119 



THE ARGENT AND SABLE MOTH. 



Plialivna Hastata. 

 PLATE LXXXJII. 



Phalaena Hastata, Linn, Syst. Nat. ii. p. 870. Ckrk 

 PhaL i. fig. 9. Donovan's Brit, Insects, pi. 129. 



THE wings of this moth are white, beautifully- 

 marked and spotted with black ; the thorax is black, 

 with three longitudinal white spots on the back ; the 

 abdomen, white, striped with black. 



The Argent and Sable Moth is a very scarce 

 British insect in the fly state, though its young 

 caterpillars are by no means uncommon in several 

 parts of Kent ; especially in the narrow lanes in 

 Darentwood, Dartford, in April, or early in the 

 month of May. It is, however, very difficult to breed 

 them, as they generally die in the pupa state, or before 

 they cast their skins, when caterpillars. Donovan 

 mentions them in the summer of 1795 : he took 

 several specimens of the caterpillar and bred them, 

 and yet he could only procure the transformation of 

 one moth, and that so crippled, as merely to enable 

 him to ascertain the species. 



The small caterpillars are of a dark purplish 

 colour ; when nearly full fed, they have a yellow 



