428 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



naked; the antennae are nearly simple in both 

 sexes: the fore wings are narrow, the costal 

 margin very straight, the fore and inner 

 margins almost parallel ; their colour is a 

 beautiful purplish-gray with a mixture of 

 reddish-brown, more particularly apparent in 

 the reniform, and occasionally observable in a 

 transverse waved series of small spots parallel 

 with the hind margin ; the inner margin of 

 the wings is slightly reflexed, and inclined to 

 red-brown : the hind wings are gray-brown, 

 inclining to cinnamon-brown at the base : the 

 head and thorax are of the same purple-gray 

 colour as the fore wings ; the outline of the 

 thorax is very square ; the body is flat, and of 

 the same colour as the hind wings, but rather 

 paler at the base. 



The CATERPILLAR is figured by Hiibner, and 

 is said by Freyer to feed on alder (Alnus gluti- 

 nosa), and birch (Betula alba). 



The MOTH appears on the wing in September 

 and October, and is common in those months 

 in Austria and Germany : all that I know of 

 it, as a British species, is contained in a report 

 of the March meeting of the Entomological 

 Society, published in the Zoologist for 1861, 

 p. 7452, in these words : "Mr. Stain ton ex- 

 hibited two beautiful specimens of Xylina 

 conformis, taken near Cardiff on ivy blossoms 

 in October, 1859. The species had not 

 hitherto been captured in Britain." There 

 appears to have been no discussion on this 

 subject : one would like to know why so 

 extraordinary a capture was not made known 

 for two years, and whether the name is given 

 on the authority of Mr. E. Shepherd, who 

 writes the report, or of Mr. Stainton, who 

 makes the exhibition : it would also be 

 pleasant to know where the specimens are 

 deposited. I would recommend the captor 

 or possessor of any very great rarity to submit 

 it to Mr. Doubleday's inspection, in order that 

 it may receive the proper name, or, at least, 

 have the supposed name properly authenti- 

 cated. (The scientific name is Xylina con- 

 formis.) 



664 The Nonconformist (Xylina Zinckenii). 



664. THE NONCONFORMIST. The palpi are 

 slightly porrected: the antenna are almost 

 simple in both sexes: the fore wings are 

 rather narrow, their colour is bluish-gray in 

 some specimens, prettily varied with darker 

 and lighter gray in others, the colour being 

 very confused and almost uniform : there is, 

 however, almost invariably at the middle of 

 the base, a curved black line which is bifur- 

 cate at the extremity, and a second short but 

 decided black line beneath the reniform spot, 

 and between this and the hind margin are a 

 pair of white dots placed transversely ; the 

 discoidal spots are more or less distinct, always 

 partaking of the colour of the general area : 

 the hind wings are smoky-brown, rather paler 

 at the base ; the fringe is paler and intersected 

 throughout by a median darker line : the 

 head and thorax are of the same colour as the 

 fore wings, the body as the hind wings. 



The MOTH appears in September, and has 

 been taken in Sweden and the north of 

 Germany ; a single specimen was reported to 

 have been taken at New Cross, in the Enio- 

 moligist, vol. iii. p. 203, and almost immedi- 

 ately afterwards Mr. Cooke, the well-known 

 and energetic naturalist of Oxford-street, 

 received another unnamed among some insects 

 recently collected at Guildford. (The scien- 

 tific name is Xylina Zinckenii.) 



Obs. The figures are copied from Herrich- 

 SchaafFer. 



