208 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



are smaller and shorter than the others ; 

 those on the third and fourth segments are 

 sesquialterous, that is, they have a smaller 

 papilla adjoining them on the outer side ; the 

 papilla? are crowned with a circle of short 

 brown hairs, and a larger bristle rises from the 

 centre of each circle. The seventh, eighth, 

 ninth, tenth, and eleventh segments have each 

 two minnte warts in the place of papillae ; each 

 of these also emits a bristle. The face is gray, 

 the crown gray-green, with two transverse 

 reddish bars : the body is pale green, with 

 testaceous or purplish markings on the mottled 

 back of the sixth 'and following segments; 

 these markings combine in forming a broad 

 stripe down the middle of the back, the 

 papillso being of the same colour as the stripe ? 

 and being included therein. It feeds on birch 

 (Eetida alia] ; doubles over the corner of the 

 birch-leaf, and spins a slight web, in which it 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS. The species is double- 

 brooded ; the second brood of caterpillars is 

 full-fed at the end of September. 



Mr. Greene, in his Insect Hunters' Com- 

 panion, recommends collectors to examine the 

 leaves of birch-trees when joined together for 

 the chrysalis of this species. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May, and 

 again in August, and is very common in 

 several English counties ; and Mr. Birchall 

 informs us it is common in the county Kerry 

 in Ireland. (The scientific name is Platypteryx 

 falcula.} 



382. The Oak Hook-tip (Platypteryx kannil//). 



382. THE OAK HOOK-TIP. The antenna? 

 are decidedly pectinated in the male, simple in 

 the female ; the fore wings are ample, pointed 



at the tip and hooked; their colour is raw 

 sienna, shaded to umber-brown on the him 

 margin below the tip, and traversed by twc 

 pale lines, the exterior of which has a 

 angle projecting towards the hooked tip 

 between these transverse lines are two nearh 

 circular black discoidal spots placed 

 transverse. The hind wings of the male an 

 of the same colour as the fore wings, with two 

 approximate paler transverse lines, and t.vo 

 minute discoidal spots. The female ditt'eis in 

 being considerably larger, and in having tho 

 hind wings fulvous yellow : the head is i'ul- 

 vous yellow ; the body brown. 



The CATERPILLAR is " grayish-brown ; a 

 broad dorsal stripe, greenish-brown on the 

 second, third, fourth, twelfth, and thirteenth 

 segments, yellowish-brown on the otheis, 

 edged with yellow on each side ; the fourtl 

 segment with two tubercles on the bacl 

 (/)/>). It feeds on oak and birch.' 1 Stainton, 

 Jfauua/, vol. ii. p. 164. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 August : it has been taken in the southern 

 and eastern counties of England, but not, so 

 far as I am informed, in Scotland or Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is 



383. The Barred Hooktip (/Y< f;/p>er</.<- ni<i/u'-uh<}. 



383. THE BARRED HOOKTIP. The antennae 

 are decidedly pectinated in the mule, simple 

 in the female ; the lore wings are ample, 

 pointed, and slightly hooked ; their colour is 

 fulvous-brown, with the hind margin and a 

 median band slightly duiker; the median band 

 projects an obtuse angle towards the tip, and 

 contains a very indistinct discoidal spot : the 

 hind wings are of the same colour as the lore 



