202 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



conspicuous mark. The sub-dorsal stripe is of 

 a darker green than the ground colour, run- 

 ning between two fine lines of pale whitish- 

 green, which in some individuals are also 

 seen to be very finely edged externally with 

 darker green. The spiracles are red, and 

 below them the green fades into a whitish 

 stripe, and it is forcibly contrasted beneath 

 by a darker tint of the green of the back 

 softening gradually into a paler green on the 

 ventral surface, where there are three longi- 

 tudinal whitish stripes, the middle one being 

 the widest." It feeds on the blossoms of the 



common earth-nut (L'tinium jlcxuomni) during 

 the month of May : the specimens described 

 above descended to the earth to undergo pu- 

 pation by the 8th of Juuc. 



The MOTH appears on the wing at the end 

 of June, and is extremely common in many 

 parts of England, both north and south : I 

 have also found it in countless thousands in 

 Scotland, at Inverary, the scat of the Duke 

 of Argyll, and generally in the lowlands of 

 Scotland. Mr. Birchall found it commonly 

 in Ireland. (The scientific name is Tanayru 

 chcfrophyllata.} 



