100 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



surface of the third, fourth, tenth, eleventh, 

 twelfth, and thirteenth segments, is of the 

 same orange-rod colour as the lateral stripe ; 

 along the middle of the back is a series of 

 large, hut irregular, black spots ; these are 

 generally three in number, two amorphous, 

 transversely placed, and small, the third 

 trapezoid, much larger, and quite as broad as 

 the other two ; they assume an altered form 

 on the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth segments ; 

 below these is a series of small streak-like black 

 spots, and again below those, but above the 

 lateral orange stripe, is an irregular series of 

 rather large amorphous black spots ; below 

 the orange stripe is an interrupted black stripe 

 on each side, and on the belly are two distinct 

 and continuous black stripes ; legs black ; 



claspcrs blotched with black. Feeds in gar- 

 dens on the gooseberry and black currant, and 

 more rarely on the red currant, greatly pre- 

 ferring those trees of all three species when 

 trained against a wall ; in woods and hedges 

 it may be found on black thorn, which I 

 believe to be its natural food; it is full-fed 

 in May, when it spins a very slight and 

 perfectly transparent cocoon, in which it 

 fastens itself by the tail and changes to a 

 chrysalis, the web or cocoon in no way hiding 

 the CHRYSALIS, which at first is entirely 

 yellow, but soon becomes black and glabrous, 

 with seven yellow bands, three of which, the 

 first, second, and third are dorsal only ; the 

 others are complete circles; the tail ter- 

 minates in three or more very distinct hooks, 

 which constitute its means of attachment to 

 the interior of the cocoon. 



The MOTH appears on the wing about mid- 

 summer, and is only too common in all our 

 gardens both in England and Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Abraxas grossulariata.} 



227. The Clouded Magpie (Abraxas ulmata}. 



227. THE CLOUDED MAGPIE. The antenna? 

 of the male are almost simple, having a very 

 slight and almost imperceptible pubescene ; 

 those of the female are perfectly simple ; the 

 fore wings are white, with a large yellow- 

 brown blotch at the base ; and another similar 

 blotch on the inner margin near the anal 

 angle ; in each of these large blotches is a 

 silvery cloud, composed of scattered silvery 

 scales ; beside these principal markings there 

 are other dark-gray spots and blotches, the 

 largest of which is on the costal margin, and 

 at two-thirds of the distance between the 

 base and the tip ; hind wings white, with a 

 large yellow-brown blotch on the inner mar- 

 gin, having a silvery cloud in it like the 

 blotches in the fore wings ; there are several 

 dark-gray spots on the wing, some of which 

 form a transverse band across the middle ; 

 head and thorax brown ; body yellow, with a 

 row of black spots down the back, two rows 

 down each side, and two rows down the 

 belly. 



The CATERPILLAR is beautifully figured by 

 Sepp, and its life-history given with great 

 minuteness and accuracy ; its head is black, 

 its body gray, inclining to blue on the sides, 

 and covered with black dots, which are ar- 

 ranged in series ; it has a yellow stripe on each 

 side, in the region of the spiracles ; it feeds 

 on elm during the autumn. 



The MOTH appears in June and July, and 

 is very common in the south-west and some of 

 the midland counties of England, and has been 

 taken in the county Wicklow, in Ireland, by 

 Mr. Bristow. (The scientific name is Abraxas 

 ulmata ; it is also the Abraxas pantaria of all 

 British authors, but not of continental ones, 

 who give that name to a totally diiferent 

 species.) 



