148 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



The CATERPILLAR is full-fed at the end of 

 June, when it rests in a somewhat arched 

 posture, the anterior part of the body being 

 held quite free of the food-plant, and bent 

 outwards and upwards from the fourth seg- 

 ment, and the head slightly porrected ; 

 when touched, or otherwise annoyed, the head 

 is tucked iu a little, but the caterpillar will , 

 not readily fall from its food-plant, or re- 

 linguish the hold by its claspers ; if compelled 

 to relinquish this hold, it drops, hanging by a 

 thread. Head not notched on the crown, 

 decidedly narrower than the second segment, 

 into which it is occasionally partially with- 

 drawn ; body almost cylindrical, but narrowest 

 towards the anterior extremity ; the second 

 segment is narrower than the third, the third 

 narrower than the fourth ; the skin is folded 

 transversely, but not conspicuously so ; there 

 are no humps or conspicuous warts on any part 

 of the body, but the fourteenth segment termi- 

 nates beneath the anal flap, in two very short 

 approximate, obtusely conical points, directed 

 backwards ; each of these points emits a 

 slender bristle, and there are several other 

 small and inconspicuous bristles on various 

 parts of the body. The colour of the head is 

 purplish brown ; the body beautifully varie- 

 gated with purple-brown, and apple-green ; 

 1he brown is mostly dorsal, the green mostly 

 ventral, but not entirely so ; on the second 

 and third segments, the brown is confined to 

 nn amorphous dorsal blotch ; on the fourth 

 segment, it descends to the insertion of the 

 legs ; on the fifth and sixth segments, it 

 descends to the ventral surface, forming a 

 complete band round the body ; this band is, 

 however, interrupted on the back by two 

 transversely placed lunulate green marks ; on 

 the ninth segment, it appears on the dorsal sur- 

 face only ; on the tenth, it is confined to three 

 parallel stripes on the dorsal, and a large 

 patch on the ventral surface ; on the eleventh, 

 there is a medio-dorsal purple stripe, and a 

 lateral amorphous purple patch ; on the 

 twelfth and thirteenth, the purple predomi- 

 nates almost exclusively ; the legs are purple- 

 brown ; the ventral claspers green and very 

 small ; the anal claspers almost entirely 



purple. It is scarcely to be supposed that 

 this distribution of colour obtains in every 

 individual, but it was very constant in those I 

 have had the opportunity of examining. It 

 feeds on the privet (Liffustrum vulgare], and 

 on the 1st of July, the caterpillars in my 

 possession connected the leaves of the privet 

 together by silken threads, and underwent 

 pupation in the domicile thus formed. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 June, and has been taken in several of our 

 English counties, both northern and southern, 

 but I do not recollect seeing it from Scotland. 

 Mr. Birchall says it is common at Killarney, 

 in Ireland. (The scientific name is Lobophora 

 viretata.} 



307. The Early Tooth-striped (Lobophora lobulatn.) 



307. THE EARLY TOOTH-STRIPED. The 

 fore wings are long and rather pointed, of a 

 pale ochreous gray colour, with five transverse 

 smoke-coloured markings ; the first of these is 

 single, very near the base, and elbowed out- 

 wards ; the second is single and nearly direct; 

 the third is double and waved ; the fourth is 

 double, waved and much interrupted ; and the 

 fifth, single and interrupted ; these markings 

 vary greatly in intensity, they are never very 

 strongly developed, and often nearly imper- 

 ceptible ; there is a series of black dots on the 

 hind margin ; the discoidal spot is long, nar- 

 row, transverse, and inconspicuous ; it is con- 

 tiguous to the inner edge of the middle 

 double marking or bar: the hind wings of the 

 male have a small lobe at the base ; they are 

 gray, with two transverse series of obscure 

 spots, and an interrupted marginal line. This 

 species is sometimes of a beautiful light green 

 when fresh from the chrysalis. 



The EGG is laid in the spring, on the honey- 

 suckle (Lonicera periclymenum), and perhaps 

 also on the sallow (Satix caprted], on which 

 shrubs, as well as on other species of willow, 



