GEOMETERS. 



199 



verse line, the inner portion of which is 

 darker, the outer lighter than the disk of 

 the wing ; near the base of the wing is a 

 faint discoidal spot : the head, thorax, and 

 base of the body are dove-coloured, the 

 rest of the body pale brownish-gray. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a nearly straight 

 position with the claspers only attached, 

 but bends itself in a loop when annoyed : 

 the head is about equal in width with the 

 body, prone, rounded on the crown, and 

 partially immersed in the second segment ; 

 the body is cylindrical, the segments 

 wrinkled transversely ; the anal flap is 

 truncate at the extremity. The colour of 

 the head is wainscot-brown ; the dorsal 

 area of the body wainscot-brown, with a 

 paler, almost yellow, space at the interstices 

 of the segments ; and there are a number 

 of darker rivulet lines extending the entire 

 length of the back, and these are particu- 

 larly conspicuous when passing through the 

 yellow spaces already mentioned ; these 

 darker markings approximate and unite in 

 the anal flap ; on each side is a narrow 

 yellow stripe commencing at the head and 

 terminating in the anal flap ; the upper 

 margin of this stripe is vague, fading off 

 into the dorsal area, the lower margin is 

 sharply denned, and contrasts strongly with 

 the ventral area, which is dark brown with 

 a medio-reatral stripe rather paler : the lens 

 and claspers are nearly of the same colour 

 as the ventral area. It occurs twice in the 

 year, feeding on the leaves and flowers of 

 the perforated St. John's wort (Hypericum 

 perforatum) , but chiefly among the flowers. 

 The CHRYSALIS is of a reddish-yellow colour 

 irrorated with white ; it has a small scabrous 

 plate of a reddish-brown colour on each side 

 of the neck at the base of the tippets ; this 

 plate is connected with the first spiracle. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May 

 and June, and a second brood in August 

 and September : my specimens of the second 

 brood are much smaller and less distinctly 

 marked than those of the first. It occurs 

 in many of our English counties, both north 

 and south ; also in Scotland ; and Mr. 

 Birchall informs us it is common and 

 generally distributed in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Anaitis plagiata.) 



375. The Pale Gray Carpet (Lithostege griseata). 



375. THE PALE GRAY CARPET. The fore 

 wings are sharply pointed at the tip, and 

 of a whitish-gray colour, in some specimens 

 deepening into a smoky tint ; there is an 

 oblique stripe extending from the tip of the 

 wing to the inner margin just within the 

 anal angle ; the hind wings are whitish at 

 the base, and slightly tinged with smoke- 

 colour towards the hind margin : the head, 

 thorax, and body are extremely pale gray, 

 almost white : the dull tint mtore or less ob- 

 servable in this moth is due to minute black 

 dots, most of them consisting of single 

 scales only. 



I am indebted to Mr. Hellins for the fol- 

 lowing description of the CATERPILLAR : 



" To Mr. T. Brown of Cambridge I am 

 indebted for a liberal supply of the eggs 

 and caterpillars of this species, as well as 

 for the food-plants, without which I could 

 not have reared them. Mr. Brown having 

 found the caterpillars feeding on the seed- 

 pods of Sisymbrium Sophia, last year kindly 

 sent me seeds (as he believed) of this mus- 

 tard, in order that I might be prepared for 

 the coming season of 1867 ; it has turned 

 out, however, that the seeds so sent were 

 those of Erysimum cheiranthoides, but fortu- 

 nately the mistake did no harm ; the cater- 

 pillars hatched here from the egg took to 

 the Erisymum at once, and throve on it 

 well; whilst those captured at large on 

 Sisymbrium Sophia, when sent to me did 

 not make much difficulty about taking to 

 their substitute food, and lost no time in 

 completing their full growth on it. 



" I received eggs on June 18th and 25th ; 

 the caterpillars appeared soon afterwards, 

 and took about a month to feed up, all 

 being in chrysalis by August 1st. Two 

 days after this date Mr. Brown sent me 

 some more caterpillars, just captured by 

 himself, and these continued to feed for 

 nearly a fortnight longer. 



