66 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



141. The Square Spot (Tephrosia consonariu). 



141. THE SQTTARE SPOT. The antennae are 

 almost simple in the male, quite so in the 

 female : the male and female of this insect 

 are very dissimilar as regards the colour of 

 their wings : the male has a gray ground- 

 colour tinged with red-brown ; it possesses 

 several transverse shades and markings, hut 

 they are very indistinct : the ground-colour of 

 the female is gray, without the red-brown 

 tinge, and its markings are most distinct and 

 conspicuous ; near the base are two short, 

 curved, transverse bars, the outer narrower 

 but more distinct than the inner ; beyond the 

 middle of the wing are two more distinct and 

 zigzag dark lines, and these are united in the 

 middle by a square brown spot ; the outer of 

 these lines is accompanied by a pale line of the 

 same form : the head, thorax, and body are 

 gray. 



The EGG is laid in May, on the trunks of 

 birch (Betula alba], beech (Fagus sylvaticd), 

 and more rarely on hornbeam ( Carpinus letu- 

 lus}, on which trees the CATERPILLARS feed. 

 They are full-fed in June and July. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 June, and has been taken freely at Brighton ; 

 in the New Forest, Hampshire ; at Pembury 

 and Worthing in Sussex ; in Halton in Buck- 

 inghamshire ; at Stowmarket in Suffolk ; and 

 more particularly at Birchwood in Kent, where 

 I have repeatedly found it on the trunks of the 

 larch trees formerly so abundant there a fact 

 the more noteworthy, since the caterpillar has 

 never been known to feed on any species of 

 fir. Mr. Birchall says it is common in Ireland : 

 he has taken it in the counties Wicklow and 

 Kerry. (The scientific name is Tephrosia 

 comonartft.} 



142. The Small Engrailed (Tephrosia crepuscular ia], 



142. THE SMALL ENGRAILED. The an- 

 tennae of the male are very slightly ciliated, 

 those of the female simple : the colour of the 

 wings is gray, with a yellow-brown tinge ; 

 all the wings have transverse zigzag black 

 lines, the most conspicuous of them crosses 

 each of the four wings about the middle, the 

 other black or dark lines follow the same 

 direction as this, but are more liable to vary. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in April, and 

 occurs in most of our English counties, and 

 Mr. Bristow is said to have taken it in Ire- 

 land. (The scientific liame is Tephrosia 

 crepuscular ia.} 



143. The Engrailed (Tephrosia biundularia] . 



143. THE ENGRAILED. The antenna of the 

 male are slightly ciliated, those of the female 

 simple : the colour of the wings is gray, with 

 a slight tinge of ochreous, and having numer- 

 ous transverse dark lines, the most conspicuous 

 of Avhich are two on the fore wings and one 

 on the hind ; the first of these on the fore 

 wings is short and near the base of the wing ; 

 the second is oblique and situated beyond the 

 middle of the wing. 



Some EGGS of this species were laid by a 

 captured female from the 21st to the 27th of 

 May, and were hatched on the 5th of June. 

 These CATERPILLARS vary exceedingly, but 

 more in the colour than in the disposition of 



