388 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



still of the same colour ; the spiracles are 

 black, and immediately above each is a slight 

 swelling. It feeds on the seeds of the white 

 campion (Lychnis vespertina), and makes a per- 

 fectly round hole in the capsule, and usually 

 feeds with half its body hanging out of the 

 hole : it is full-fed in the beginning of October. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 and is widely distributed in England, Scot- 

 land, and Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Dianthcecia capsincola.) 



Obs. The extraordiuary specimen repre- 

 sented in the lower figure was kindly lent me 

 for this work by Mr. Bond. 



617. The Campion (Dianthoecia Cucubali). 



617. THE CAMPION. The palpi are por- 

 rected, the terminal joint small and inconspi- 

 cuous ; the antennae are simple in both sexes : 

 the fore wings are ample, nearly straight on 

 the costa, blunt at the tip, and slightly waved 

 on the hind margin ; their colour is umber- 

 brown, beautifully overlaid with purple re- 

 flections ; the discoidal spots have a distinct 

 pale circumscription ; both of them are oblique, 

 and the obliquity is in different directions 

 thus they recede from each other at the 

 upper, and approach at the lower, extremity, 

 so much so, indeed, as in some instances to 

 be united : there is a pale zigzag and inter- 

 rupted but well-defined line parallel with the 

 hind margin ; the hind wings are gray -brown, 

 rather paler at the base ; the head and thorax 

 are variegated like the fore wings ; the body 

 plain gray-brown like the hind wings ; the 

 body is crested, but neither conspicuously 

 tufted in the male nor conspicuously pointed 

 in the female. 



ThecATERPiLLAuhasaflattenedandglabrous 

 head, and a smooth cylindrical body, which 

 has the divisions of the segments very dis- 

 tinctly marked. The colour of the head is 

 greeui>h-gray, with four slender dark lines 



down the face ; the body is greenish-gray, 

 tinged with reddish-orange, especially on the 

 anterior segments. There are three dark 

 dorsal stripes on the second, third, and fourth 

 segments, after which the middle one alone 

 appears, and the lateral ones are replaced by 

 an oblique brown line on every segment, as 

 far as the eleventh inclusive. Every segment 

 has, moreover, a number of ocellated white 

 dots. The ventral is greener than the dorsal 

 area. It feeds on the flowers and seed-pods 

 of the bladder campion (Silene inflata), and 

 is full-fed in August, when it descends to 

 the ground, and spinning a very slight cocoon, 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June. It 

 is found in nearly all our English counties, 

 extending even into Scotland ; and Mr. 

 Birchall says it occurs not uncommonly 

 at Howth and Killarney in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name it Dianthcecia Cucubali.) 



618. The White Spot (Dianthcecia alUmacula). 



618. THE WHITE SPOT. The palpi are very 

 inconspicuous, scarcely projecting beyond the 

 tuft of scales which covers the crown of the 

 head ; the antennae are simple in both sexes : 

 the fore wings are straight on the costa, and 

 rounded at the tip ; their colour is smoky- 

 black, tinged with olive, and they have sharply- 

 defined black and white markings ; the dis- 

 coidal spots are conspicuous, but rather small ; 

 both of them have a broad white circum- 

 scription, and a transverse central shade of 

 the ground-colour ; beneath the orbicular is 

 a pure white square spot, and from this there 

 projects a lobe towards the lower extremity 

 of the reniform : there are four white spots in 

 two pairs at the base of the costal margin, 

 and several others on the costa itself, par- 

 ticularly two just above the orbicular; three 

 transverse lines conspicuously black and 

 white cross the wing ; the first is about half 



