444 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



is either chalky-white or rosy-red, and at its 

 upper or costal extremity it actually touches 

 the costa, and has, moreover, a little lobe each 

 side of its costal extremity, which also touches 

 the costa : the hind wings are black with a 

 white median band, which is very vaiious in 

 size and form, and is sometimes interrupted 

 in the middle ; on the hind margin is a small 

 white spot, and the fringe is white with a 

 black spot in the middle. 



The EGGS are laid in May, or early in June, 

 on the climbing stems and flower-buds of the 

 common bind weed, and the young caterpillars 

 emerge in about ten or twelve days : the head 

 is then much larger in proportion to the body 

 than in more advanced life, but not so large 

 as is generally the case in infant caterpillai-s : 

 both the head and body are furnished with a 

 considerable numberof hairs, whichare far more 

 conspicuous at this early period than a week 

 or ten days later : the body is of nearly equal 

 substance throughout, and the sides are nearly 

 parallel : they feed almost entirely by night, 

 and principally on the unexpanded flower- 

 buds of the bindweed, hiding themselves by 

 day near the surface of the ground, and re- 

 maining motionless during daylight. The 

 full-grown caterpillar rests in a perfectly 

 straight position, so far as the sinuosities of 

 the plant will allow, on the slender stems of 

 the common field bindweed (Convolvulus 

 arvensis), the legs holding the stem slightly, 

 but the claspers being more firmly attached, 

 except the anal pair, which are stretched out 

 behind : when annoyed, it falls to the ground, 

 rolled in a lax and imperfect ring, the head 

 turned on one side : the head is exserted and 

 porrected ; it is of almost exactly the same 

 width as the second segment, and emits a 

 considerable number of straight hairs : the 

 body is elongate and rather slender ; it is 

 attenuated towards the anal extremity ; on the 

 second segment is a glabrous shining plate of 

 a semicircular figure, the convex side being 

 posterior ; the remaining segments are dis- 

 tinctly marked, and each is slightly swollen in 

 the middle. The colour of the head is pale 

 rather shining brown, with eight irregular 

 longitudinal series of amorphous spots ; the 



plate on the second segment is dingy brown, 

 intersected by three paler stripes ; the dorsal 

 area of the body is striped with brown of two 

 shades, there being three pale and four darker 

 stripes ; the paler stripes are medio-dorsal and 

 lateral, the darker stripes alternating with 

 them, and each darker stripe having in each 

 segment a paler wart-like spot, which emits 

 a hair ; the lower dark stripe on each side is 

 compound or composed of several minor 

 stripes ; the ventral is decidedly paler than 

 the dorsal area, and the division between the 

 two is abrupt and clearly defined ; there is a 

 medio- ventral series of black spots connected 

 by a slender and indistinct stripe of the same 

 colour ; the black spots are most conspicuous 

 on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth seg- 

 ments : the legs are rather long, pale, semi- 

 transparent brown, with black rings ; the 

 claspers are nearly concolorous with the 

 ventral area. These caterpillars, which were 

 full-fed on the 14th of June, went down to 

 undergo pupation on or under the surface of 

 the earth. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May, 

 June, August, and September. It has been 

 taken in the utmost profusion by Dr. Bat- 

 tersby, in Torquay, asnd subsequently by all 

 collectors who have visited the locality ; also 

 near Exmouth by Dr. Jordan, in Hampshire, 

 Isle of Wight, Brighton, and Lewes, in 

 Sussex, and near Gravesend, in Kent. (The 

 scientific name is Dysthymia luctuosa.} 



Obs. 1. The caterpillars of the genus 

 A contia, with which this species has usually been 

 associated, have only six claspers, four of them 

 ventral and two anal, whereas Luctuosa has 

 invariably ten, eight of them ventral and two 

 anal : this extraordinary discrepancy was 

 pointed out by M. Guenee, who did not, 

 however, consider it desirable to separate the 

 species generically : I think I have no choice 

 but to propose a new generic name for 

 Luctuosa. 



Obs. 2. I am indebted to Mr. Vaughan 

 for the loan of the beautiful variety represented 

 in the lower figure. 



