210 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



series of pale smoke-coloured spots : the 

 head is whitish ; the thorax white, with a 

 smoke-coloured blotch in the centre ; the 

 body is smoke-coloured paler on the 

 sides. 



The head of the CATERPILLAR has a bifid 

 crown, its divisions being obtuse : the second 

 segment has four minute pointed warts, 

 transversely arranged; the third segment 

 has two larger dorsal warts, placed trans- 

 versely ; the fourth has two still larger 

 dorsal warts, also placed transversely ; the 

 eleventh has a transverse dorsal protuber- 

 ance ; and the twelfth a pair of minute 

 dorsal warts, also placed transversely ; every 

 wart terminates in a minute bristle : the 

 ventral claspers are eight in number, and 

 situated on the usual segments ; the caudal 

 claspers are aborted or soldered together, 

 and form a single terminal and gradually 

 attenuated spine or spike, which never 

 appears to touch the leaf on which the 

 caterpillar is feeding, but to be elevated in 

 the air without occupation ; at the base of 

 this spike is a minute wart on each side ; 

 the body is altogether rugose, and the skin 

 pitted with small depressions. The colour 

 is dingy-brown, with a narrow median 

 darker dorsal stripe, and numerous rivulet 

 markings, and there is also a pale lateral 

 elevated line on each side of the twelfth 

 segment. It feeds on whitethorn (Cratasgus 

 Oxyacantho), and is full-fed the first week 

 in July, when it spins a tough gummy 

 cocoon attaching it to a twig of the haw- 

 thorn, generally in the axil of one of the 

 thorns, and fastens on the exterior of the 

 cocoon fragments of the still green leaves, 

 in such a manner as to conceal it effectually 

 from sight : in this the CHRYSALIS remains 

 not longer than two or three weeks. 



The MOTH appears on tne wing in May, 

 and again in August : it is certainly double- 

 brooded, and is generally distributed over 

 England and Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Cilix spinula.) 



Haworth unites this moth with the 

 species of Platypteryx above described, with 

 which, he justly observes, it agrees in its 

 most singular caterpillar, and disagrees 

 only in wanting the hooked tip to the 

 wings. 



385. The Alder Kitten (Dicranura bicuspis). 



385. THE ALDER KITTEN. The antennae 

 of the male are strongly pectinated, those of 

 the female slightly so ; the shaft of the an- 

 tennae is white, the pectinations black : the 

 fore wings are rather narrow, with a very 

 straight costal margin, and a rounded tip ; 

 their colour is white, with a broad trans- 

 verse dark gray median band, the interior 

 margin of which is nearly straight ; the ex- 

 terior margin is very different in different 

 specimens ; in some it is nearly straight, in 

 others it has a wide concave notch ; it is 

 always bordered with a black line more or 

 less accompanied with yellow ; the boun- 

 daries of this band are always distinct and 

 clearly marked ; between this band and the 

 base of the wing is a transverse series of 

 five or six black spots ; and at the base of 

 the wing is a single black spot ; exterior to 

 the band is a small discoidal spot, and be- 

 yond this are three slender zigzag dark 

 lines, the outer of which expands on the 

 costa into a large transverse blotch of the 

 same colour as the band ; on the hind mar- 

 gin is a series of seven or eight small black 

 spots : the hind wings are nearly white, 

 with a pale smoke-coloured bar near the 

 hind margin and a series of black spots on 

 the margin : the head is whitish ; the thorax 

 variegated with black, white, and yellow ; 

 the body almost white, with dark gray but 

 ill-defined bands. 



The CATERPILLAR rests with the anal ex- 

 tremity elevated : the head is slightly 

 narrower than the second segment : the 

 body is almost uniformly cylindrical, but 

 somewhat humped on the sixth segment, 

 from which it gradually decreases in size to 

 the anal extremity, where it terminates in 

 two long caudal horns directed backwards : 

 the colour of the head is brown j of the 



