CUSPIDATES. 



the same darker median band : the head, 

 thorax, and body are of the same colour as 

 the wings. 



The species is supposed to be double- 

 brooded, a subject on which I am not quali- 

 fied to express an opinion ; all that I can 

 assert positively is that the CATERPILLAR 

 occurs abundantly in August and Septem- 

 ber, and the moth in May, and that the 

 May moths emerge from the August cater- 

 pillars is beyond a question ; but the point 

 to be settled is, whether there is an entire 

 round of existence egg, caterpillar, chrys- 

 alis, and perfect insect between May and 

 August, which is a view of the case taken 

 by most Lepidopterists. The EGG is laid 

 on the leaf of beech (Fagus sylvatica), 

 especially on those stunted or pollard trees 

 which so abound in Epping Forest. When 

 full-fed, in which state it is found at the 

 end of August, and throughout September, 

 the caterpillar rests in a nearly straight 

 position, but with both extremities slightly 

 raised, and not touching the object on which 

 it rests ; when roughly touched, or jerked 

 off with the beating stick, it very frequently 

 hangs by a thread, and thus suspended, 

 begins twirling round and round, at first 

 slowly, and afterwards with great rapidity 

 a feat I ha?e sometimes seen performed 

 by a slug when suspended by a thread of 

 slime exuded from its own body. The head 

 is manifestly wider than the segments im- 

 mediately following, prone, slightly notched 

 on the crown, which rises in a very marked 

 manner above that part of the back which 

 is immediately behind the head ; the body 

 tapers gradually to the eleventh segment, 

 and thence more suddenly tapers to a point ; 

 on the fourth segment are two closely ap- 

 proximate warts placed transversely : every 

 part of the body is beset with minor warts, 

 each of which emits a hair. The colour of 

 the head is pale reddish brown, reticulated 

 with darker brown ; the body has its dorsal 

 surface dark umber-brown ; there is a pale, 

 almost white, narrow stripe on each side, 

 commencing close to the head, and passing 

 obliquely towards the back, where it unites 

 with a medio-dorsal white V-shaped mark 

 on the sixth segment ; the same marking is 

 continued as a pale brown shuttle-shaped 



dorsal stripe on the seventh, eighth, ninth, 

 and tenth segments, and is intersected 

 throughout by an extremely narrow dark 

 median line : there is a conspicuous and 

 elongate pale spot on each side of the 

 eleventh segment ; the dorsal warts on the 

 fourth segment and the anal point are red- 

 dish ; the ventral area, legs, and claspers 

 are very pale, and have a very obscure tinge 

 of green. It changes to a CHRYSALIS among 

 the leaves in a slight web. The chrysalis 

 is brown, the wing-cases having a greenish 

 tinge. 



The MOTH, which, as I have said, seems 

 to be double-brooded, appears on the wing 

 both in May and August. It occurs abun- 

 dantly in some of the southern English 

 counties, but neither in the north of Eng- 

 land, in Scotland, nor in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Platypteryx unguicula.) 



384. The Chinese Character (Cilix spinvla). 



384. THE CHINESE CHARACTER. When 

 at rest this interesting little moth sits with 

 the inner margin of the wings raised above 

 the body, the costal margin deflected, and 

 the whole roof -like : the antennae of the 

 male are decidedly pectinated, of the female 

 simple ; the tip of the fore wings is not 

 hooked, it is obtuse but scarcely rounded ; 

 their colour is snowy -white, with an oblique 

 median smoky band which does not reach 

 the costa, but is very dark brown and con- 

 spicuous on the inner margin ; in the very 

 centre of the wing, which is traversed of 

 course by the median band, the branched 

 wing-rays are beset with silvery scales, 

 which are thus rendered conspicuous, and 

 are supposed to resemble Chinese letters, 

 whence the name ; the hind margin is occu- 

 pied by a smoke-coloured band, and within 

 this is a semi-double oblique series of seven 

 or eight smoke-coloured lunules, each of 

 which is surrounded with pure white : the 

 hind wings are white with a hind-marginal 



M H 



