4 16 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



of ihe same colour as the fore wings, the body 

 c the same colour as the hind wings. 



The CATERPILLAR is figured and described 

 with evident care in Boisduval's " Collection 

 des Chenilles : " the head is greenish : the 

 body is sometimes of a reddish-brown colour, 

 sometimes of a violet-brown; it has, on 

 the back of every segment, four small black 

 dots, arranged in pairs between two darker 

 stripes, and is also covered with crowded 

 white dots below the spiracles ; the spiracles 

 are white and are rendered conspicuous by 

 being placed each in the middle of a long 

 narrow black spot, and these black spots form 

 a very regxilar series, below which there is an. 

 orange-red stripe, bordered both above and 

 below with a very narrow stripe of pure 

 white ; and again, below this compound stripe 

 of white and red there are on each segment 

 two black dots placed obliquely ; the vertical 

 surface is generally of a pale yellow or green ; 

 the legs and claspers are concolorous with 

 the ventral surface. It feeds on the prickly 

 saltwort (Salsola Kali] and various species of 

 goosefoot (Chenopodium) from the middle of 

 May to the beginning of July, when it is full- 

 fed and spins on the surface of the ground a 

 very flimsy and imperfect cocoon, in which it 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS in about a week. 



The MOTH appears on the wing continuously 

 from the last week in July to the beginning 

 of September, and is common on the shores 

 of the Mediterranean ; but as regards Britain, 

 two specimens only have been taken, both in 

 the Isle of Wight; one of them is in the 

 possession of Mr. Bond, who has most kindly 

 brought it to me for figuring and description 

 ; n this work. (The scientific name is Hadena 



.regrina.) 



649. The Nutmeg (Hadena Chenopodii) . 



"54-9. THE NUTMEG. The palpi are por- 

 reoted, the second joint slender and not very 



scaly; the antennae are simple; the h?nd 

 margin of the fore wings is very sligLtly 

 waved ; their colour is gray-brown, obscurely 

 mottled and lined with darker and paler 

 brown ; both discoidal spots are traceable, but 

 inconspicuous ; their circumscription is black 

 and very slender, and within this is a second 

 paler circumscription ; three paler transverse 

 lines cross the wing : the first is short, near the 

 base, and waved, and both sides are delicately 

 bordei'ed with black ; the second is before the 

 orbicular, also waved, and bordered on both 

 sides with black ; the third is beyond the 

 reniform, zigzag, and bordered on the inside 

 only with black : parallel with the hind mar- 

 gin is a bent and zigzag pale line ; the hind 

 wings ai*e gray-brown, a crescentic discoidal 

 spot and the wing-rays being darker ; the 

 fringe is pale ; the head, thorax, and bod" are 

 gray-brown. 



The EGGS are laid about Midsummer, on 

 the stalks and leaves of several species of 

 goosefoot (Chenopodium), on which the cater- 

 pillars appear almost exclusively to feed ; they 

 are full-fed about the end of August, and then 

 fall of their food-plant and roll into a compact 

 ring if annoyed. The head is narrower than 

 the body, and porrected in crawling ; the body 

 is obese, uniformly cylindrical, very smooth 

 and velvety, the anterior extremity sometimes 

 extended in a leech-like manner. The head 

 is glabrous, opaque green, and reticulated on 

 the sides of the cheeks with paler markings ; 

 the body is olive-green, delicately reticulated 

 with black, and having two parti-coloured 

 stripes on each side, the upper imperfectly de- 

 fined, white or pinky white, or more rarely 

 yellow ; it extends from the head completely 

 round the anal flap, and is bordered above 

 with a series of amorphous patches of intense 

 velvety black ; the lower stripe is narrow, but 

 very distinct and clearly defined ; it passes, 

 just below the spiracles, from the head to the 

 anal claspers ; its colour is pink, narrowly 

 bordered above and below with pure white ; 

 the spiracles are also pure white, delicately 

 bordered with black ; the belly, legs, and 

 claspers are pure olive-green. Such is a 

 description of the more usual or norma) 



