54 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



same colour, darker at the inner margin; 

 hind wings rather paler than the fore wings, 

 and having two short curved bands at the 

 anal angle : head and front of thorax dark 

 umber-brown ; hind part of thorax and body 

 paler. The caterpillar is pale brown with a 

 still paler line on each side; on the ninth seg- 

 ment is a large lump or wart; the head is 

 notched in the middle. It feeds on beech and 

 oak : changes to a chrysalis in October, under 

 the moss on the trunks of the trees on which 

 it has fed, entering the moss at the most con- 

 venient place on the edge of the patch, which 

 should be peeled off carefully with the hand: 

 the moth appears on the wing in June. (The 

 scientific name is Eurymene dolobraria.) 



I now begin the Thorn Moths as they are 

 commonly called: they are all beautiful and 

 interesting, and I strongly recommend them 

 to the notice of my young friends: all of you 

 I dare say know the song " Fly away, Pretty 

 Moth," it contains a recommendation to all 

 Moths to fly away from candles or lamps, 

 and to take care of their wings lest they 

 get burnt. Now this recommendation is 

 especially needed by the Thorn Moths, for 

 all through the summer and autumn they 

 delight to come to lights of all kinds, and 

 especially to gas-lamps: well for them the 

 flame of gas is protected by glass, so that it 

 is very difficult for them to get at it, or most 

 assuredly they would be perpetually scorch- 

 ing their wings, if not actually committing 

 suicide by burning themselves to death. 

 There is no better or easier mode of finding 



O 



these beautiful Thorn Moths than lookin^ at 



O 



the panes of glass with which gas-lights are 

 almost invariably enclosed : the moths will 

 be found settled quietly on the glass as if 

 waiting to be captured. 



113. Tho Lilac Beauty (Pericallia syringaria). 

 113. THE LILAC BTAEUY. Pore wings 



slightly angled, the extreme tip very sharp- 

 pointed; ground colour of all the wings a 

 delicate pearly-grey, tinged and clouded here 

 and there with red and yellow ; the principal 

 yellow patch is on the fore wings just below 

 the tip, and extending to the hind margin; on 

 each of the fore wings there is also a crescent- 

 shaped white mark just within the tip ; and 

 parallel with the hind margin there are two 

 indistinct white markings on the costa ; and 

 there is one very conspicuous oblique red- 

 brown line crossing both wings, but on the 

 fore wings suddenly bent before it reaches the 

 costa; parallel with this is a short but dis- 

 tinct line of the same colour about the middle 

 of each fore wing; head, thorax and body 

 pale brown. It is difficult by words to give 

 anything like a correct idea of this beautiful 

 moth; and I am sorry to say that no un- 

 coloured figure will give any notion of the 

 exquisitely diversified tints of its colour. The 

 caterpillar is about an inch and a half long 

 and rather stout behind, but more slender 

 towards the head ; it has two warts on the 

 sixth and two others on the seventh segment; 

 and on the ninth segment are two long re- 

 curved processes, which Berge calls hooks; 

 they are of an orange-brown colour ; the rest 

 of the caterpillar being greyish-brown until 

 the last change of skin, when the hooked 

 lumps become yellower, and all the other 

 parts pearly-grey or rose-coloured ; on the 

 back is a paler line, nearly white towards the 

 head, but getting darker behind; and also a 

 number of small white warts or pustules. It 

 is found in June, feeding on elder, privet and 

 lilac ; it spins a slight web on the underside 

 of the leaves, and therein changes to a smooth 

 and singularly marked chrysalis, being striped 

 and spotted with brown. In three weeks the 

 inoth is on. the wing ; she lays eggs in a few 

 days, and these are generally hatched the 

 same year, and hybernate or remain in the 

 caterpillar state throughout the winter. (The 

 scientific name is Pericallia syringaria.) 



114. THE EARLY THORN. All the wings 

 are angulated, and pale brown, sprinkled with 

 very small darker dots : the fore wings have 

 three narrow transverse darker lines; there is 



