434 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



this singular position it is by no means easy 

 to detect, because the colour of its medio- 

 dorsal stripe much resembles that of a stem 

 of the food-plant. It is extremely active, and 

 when touched throws itself on the ground, and 

 continues to twist itself about with great 

 energy : the head is rather narrower than the 

 second segment ; the body is attenuated 

 towards both extremities, and the divisions of 

 the segments are not very clearly defined ; 

 from every part of the head and body spring 

 a few very slender and very inconspicuous 

 scattered hairs : the colour of the head is 

 apple-green, with a reddish band on the hind 

 part of the crown, which is often concealed by 

 the anterior margin of the second segment; 

 the colour of the body is apple- green with a 

 broad medio-dorsal red or violet compound 

 stripe, rather narrowed at both ends and 

 bordered by a brown line; the spiracles are 

 yellow, delicately circled with black, and 

 each is situated in an oblique shuttle- 

 shaped mark of the same colour as the medio- 

 dorsal stripe ; all the mai'kings are delicately 

 outlined in black; the ventral area is blue or 

 glaucous-green, with five approximate, narrow, 

 and rather indistinct white stripes ; the legs 

 and claspers are of the same colour as the 

 body. It feeds on the golden-rod, and when 

 full-fed descends to the ground, and there 

 constructs an oval cocoon of considerable 

 strength and solidity by the intermixture of 

 silk and earth, and in this cocoon changes to 

 a CHRYSALIS of a pale yellowish-green colour, 

 with red-brown incisions ; the cases of the 

 wings and thorax are also yello\T-green and 

 very transparent ; the anal extremity is dark 

 Drown, dilated, and spatulate. 



The MOTH appears 011 the wing in June : Mr. 

 Doubleday has three Bi'itish examples of this 

 insect, which were raised from caterpillars 

 found feeding on the golden-rod in Darenth 

 wood. This species was described by the 

 late Mr. Stephens in his " Illustrations of 

 British Entomology," vol. iii. p. 87, under 

 the name ofCucullia thapaiphaga, in 1829, and 

 figured in the " Transactions of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of London," vol. ii., pi. iii., 

 2j4 7, under the name of Cucul{ia Solldaginis, 



in 1837. (It is without doubt the Cucullia 

 Gnaphalii of continental authors, j 



673. The Wormwood (Cucullia Absynthii). 



673. THE WORMWOOD. The palpi are in- 

 conspicuous, the terminal joints only just 

 appearing in front of the frontal tuft ; the 

 antennae are simple in both sexes : the fore 

 wings are narrow at the base, but considerably 

 wider opposite the anal angle ; the costa is 

 straight for three-quarters of its length, and 

 then bends gradually towards the tip ; their 

 colour is ashy-gray tinged with pale purple, 

 and having numerous dark markings both 

 tnaisverse and longitudinal ; these are princi- 

 pally noticeable, first, as forming a trans- 

 verse band before the orbicular, and this band 

 is interrupted by a pale zigzag line ; and 

 secondly, occupying the space between the 

 discoidal spots, but connected with this, is a 

 cloud on the hind margin below the reniform ; 

 the usual discoidal spots are singularly dis- 

 torted and divided, each appearing as an 

 assemblage of four or five squarish black spots; 

 on the hind margin is a row of eight blaek 

 spots : the hind wings are pale gray, slightly 

 suffused with saffron, and also slightly clouded 

 towards the fringe, which is pale : the head is 

 adorned with two pale transverse lines before 

 the antennae ; the crown, eyes, and collar are 

 almost black ; then follows a band of almost 

 pearly whiteness; the body is silvery-gray 

 with a medic-dorsal series of small dark 

 crests. 



The head of the CATERPILLAR is narrower 

 than the second segment ; it is somewhat 

 triangular ; the body is rather short and obese 

 with the segmental divisions clearly defined ; 

 the colour of the head, and also of the second 

 segment, is dull pale reddish-gray; the ground- 

 colour exhibited chiefly at the incisionii oat 



