244 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



the mouth, and this pale region has a black 

 reniform spot on each side of the mouth, 

 including the ocelli, which are also black ; 

 on each side of the face, near the median 

 division, is a whitish line, which ascends to 

 the crown, and then turns obliquely towards 

 the anterior margin of the second segment. 

 The colour of the body is yellowish, the 

 warts being white, and very frequently 

 that is, in many of the specimens sur- 

 rounded by a smoke-coloured ornamenta- 

 tion, that imparts a decidedly different 

 appearance to those specimens which pos- 

 sess it ; the spiracles are wainscot-brown, 

 the bristles from the warts are white ; the 

 legs and claspers are very pale, almost 

 white. From the 8th to the middle of July, 

 I observed these caterpillars spinning their 

 cocoons on the still verdant leaves of the 

 oak ; and, on subsequently examining these 

 cocoons, I found them very tough and com- 

 pact, and each contained a smooth, brown, 

 obese CHRYSALIS, having a very pointed anal 

 extremity, furnished with a series of minute 

 hooks, by which it is suspended, head down- 

 wards, in the interior of the cocoon. From 

 the circumstance of the perfect insect being 

 almost invariably found on the . trunks of 

 the oaks in April, when they are perfectly 

 denuded of leaves, it must be inferred that 

 the falling leaves, acting as parachutes, carry 

 with them, in their descent, the enclosed 

 chrysalis, which, thus protected, remains on 

 the ground until the moth makes its escape : 

 in confinement, this escape took place at the 

 end of February and the beginning of March 

 at least a month before the ordinary time 

 in a state of nature. 



" Of the chrysalis of this rare and very 

 beautiful insect, I took twenty-six last 

 autumn ; like that of Cymatophora ocularis, 

 it is extremely difficult to find, and should 

 be sought for as soon as possible, viz., at 

 the middle and end of August. The follow- 

 ing directions may enable others to find it : 

 detached oaks growing in meadows of a dry, 

 loamy soil seem the best ; the situation 

 evidently preferred is the corners filled with 

 dry rubbish and little stunted brambles. 

 Insert the trowel well into the earth, six or 

 seven inches from the angle, and turn up 

 the sod, bramble and all, if possible : to find 



the chrysalis, after this is done, is a work 

 both of time and pain ; it will not do in this 

 case to tap the sod. First, carefully examine 

 the dead leaves, for the caterpillars fre- 

 quently spin up in them : you must then, 

 regardless of scratches, tear the roots 

 asunder as gently as 'possible. The cocoon 

 is very weak, composed of little bits of stick, 

 dried leaves, &c., and requires delicate hand- 

 ling. Indeed the whole concern demands an 

 elaborate manipulation." Greene. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in April, 

 and seems to be very generally distributed in 

 our English counties, but nowhere common. 

 (The scientific name is Cymatophora ridens.) 



421. Tbe Marbled Green (Bi-yophila glandifera). 



421. THE MARBLED G-REEN. The an- 

 tennae are slender, simple, and similar in 

 both sexes ; the wings are straight on the 

 costa, and blunt at the tip ; their colour is 

 gray, with darker markings, and the whole 

 suffused with green : there is a dark blotch 

 at the base, followed by a white bar, which 

 extends from the costal almost to the inner 

 margin, but not quite ; the inner discoidal 

 spot is larger and reniform, the outer smaller 

 and orbicular ; the costa and fringe are 

 spotted with black, and there are several 

 transverse bent black lines : the hind wings 

 are pale at the base, smoky at the margin, 

 and the fringe is white and unspotted : the 

 head and thorax are whitish-gray ; the body 

 gray. The ground colour of the fore wings 

 is rery variable, sometimes nearly white, 

 sometimes gray-green, sometimes very de- 

 cidedly green, and sometimes reddish- 

 brown. 



The EGGS are laid in September, on those 

 flat lichens which so commonly cover the 

 surface of stones used in building walls, 

 bridges, houses, churches, &c. ; they are 

 white, and, when laid in confinement, are 

 arranged in a perfectly straight line j 



