190 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



night-shade ( Circa>a1uteti(tna\ and Mr. Thomas 

 Huckett has found others feeding on willow- 

 herb, all of which were full-fed on the 

 20th of September, when they spun a small 

 cocoon, of very loose structure and somewhat 

 resembling network, against the side of the 

 gallipot in which they were kept, and to this 

 they attached a portion of the food-plant, and 

 in this receptacle changed into CHIIYSALIDS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May, and 

 a second brood in August, and is regarded as 

 common in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Cidaria silaceata.} 



360. The Phoenix (Cidaria ribesiaria). 



360. THE PHCENIX. The fore wings are of 

 a rich chocolate-brown colour, interrupted by 

 two compound transverse bars, the first of 

 which is beyond the middle of the wing, the 

 second is almost on the hind margin ; the 

 first bar is bordered on both sides with white, 

 the interior border being concave and broadly 

 scalloped, the exterior border having two shaip 

 angles projecting into the rich brown ground 

 colour; between these boundary lines there is 

 a third and faint whitish line which follows 

 the bendings of the outer one ; the second bar 

 originates on the costa, almost at the tip, 

 where it is very broad ; it is then narrowed 

 and bent inwards, and then again widened and 

 bent outwards to the hind margin ; the second 

 bar is bordered by white ; on the interior side 

 it descends straight from the costa to the 

 middle of the wing ; it is then scalloped and 

 descends to the anal angle ; the exterior border 

 is whitish, but not so white as the interior, 

 and the interspace between these two white 

 borders contains seven or ei ht black markings, 

 ' all of them bordered with white ; they are 

 set, as it were, in white frames ; the first, 

 second, and third of these aie triangular, the 

 fourth linear, the remainder crescent-shaped ; 



the hind wings are brownish gray at the base, 

 and paler towards the hind margin, the paler 

 portion being intersected by two faint zigzag 

 lines, each of which is darker towards the 

 base, paler towards the hind margin ; the 

 head, thorax, and body are brown ; the seg- 

 ments of the body edged with gray, and 

 having two spots placed transversely on each. 

 The EGGS are laid in July on the bark of 

 currant and gooseberry bushes, but do not 

 hatch until the following spring ; they are 

 shaped much like a powder-flask, with three 

 ridges at the smaller end and a depression on 

 the side. The CATERPILLAR feeds on the leaves 

 and is full-fed in June. The. head is rather 

 small, perfected, but not distinctly exserted ; 

 the second segment is small and narrow, the 

 third is swollen all round ; the remainder of 

 the body uniformly cylindrical. There are 

 two very distinct rarities as regards colour : 

 in the more common variety the colour of the 

 head is sepia-brown, variously shaded and 

 spotted with darker tints of the same ; the 

 body is dingy brown ; the third segment has 

 a transverse elevated black band, which con- 

 tains eight white dots ; the fourth segment has 

 a conspicuous black dot on each side ; on 

 every segment, from the fourth to the eleventh, 

 both inclusive, is a median dark mark, which 

 divides at each extremity, the anterior divi- 

 sions divaricating slightly and becoming lost 

 as they gradually merge in the ground colour ; 

 the posterior division divaricating decidedly 

 and abruptly, and terminating at the pos- 

 terior margin of the segment ; each pair of 

 divisions encloses a paler and somewhat trian- 

 gular space, and these triangles meet base to 

 base at the junction of th3 segments, thus 

 forming a series of medio-dorsal lozenge- 

 shaped markings, eight in number ; in each 

 dark marking are four white dots, and in each 

 lozenge is a median longitudinal black and 

 slightly waved line ; the sides are delicately 

 varied with different shades of sepia-brown, 

 and every segment has a few scattered hairs. 

 The other variety is green, and exhibits traces, 

 more or less distinct, of the markings I have 

 described. The caterpillars are full-fed about 

 the middle of June, when they spin a slight 



