200 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



" The CATERPILLAR, when full grown, is 

 nearly an inch long, rather slender, of uni- 

 form bulk throughout, rather flattened be- 

 neath ; head rather large and rounded. 

 There are several varieties in colour and 

 markings, but as all the captured specimens 

 sent to us by Mr. Brown were of one variety, 

 I have, at Mr. Buckler's suggestion, taken 

 this as 



" Var. 1. Ground colour a dull olive- 

 green, except the spiracular region, which 

 is a pale yellow ; a thin dorsal line of a 

 darker tint of the ground colour ; some- 

 times there is a similar line on either side 

 of it, and sometimes these lines appear 

 only as two olive-brown or purplish wedges 

 just before each segmental fold ; sub-dorsal 

 line greenish-gray with darker edgings ; the 

 spiracles are black, and above and just be- 

 hind them, in the yellow spiracular stripe, 

 are suffused blotches of the colour of the 

 dorsal edges. 



" Var. 2. Ground colour of a fresher, 

 more yellowish green, with the dorsal region 

 of a full green ; spiracular region yellowish, 

 and the blotches in it of darker purplish 

 tint than in No. 1, and more clearly defined 

 in shape. 



" Var. 3. Ground colour greenish white ; 

 three very fine purplish-brown or blackish 

 lines down the back, of which the central 

 one becomes wider and darker just before 

 each segmental fold, and the other two 

 across the fold ; sometimes these lines are 

 interrupted, and appear only in the thick- 

 ened parts ; sometimes again there is a 

 transverse band uniting the base of all three 

 of these dashes ; the sub-dorsal line paler 

 than the ground, but edged below with the 

 dark colour ; the spiracular region of the 

 ground colour, with the wedge-shaped 

 blotches not only above the spiracles, as in 

 the other varieties, but also with similar 

 ones below again, and in some specimens 

 the spiracular stripe itself interrupted by 

 these pairs of upper and under blotches 

 being partially united. 



"The anal flap and the anal pair of 

 claspers dark blackish green or purplish 

 brown. 



" Varieties 2 and 3 were reared from the 

 egg on Erysimum cheiranthoides. 



" The larvae went underground to undergo 

 their final change." 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, 

 and has been found in two localities only ; 

 the first specimen was taken at Thetford by 

 a Miss Clarke, and was unique for many 

 years in the cabinet of the late Mr. Curtis, 

 where it stood under the name of Minoa 

 ClarJciata: it was subsequently named M. 

 niveata, by Mr. Stephens. Mr. Doubleday 

 afterwards received a pair among a number 

 of insects collected by a boy of the name of 

 Reynolds, a son of Mr. Reynolds the bird- 

 stuffer. The late Mr. Bouchard deter- 

 mined on finding the insect, and within the 

 last few years supplied some of our cabinets. 

 It has also been taken at Brandon. Its 

 economy was unknown until discovered last 

 year by Mr. Brown, of Cambridge, as re- 

 corded above. (The scientific i:ame is 

 Liihostege griseata.) 



Obs. Guenee considers this moth iden- 

 tical with the Phaleena asinata of Fabricius. 



376. The Streak (Chesias spartiata). 



376. THE STREAK. The antennae are 

 simple in both sexes ; the palpi long and 

 porrected in the form of a beak ; the fore 

 wings are long, obtusely pointed, and 

 narrow, with a shining silky lustre, and of 

 a grayish-brown colour with a very pale, 

 almost white, stripe extending from the 

 base to the extreme tip ; there is also a 

 transverse series of three almond-shaped 

 blotches across the middle of the wing; 

 these are very nearly concolorous with the 

 general area of the wing, but frequently 

 have pale margins and pale centres, which 

 make them conspicuous ; the white stripe 

 passes between the first and second of these 

 blotches ; parallel with the hind margin is 

 a pale oblique line accompanied by a broader 

 rust-coloured stripe ; the hind wings are 

 pale grayish brown : the head thorax, and 

 body are darker and silky. 



