CUSPIDATES. 



209 



igs, and have the same darker median bandl 

 head, thorax, and body are of the same 



alour as the wings. 



The species is supposed to be double- 

 brooded, a subject on which I am not qua- 

 to express an opinion ; all that I can 

 3rt positively is that the CATERPILLAR occurs 



3undantly in August and September, and the 



loth in May, and that the May moths emerge 

 from the August caterpillars is beyond a ques- 

 tion ; but the point to be settled is, whether 

 there is an entire round of existence egg, 

 caterpillar, chrysalis, and perfect insect 

 between May and August, which is a view of 

 the case taken by most Lepidopterists. The 

 EGG is laid on the leaf of beech (Fagm syl- 

 vatica), especially on those stunted or pollard 

 trees which so abound in Epping Forest. 

 When full-fed, in which state it is found at 

 the end of August, and throughout September, 

 the caterpillar rests in a nearly straight posi- 

 tion, but with both extremities slightly raised, 

 and not touching the object on which it rests ; 

 when roughly touched, or jerked off with the 

 beating stick, it very frequently hangs by a 

 thread, and thus suspended, begins twirling 



jund and round, at first slowly, and after- 

 irds with great rapidity a feat I have 



imetimes seen performed by a slug when sus- 

 pended by a thread of slime exuded from its 

 own body. The head is manifestly wider 



lan the segments immediately following, 

 ane, slightly notched on the crown, which 

 es in a very marked manner above that parT 

 of the back which is immediately behind the 

 head: the body tapers gradually to the eleventh 

 segment, and thence more suddenly tapers to 

 a point ; on the fourth segment are two closely 

 approximate warts placed transversely : every 

 part of the body is beset with minor warts, 

 each of which emits a hair. The colour of 

 the head is pale reddish brown, reticulated 

 with darker brown ; the body has its dorsal 

 surface dark umber-brown ; there is a pale, 

 almost white, narrow stripe on each side, 

 commencing close to the head, and passing 

 obliquely towards the back, where it unites 

 with a medio-dorsal white V-shaped mark on 

 the sixth segment ; the same marking is con- 



tinued as a pale-brown shuttle-shaped dorsal 

 stripe on the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth 

 segments, and is intersected throughout by an 

 extremely narrow dark median line : there is 

 a conspicuous and elongate pale spot on each 

 side of the eleventh segment ; the dorsal warts 

 on the fourth segment, and the anal point are 

 reddish ; the ventral area, legs, and claspers 

 are very pale, and have a very obscure tinge 

 of green. It changes to a CHEYSALIS among 

 the leaves in a slight web. The chrysalis 

 is brown, the wing-cases having a greenish 

 tinge. 



The MOTH, which, as I have said, seems to 

 be double-brooded, appears on the wing both 

 in May and August. It occurs abundantly in 

 some of the southern English counties, but 

 neither in the north of England, in Scotland, 

 nor in Ireland. (The scientific name is Pla- 

 typteryx unguicula.} 



384. The Chinese Character (Cilix spinula). 



384. THE CHINESE CHARACTER. When at 

 rest this interesting little moth sits with the 

 inner margin of the wings raised above the 

 body, the costal margin deflected, and the whole 

 roof-like : the antennae- of the male are de- 

 cidedly pectinated, of the female simple ; the 

 tip of the fore wings is not hooked, it is obtuse 

 but scarcely rounded ; their colour is snowy- 

 white, with an oblique median smoky band 

 which does not reach the costa, but is very 

 dark brown and conspicuous on the inner 

 margin ; in the very centre of the wing which 

 is traversed of course by the median band, the 

 branched wing-rays are beset with silvery 

 scales, which are thus rendered conspicuous, 

 and are supposed to resemble Chinese letters, 

 whence the name ; the hind margin is occu- 

 pied by a smoke-coloured band, and within 

 this is a semidouble oblique series of seven or 

 eight smoke-coloured lunules, each of which is 

 surrounded with pure white ; the hind wings 



EinvABD NEWMAN'S BRITISH \ 

 MOTHS. No. 14. TRICE 6p. j 



t LONDON : W. TWKKDIK, 

 \ 337, STR-D. 



