180 NEMATUS EUMIOIS. 



A very variable species, according to Continental 

 authors, but all the specimens I have seen in this 

 country are coloured pretty much as in the description, 

 there being only a slight variation in the quantity of 

 the reddish colour on the head and abdomen. On the 

 Continent the thorax may be reddish, with three or 

 more black marks, or it may be almost entirely reddish ; 

 the same variation occurs in the coloration of the 

 abdomen ; the legs may be blackish at the base, or 

 wholly reddish-yellow. 



The larva, according to Brischke, feeds on Rumex 

 obtusifolius in June. The ground colour is grass- 

 green, the back is bluish- green, the dorsal canal is 

 darker and bounded by a row of brownish points. 

 The head is shortly haired, brownish-yellow, with 

 black eye-spots and dark brownish mouth. The ven- 

 tral legs have frequently over them a brown mark ; the 

 claws of the thoracic are brown. The skin is rugged, 

 beset with short tubercles, each ending in a short 

 bristle. A.t the last moult the larva becomes smooth 

 and shining yellowish-green; the young larvae are 

 yellow. They eat holes in the leaves, when older 

 devour them along the edge, and sometimes eat the 

 flowers. The thin cocoon is spun in the earth. 



It is a tolerably common species, and is very widely 

 distributed. I have taken it in the Glasgow district, 

 Rannoch, Kingussie, Altnaharra, Sutherlandshire, and 

 from England have seen examples from Glanville's 

 Wootton and Devonshire. It is also in Stephens' 

 Collection, but I do not know the precise locality of 

 his specimens. 



It is met with in Lapland, Scandinavia, Denmark, 

 Germany, Hungary, France, 



