GEOMETERS. 



167 



nt position ; the head is semi-porrect, scarcely 

 broad as the body ; the body is cylindrical, 

 ,t slightly narrowed anteriorly ; the skin 

 pears tight, and has but little appearance 

 wrinkles or skinfolds. The colour of the 

 d is light red, tinged with green in the 

 ddle of the face ; the body is delicately 

 green, with red blotches as described below ; 

 the first originates immediately behind the 

 head, and is there of the same breadth as the 

 head, but it narrows to a point on the back of 

 the fifth segment; others three, four, or 

 even five in number form a longitudinal 

 edio-dorsal series, and others sometimes 

 appear placed transversely on the tenth and 

 thirteenth segments ; the legs are pinky red; 

 the claspers green, with a red blotch on the 

 outer side ; it descends the rose-bush, and 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS in the earth. 



The MOTH appears in April in most of our 

 English counties, and occurs also in Scotland, 

 and in the county Wicklow in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Antielea dsrirnta. ) 



332. The Barberry Carpet (Aiitieha brrben.td}. 

 332. THE BAKBEKRY CAKPET. The fore 

 igs are gray, with very numerous markings 

 umber-brown of different shades ; neor the 

 base is a short bar, both margins of which are 

 darker than the median area ; this bar is 

 followed by a gray space, which includes two 

 elbowed darker lines ; then follows a dark 

 umber-brown bar, and then a gray band scal- 

 loped at the sides and interrupted at the costal 

 extremity, and in the middle ; the middle of 

 this band is the centre of the wing ; a short 

 distance beyond this band is a shaq)ly-angied 

 zigzag black line ; there is a broad pale band 

 on the hind margin, except at its costal extre- 

 mity, where an oblique division of colours 

 takes place at the very tip of the wing, the 

 costal area of the tip being dark, the hind- 

 marginal area pale gray : the hind wings are 

 pale gray-brown, with several darker but pale 



zigzag lines parallel with the hind margin : 

 the head, thorax, and body have the same 

 shades of colour disposed transversely. 



The CATERPILLAR is extremely sluggish, and 

 disinclined to move; when compelled to do so, 

 it generally drops from its food-plant suspended 

 by a thread ; it rests with its claspers firmly 

 attached, but most commonly has the legs 

 free, the body being bent double, and the legs 

 being brought almost or quite into contact 

 with the ventral claspers; sometimes both the 

 anterior and posterior segments are straight, 

 the intervening segments constituting a loop ; 

 the head is partially concealed by the anterior 

 margin of the second segment, it is rounded 

 on the crown, is of somewhat less diameter 

 than the body, and is slightly hairy; the body 

 is obese, short, and rugose, the rugosity oc- 

 casioned by each segment having an elevated 

 transverse skinfold on which are situated seve- 

 ral warts, each wart emitting a slender bristle. 

 The colour is various ; the prevailing varieties 

 are : frst a pale raw-sienna brown, with three 

 dorsal stripes of a somewhat darker colour, all 

 of them indistinct, and the median one very 

 slender : secondly a brighter or burnt-sienna 

 brown, with two broad, dorsal, longitudinal 

 umber-brown stripes, and the faintest possible 

 indication of a slender median stripe : thirdly 

 a gray or putty-coloured ground colour, 

 thickly sprinkled with black, and having on 

 each side of each segment an indication of 

 a large crescentic white mark; in the last 

 variety the base of the legs is black, and in 

 all the varieties the head is beautifully tesse- 

 lated, the tesselations in the brown specimens 

 being a darker shade of the same colour, those 

 in the gray specimens being pure black. It 

 feeds on the common barberry (Serberis vul- 

 yaris\ appearing in May. The larvae of the 

 si'cond brood are those from which I have 

 taken my description ; they were full-fed at 

 the end of September. 



The MOTH is double-brooded, appearing in 

 May, and again in August : it has been taken 

 in Essex, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, but not 

 in the north of England, in Scotland, or in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 berberata.'] 



