JSOCTUAS. 



385 



'vartlike spots prominent, and each bearing 

 :i hair or bristle on its summit ; the colour is 

 yellowish-green, with a lateral stripe in the 

 region of the spiracles of a bright yellow; 

 the warts and their accompanying hairs are 

 black : the claspers are pale red : it feeds 

 011 grasses in dry places, and turns to a 

 CHRYSALIS in the ground. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July ; 

 it is a very local species, occurring only at 

 Brighton and Lewes, in Sussex ; *tt Bristol ; 

 in Suffolk, and in Yorkshire. (The scientific 

 name is Eremobia ochroleuca.) 



6J4. The Tawny Sheers (Diamthoeeia carpopliaga). 



614. THE TAWNY SHEERS. The palpi are 

 porrected, the second joint being clothed with 

 rou<*h unequal scales, which frequently conceal 

 the small terminal joint ; the antennae are 



almost simple in both sexes : the fore wings 

 are very straight on the costa, and rather 

 blunt at the tip ; their colour is various, in 

 some specimens pale ochreous-brown, often 

 approaching to white, in others dark bistre- 

 brown ; in all, the discoidal spots are con- 

 spicuous and well defined ; in one specimen 

 in my possession there is a very obvious 

 median darker band, and this contains the 

 two discoidal spots ; parallel with the hind 

 margin is a zigzag pale line, adjoining which 

 and pointing towards the base of the wing 

 are two or three wedge-shaped dark-brown 

 spots : the hind wings are pale dingy brown 

 at the base, and have a broad dark band on 

 the hind margin ; this is frequently preceded 

 by a slen ler transverse line : the head, thorax, 

 and body partake of the general tint of the 

 wings. 



The EGGS of this variable species are laid on the 

 calyx or corolla of the bladder campion (Silene 

 inflata), and the young CATERPILLAR emerging 

 in about a week, gnaws a minute hole in the 

 capsule, and, entering through the aperture, 

 takes up its abode in the interior until it has 

 consumed the whole of the seed, and then 

 emerging, seeks another capsule and empties 

 that of its contents in the same manner ; when 

 grown so large as to be unable to conceal itself 

 in one of the capsules, it generally descends 

 to the ground during the day, ascending to 

 the flower-heads only during the night. On 

 examining the flower-heads with a lantern 

 at night, the caterpillars may frequently be 

 found with the head and anterior segments 

 concealed in the capsule, and the remainder of 

 the body very obviously exposed to sight : when 

 full grown, the head is exserted, the face rather 

 flat, glabrous, and of a reddish -brown colour, 

 with four darker longitudinal lines; the 

 body is cylindrical, smooth, and plump, the 

 divisions of the segments being very clearly 

 marked ; its colour is greenish-gray, with a 

 broad medio-dorsal, and narrower sub-dorsal 

 and lateral stripes dingy white : when full-fed 

 it descends finally to the ground, and burying 

 itself in the earth, and there forming a very 

 slight cocoon, changes to a CHRYSALIS of a 

 reddish-browp colour, the case containing 



M 25 



