NOCTUENI. 



37 



spotted, delicately silky ; head white ; the 

 antennae white, with short black rays ; thorax 

 white ; body black, but covered with long 

 silky white hairs; legs thick, tinged Avith 

 white. The caterpillar has a row of most 

 conspicuous white spots all down the middle 

 of the back ; on each side of this row is a broad 

 black stripe, in which are eleven red warts or 



82. The Gipsy (Male) (Liparis dlspar"). 



82. THE GIPSY. The wings of the male 

 dark-brown or smoky-black, with several 

 waved zigzag darker markings, and a dark 

 central spot : hind wings of a pale and clearer 

 brown, but rather darker towards the margin ; 

 head, thorax, and body dark-brown. All the 

 wings of the female dingy-white, the fore 

 wings having three transverse waved zigzag 

 darker lines ; between the first and second 

 there is a black dot, and also a black mark of 

 the shape of the letter V. There is a row of 

 black dots all along the hind margin of both 

 wings. A variety of the female sometimes 

 occurs in which the black V on the wings 

 only is visible this was mistaken by the late 

 accomplished Mr. Haworth for the Black-V 

 Moth (Orgyia V-nigrum of science), a very 

 distinct species, unknown in this country. 

 When we recollect that Mr. Haworth studied 

 and wrote during the long war incident on 

 the first French Revolution, a period when 

 it was almost impossible to interchange books 

 and specimens with continental entomolo- 

 gists, we can only wonder at the great degree 

 of accuracy with which his laborious work 

 was compiled, and must never complain of 

 a few unimportant and most excusable mis- 

 takes. The caterpillar of the Gipsy has the 

 ground-colour black, beautifully netted with 

 grey markings, and it has a conspicuous grey 

 line down the very middle of the back ; each 



tubercles ; the sides are grey, and are also 

 adorned with red tubercles. It feeds chiefly on 

 the Lombardy poplar, but sometimes on other 

 trees : spins a web on the trunks of the 

 poplar, or on the ground, and changes to a 

 very hairy chrysalis, and to a Moth in July 

 and August. This Moth is excessively abun- 

 dant. (The scientific name is Liparis Salicis.) 



The Gipsy (Female). 



segment has six tubercles, two on the back, 

 of a deep blood-colour, and two on each side of 

 a greyish hue ; the blood-coloured tubercles 

 emit straight black bristles, the grey tuber- 

 cles emit brown hairs, which are gracefully 

 bent over towards the legs ; the head is 

 marbled with black and brown ; the legs are 

 red-brown. It feeds on whitethorn, blackthorn, 

 plum, and apple, and in some parts of France 

 so strips the trees of their foliage as to do 

 great injury to the fruit, for fruit will not 

 ripen without leaves. Duponchel has made a 

 very erroneous description of the caterpillar, 

 although so common. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Thomas Huckett, a most industrious collector, 

 for those which I have described. The cater- 

 pillar spins a slight web amongst its food, in 

 which it changes to a chrysalis, with a few 

 thin bunches of hair all over it ; the eggs 

 continue to hatch during several weeks in suc- 

 cession ; the Moth begins to appear about 

 Midsummer, and specimens continue to come 

 out during the whole of July. The female 

 lays her eggs on the branches of trees, and 

 covers them with down from her own body. 

 (The scientific name is Liparis dispar.) 



S3. THE BLACK ARCHES. Fore wings 

 white, with five zigzag transverse black lines ; 

 the first is near the base, but still nearer the 

 base are six black spots ; beyond the first' line 

 is one black spot ; beyond this are three zigzag 



