98 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



end of July : it rests in a slightly bent pos- 

 ture, with the anterior extremity raised, and 

 on being touched or annoyed it suddenly tucks 

 in its head, and the anterior extremity assumes 

 the form of an Ionic volute ; in this posture 

 it remains until the apprehended danger has 

 passed. Head rather narrower than the body, 

 slightly notched on the crown, body of uniform 

 substance throughout, without humps, but 

 having the skin delicately shagreened ; the 

 thirteenth segment has below the anal flap two 

 long, conical, acute points directed backwards. 

 Head and body putty-coloured, with nume- 

 rous narrow, waved, longitudinal stripes of a 

 darker tint; of these the more conspicuous 

 are five in number and approximate ; the 

 middle one, double during a part of its course, 

 is darker towards the head, where the others 

 are less conspicuous and paler ; the spiracles 

 are dark brown. On or about the 1st of 

 August it changes in a very slight cocoon 

 among the leaves of its food-plant; the 

 CHRYSALIS is rather slender, and much 

 attenuated at the anal extremity ; it is 

 beautifully variegated with two colours, 

 wainscot-brown as the ground colour, and 

 dark umber-brown, approaching to black, for 

 the ornamentation ; this is disposed in oblique 

 stripes on the wing-cases, leg-cases, and 

 antenna-cases ; in rings on the abdominal 

 segments, and in diversified markings on the 

 thorax and body. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in the middle 

 of May and middle of August at Plymouth, 

 on the south coast of England, and at Powers- 

 court, in Ireland, but has not been taken in 

 Scotland. (The scientific name is Aspilates 

 citraria.} 



225. The Straw J3elle (Anpilatcs (j 



21'.'). THE STRAW BELLE. The antenna of 

 the male are strongly pectinated throughout 

 their length ; those of the female are simple ; 



the fore wings are pale yellow, with many 

 brown dots, and an oblique transverse pah; 

 brown line between the point of the wing and 

 the middle of the inner margin, but not quite 

 reaching either; between this line and the 

 costal margin is a spot of the same colour ; 

 the hind wings are paler than the fore wings, 

 and almost without markings; the shaft of 

 the antennae is pale yellow, the fringe brown, 

 the eyes are black ; the head and thorax are 

 pale yellow, the body nearly white. 



The CATERPILLAR is putty-coloured, with a 

 tendency to a rosy tint in some specimens ; it 

 has no well-marked mcdio-dorsal stripe, but 

 two lateral stripes on each side, both of them 

 reddish brown ; the thirteenth segment has, 

 below the anal flap, two long conical acute 

 points directed backwards ; it feeds on the 

 common yarrow (Achillea millefolium} through- 

 out June. 



The MOTH appears in August in ^he southern 

 counties of England and at Powerscourt and 

 in the county Galway in Ireland, but has not 

 been noticed in Scotland. (The scientific 

 name is Aspilates gilvaria.} 



22G. The Currant Moth (Abraxas grossulttriitfa). 



226. THE CURRANT MOTH. The antennae of 

 the male are very slightly pubescent, those of 

 the female perfectly simple ; the fore wings 

 are white, with a yellow blotch at the base, 

 and a yellow, bent, transverse band beyond 

 the middle. There are numerous black 

 blotches or markings on several parts of the 

 wing. The situation, size, and number of 

 these markings are so liable to variation, that 

 it is impossible to frame a description that 

 shall serve for every specimen ; but I will de- 

 scribe their more general character. There 

 are five black blotches on the costal margin, 

 the first of which is enclosed in the yello\ 



