208 



BEITISH MOTJS. 



the fifth segment are smaller and shorter 

 than the others ; those on the third and 

 fourth segments are sesquialterous, that is, 

 they have a smaller papilla adjoining them 

 on the outer side ; the papillae are crowned 

 with a circle of short brown hairs, and a 

 larger bristle rises from the centre of each 

 circle. The seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, 

 and eleventh segments ha,ve each two 

 minute warts in the place of papillae ; each 

 of these also emits a bristle. The face is 

 gray, the crown gray-green, with two trans- 

 verse reddish bars ; the body is pale green, 

 with testaceous or purplish markings on 

 the mottled back of the sixth and following 

 segments ; these markings combine in form- 

 ing a broad stripe down the middle of the 

 back, the papillae being of the same colour 

 as the stripe, and being included therein. 

 It feeds on birch (Betula alba) ; doubles 

 over the corner of the birch-leaf, and spins 

 a slight web, in which it changes to a 

 CHRYSALIS. The species is double -brooded ; 

 the second brood of caterpillars is full-fed 

 at the end of September. 



Mr. Greene, in his Insect Hunters' Com- 

 panion, recommends collectors to examine 

 the leaves of birch-trees when joined to- 

 gether for the chrysalis of this species. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May, 

 and again in August, and is very common 

 in several English counties ; and Mr. 

 Birchall informs us it is common in the 

 county Kerry in Ireland. (The scientific 

 name is Platypteryx falcula.) 



382. The Oak Hook-tip (Platypteryx hamula). 



882. THE OAK HOOK-TIP. The antennae 

 are decidedly pectinated in the male, simple 

 in the female ; the fore wings are ample, 

 pointed at the tip and hooked ; their colour 



is raw sienna, shaded to umber-brown on 

 the hind margin below the tip, and traversed 

 by two pale lines, the exterior of which has 

 a large angle projecting towards the hooked 

 tip ; between these transverse lines are two 

 nearly circular black discoidal spots placed 

 obliquely transverse. The hind wings of 

 the male are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings, with two approximate paler trans- 

 verse lines, and two minute discoidal spots. 

 The female differs in being considerably 

 larger, and in having the hind wings ful- 

 vous yellow : the head is fulvous yellow ; 

 the body brown. 



The CATERPILLAR is " grayish-brown ; a 

 broad dorsal stripe, greenish-brown on the 

 second, third, fourth, twelfth, and thirteenth 

 segments, yellowish-brown on the others, 

 edged with yellow on each side ; the fourth 

 segment T*ith two tubercles on the back. 

 (Dup.) *t feeds on oak and birch." 

 Stainton's Manual, vol. ii. p. 164. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May 

 and August ; it ha.s been taken in the 

 southern and eastern counties of England, 

 but not, so far as I am informed, in Scot- 

 land or Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Platypteryx hamula.) 



383. The Barred Hook-tip (Platypteryx unguicula). 



383. THE BABRED HOOK-TIP. The an- 

 tennae are decidedly pectinated in the male, 

 simple in the female ; the fore wings are 

 ample, pointed, and slightly hooked ; their 

 colour is fulvous-brown, with ihe hind 

 margin and a median band slightly darker ; 

 the median band projects an obtuse angle 

 towards the tip, and contains a very indis- 

 tinct discoidal spot ; the hind wings are of 

 the same colour as the fore wings, and have 



