at the incisions of the segments, 

 giving the sides of the caterpillar when 

 viewed from above a serrated or notched 

 outline. The colour of the face is dark 

 smoky -brown, almost black, but the sides 

 of the head and the region about the mouth 

 are paler; the entire head is rather gla- 



brous : the colour of the body is dull opaque 

 olive-brown, with slender rivulet smoke- 

 coloured dorsal stripes, very indistinct 

 except on the anterior segments ; on the 

 fifth, sixth, and seventh segments is a dorsal 

 longitudinal series of three yellow dots on 

 each side, and between each series, on the 

 posterior margin of the segment, is a trans- 

 verse median yellow spot ; an oblique shade 

 passes forwards from each side of each seg- 

 ment, outside the median yellow spot and 

 inside the three yellow dots ; the combination 

 of each pair of these oblique shades forms 

 a V-shaped ornamentation ; there are four 

 minute white warts, arranged in a quad- 

 rangle, on the back of each segment after 

 the fourth, and each wart emits a small 

 black bristle ; the dilated skinfold is of a 

 pale but not vivid pink ; the ventral is paler 

 than the dorsal area, and there is a narrow 

 medio-ventral stripe still paler, but inter- 

 sected by a slender smoke-coloured line ; 

 this only extends from the third pair of 

 legs to the ventral claspers ; there are many 

 minute blackish warts on the ventral sur- 

 face, each emitting a bristle ; the legs are 

 very pale, the claspers concolorous with the 

 body. It feeds on the various species of 

 goose-foot (Chenopodium) , and is full-fed 

 early in September, when it changes to a 

 CHRYSALIS on the surface of the earth, and 

 remains in that state throughout the 

 winter. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, 

 and has been taken in most of our English 

 counties, both north and south, also in Scot- 

 land, and Mr. Birchall records it as of 

 common occurrence at Howth, in Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Pelurga comitata.) 



367. The Mallo-w (Eubolia cervinaria). 



367. THE MALLOW. The antennae are 

 pectinated in the male, simple in the 



