862 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



It feeds on sallow (Salix caprea), and is 

 full-fed in the beginning of July. An un- 

 usual variety of the caterpillar is described 

 by Mr. Hellins in No. 12 of the Entomologists' 

 Monthly Magazine. The ground colour of 

 this variety was deep brown, tinged with 

 pink, the slender medio-dorsal and sub-dorsal 

 stripes of the same, but becoming rather 

 paler ; along the region of the spiracles and 

 reaching half way down the anal claspers, 

 is a broad stripe of pale dingy pink, sharply 

 edged above with a fine black if-h line , the 

 belly and legs are concolorous with the 

 ground colour ; the usual dots were present, 

 but of a dark brown colour, and enclosed in 

 paler rings, and the dorsal area was slightly 

 freckled with the paler tint. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in April 

 and May, and is widely distributed in our 

 English counties, and Mr. Birchall obtained 

 it at Killarney, in Ireland. (The scientific 

 name is Tceniocampa gracilis.) 



581. The Blossom Underwing (Tccniocampaminiosa). 



581. THE BLOSSOM"UNDERWING. The palpi 

 are porrected rather conspicuously : their tips 

 very slender ; the antennae are pectinated in 

 the male, simple in the female ; the fore 

 wings are gray, strongly tinged with red, and 

 having a median band of a brighter red, ap- 

 proaching to orange this band in many speci- 

 mens does not reach either' the costal or the 

 inner margin ; the circumscription of discoidal 

 spots is very vague and imperfect, but the 

 median area of the reniform is inclined to 

 smoky brown and rather conspicuous : the 

 hind wings are pale gray, with pink opalescent 

 reflection, and having a small but rather con- 

 spicuous discoidal spot, and two indistinct 

 transverse waved lines, slightly darker than 

 the general area : the head and thorax are 

 densely clothed with scales, and are of the 



same colour as the fore wings ; the body is 

 paler. 



The impregnated female performs the 

 duties of oviposition during the first week in 

 April, and sometimes even at the end of 

 March ; she settles on a twig of oak (Quercua 

 Robur), and deposits from sixteen to twenty- 

 five eggs in a cluster just below the leaf-bud, 

 and of course before there is any symptom of 

 vernal vitality. The young CATERPILLARS do 

 not emerge for a month or more, and then 

 unite their labours in constructing a silken 

 web, c*mpletely enclosing the terminal twig, 

 and residing constantly beneath the shelter of 

 their tent ; as soon as the oak-buds are suffi- 

 ciently expanded to afford an abundant supply 

 of food a period of from ten or twelve to 

 twenty days, according to the temperature the 

 caterpillars separate and distribute themselves 

 over the food-plant ; they usually select the 

 lower branches or frequently the shrub-like 

 oaks in hedges, and from these they wander to 

 bushes of white-thorn (Cratcegus oxyacantha), 

 and even to the low herbaceous plants in the 

 hedge-rows and on the hedge-banks : after the 

 social or gregarious propensity of these cater- 

 pillars has deserted them, and their solitary 

 walk through life has begun, they feed greedily 

 and increase in stature very rapidly ; some- 

 times the social life endures for ten days, and. 

 the solitary life for ten more ; in other in- 

 stances the caterpillar existence is extended 

 to twenty-six days ; the full-fed caterpillar 

 rests in a straight position, but falls from 

 its food-plant if annoyed, forming a loose 

 ring, with the head on one side ; the head 

 is rather narrower than the body, which 

 is almost uniformly cylindrical, the anal 

 claspers projecting behind and spreading ; the 

 head is lead-coloured, with black blotches ; 

 the body variegated ; a bright yellow medio- 

 dorsal stripe extends the entire length ; this 

 is irregular in breadth and interrupted at the 

 incisions of the segments ; on each side of this 

 medio-dorsal stripe is a broad lead-coloured 

 space, often tinged with pink, and always 

 irrorated and variegated with intense velvety 

 black ; this is bounded below by a narrow and 

 interrupted pale yellow stripe, and this again 



