GEOMETERS. 



1G1 



wn-gray marginal band intersected by a 

 slender zigzag white line ; the extreme 



rgin and fringe are as in the fore wings : 

 head and thorax are brown-gray, the 

 y smoky-gray, with two nearly black spots 



ced transversely on each segment. 



head of the CATERPILLAR is nearly of the 

 e diameter as the body, which is uniformly 

 lindrical ; the caterpillar generally rests in 



early straight position, but when disturbed, 



ks in its head very tightly, thus giving to 

 e anterior portion of the body the figure of 

 the Ionic volute. The colour of the head is 

 pellucid smoky-brown, dotted with black, and 

 having two darker brown lines which meet on 

 the crown ; the body is brown, beautifully 

 variegated, and mottled ; the second, third, 

 and fourth segments have a median black line, 

 and on each of the six succeeding segments is 

 a somewhat horse-shoe shaped median white 

 mark ; the last of these terminates in a 

 median brown stripe, which extends through 

 the eleventh and twelfth segments, and to 

 the extreme tip of the thirteenth ; these 

 marks might be called lozenge-shaped, but 

 they are open at the posterior extremity ; 

 the enclosed space in each is brick-red, with 

 a median transverse black bar; there are 

 two or four white dots on the back of each 

 segment, and numerous waved markings of 

 different shapes on the sides. It feeds on the 



at hedge bedstraw ( Galium moUugd), and is 

 full-fed about the 30th of June, when it spins 

 a slight cocoon on the earth, and changes to a 



CfcBYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears in May, and again in 

 July, towards the end of the month : it is of 

 common occurrence in all parts of the United 

 Kingdom, whence a report has been obtained. 

 (The scientific name is Melanippe subtris- 

 tata.} 



Obs. This species is double-brooded, both 

 in a state of nature and in captivity. The 

 question whether the two species of Melanippe, 

 M. rivata and If. subtriatata, are identical or 

 distinct, is one which has often occupied the 

 attention of our most acute lepidopterists ; I 

 confess myself unable to appreciate the reasons 

 that have been assigned for considering them 



identical, and have, therefore, 'always kept 

 them separate ; this opinion, however, has 

 been formed almost entirely on superficial 

 grounds, and without that minute attention 

 to distinctive characteis, on which alone 

 such a conclusion should be grounded. It 

 is, therefore, with extreme pleasure that, I 

 now cite from . the memoranda of Mr. Hellins 

 the following excellent observations : " Be- 

 tween the caterpillars of Melanippe rivata 

 and J/. subtrist'ita, there is, at first sight, as 

 great a similarity as exists between the same 

 insects in the perfect state ; the ground 

 colour of both is the same, varying from a 

 pale fawn-colour, through a greenish brown, 

 to a dull green, and even sometimes to a 

 bright green, the lines and borders of the 

 markings being of a deeper tint of the ground 

 colour, and often tinged with a good deal of 

 red ; in both, the segmental divisions are light 

 red, though this, indeed, may be observed in a 

 very great number of gray and brown cater- 

 pillars, and in both the dorsal markings are 

 of the same shape, namely, dark longitudinal 

 lines, bordered with light on the front and 

 hind segments, and on the intermediate ones 

 are blunt white arrow-heads,* pointing for- 

 wards and placed at the segmental divisions, the 

 white being clearest and brightest at the 

 point, enclosing a diamond-shaped spot of a 

 dark tint of the ground colour, which at its 

 hinder end runs indistinctly into the broken 

 dorsal line, and themselves enclosed on the 

 front edge by a dark suffused V-shaped mark, 

 the apex of which runs into the dorsal line, 

 and the sides appear to reach down to the 

 spiracles, but become indistinct when ex- 

 amined with a Ions. 



" So far these species are alike, but a careful 

 examination of a number of specimens during 

 the past two or three years has led to the con- 

 clusion that they differ as follows : The 

 caterpillar of IT. rivata, as might be expected 

 from the relative size of the two perfect 

 insects, is invariably the larger; it is also 



* Perhaps lozerges would be a better word, but 

 the other was chosen on account of the opening of 

 the hinder end, which seems to admit the shaft of the 



EDWARD NEWMAN'S BRITISH 

 MOTHS. No. 11, PRICE CD. 



i LONDON : W. TWKEDIK, 



< 337, bTRAND. 



