74 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



within the fringe, and constitute an almost 

 continuous marginal line : the head, thorax, 

 and body are of the same colour as the wings. 

 The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 August, and is nowhere common. I used to 

 take it on the palings of my garden at Deptford 

 forty years ago, and it was then reckoned a 

 great rarity ; there was a rope- walk immedi- 

 ately adjoining the garden, and a double row 

 of willows seven hundred yards in length : it 

 has since been taken at Brighton and Lewes, 

 and in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and 

 Worcestershire. ( The scientific name is 

 Ephyra orlicularia.} 



164. The Birch Mocha ( Ephyra pmdularia). 



W54. THE BIRCH MOCHA. The antennae are 

 very slightly pectinated in the male, simple 

 in the female : the wings are pale gray, 

 sprinkled thinly over with specks of smoke- 

 colour : in the middle of each wing is a round 

 white spot, surrounded by a smoke-coloured 

 cloud ; between this white spot and the base 

 of the wing is a transverse row of three or four 

 smoke-coloured dots; and half-way between 

 the white spot and the hind margin is a 

 second row, consisting of ten or twelve smoke- 

 coloured dots ; and again, on the hind margin 

 itself, is a third row of linear black dots : the 

 head, thorax, and body are of the same pale 

 colour as the wings. 



The CATERPILLAR is green, tawny, or brown, 

 with paler spiracular line ; the head and legs 

 reddish (Sub.}; it feeds on Birch (Betula alba). 

 Stainton's Manual, vol. ii., p. 39. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 August, and occurs in most of our English 

 and Scotch counties : the name is inserted in 

 Mr. Greene's list of Irish Lepidoptcra. (The 

 scientific name is Ephyra pendularia.} 



165. The Golden- bordered Purple (Kyria aworariti). 



165. THE GOLDEN-BORDERED PURPLE. The 

 antennas in both sexes are simple and of a 

 yellow colour : the wings are of a purple-red 

 colour, with a double blotch in the middle of 

 the fore wings, a single blotch in 'the middle 

 of the hind wings, and a broad border on the 

 hind margin of all the wings, deep fulvous- 

 yellow : the thorax is purple ; the body bluish, 

 tipped with orange. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 has been taken in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, 

 Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, and in 

 the Lake District. Mr. Birchall informs us it 

 is common on the heaths of the south and west 

 of Ireland. (The scientific name is Ilyria 

 auroraria.'] 



166. The Small Yellow Wave (Astheiia luteatn). 



166. THE SMALL YELLOW WAVE The 

 antennae are simple in both sexes : the wings 

 are rich fulvous-yellow, with zigzag transverse 

 lines, which are a darker tint of the same 

 fulvous colour ; these zigzag lines are arranged 

 in pairs, but not very distinctly so : there are 

 four pairs on the fore wings, and two pairs on 

 the hind wings ; and between the second and 

 third pair of these zigzag lines on the fore 

 wings, is a conspicuous central dot of the 

 same colour as the lines ; the head, thorax, 

 and body, of the same colour as the ground- 

 colour of the wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing at Midsum- 

 mer, and has been taken occasionally in nearly 

 all the English counties, but I think neither 

 in Scotland nor Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Astliena luhata. 



