234 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



body is pale green, and is transversely 

 wrinkled; it has two yellowish and very 

 narrow stripes near together down the middle 

 of the back ; these under a lens are seen to be 

 composed of yellow dots ; two similarly-dotted 

 stripes are observable outside these, but not 

 extending beyond the sixth segment ; on each 

 side of the caterpillar extending from the head 

 to the anal point, is a raised pale stripe, which 

 is alternately pink and pale yellow, and 

 which includes the spiracles. It feeds on oak 

 ( Quercus rolur\ and is full-fed about the 4th 

 of September, when it spins a slight cocoon on 

 the surface of the ground, and changes to a 

 CHRYSALIS, in which state it remains through- 

 out the winter. 



The MOTH appears in May : it occurs in 

 Kent, Essex, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, and 

 Gloucestershire, in the South, and in Cumber- 

 laud, Lancashire, and Westmoreland, in the 

 North of England. Mr. Birchall says it is 

 not uncommon at Killarney, in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Notodontn, dodonxa.} 



411. The Figure-of-Eight Moth (Diloba coeruleo- 

 cephala). 



411. THE FIGURE-OF-EIGHT MOTH. The 

 antennas of the male are pectinated, those of 

 the female simple : the costal margin of the 

 fore wings is nearly straight, the tip blunt ; 

 their colour is leaden-brown, glossed, in re- 

 cently disclosed specimens, with mother-of- 

 pearl reflections ; they are traversed by two 

 angulated black lines, th,e first of which is 

 nearly direct and situated near the base of 

 the wing ; the second is beyond the middle of 

 the wing, very oblique, and very much bent 

 and angulated, and, although very distant from 

 the first on the costa, almost joins it on the 

 inner margin : between these two lines are 

 two very large kidney- shaped white spots 

 with double nuclei ; these remarkable spots 

 bear a superficial resemblance to figures-of- 



eight, whence the name of the moth : the 

 hind wings are dingy-brown with darker 

 wing-rays, an indistinct discoidal spot, and a 

 dark almost black blotch at the anal angle : 

 the head and thorax are gray-brown ; the 

 body brown. 



The EGGS are laid in September in clusters 

 of six or eight at the base of the lateral shoots 

 of white thorn (Crat&gus oxyacantha), or 

 black thorn (Prunus spinosa), the leaves of 

 these shoots being the earliest to expand in 

 the spring, when the caterpillar emerges from 

 the egg-shell. When full-grown, which is 

 usually in May or June, the CATERPILLAR has 

 a small head of a blue-green colour with two 

 black spots on the crown : the general colour 

 of the body is glaucous green above, tinged 

 with smoke-colour, and having a median 

 rather broad yellow stripe interrupted at each 

 junction of two segments ; on each side just 

 below the spiracles, is another yellow stripe 

 seated on a longitudinally-raised fold of the 

 skin ; below this the body is smoky-green, 

 shading off to yellow-green on the ventral 

 area ; on every segment are numerous black 

 warts, each of which emits a single black 

 bristle ; the most conspicuous of these warts 

 are four on the back of every segment ; the 

 anterior nearer together than the posterior 

 pair : the yellow median stripe passes between 

 them, leaving two on each side : each of the 

 warts seems to acquire a greater intensity of 

 colour from its being surrounded by a paler 

 space : the legs are shining, glaucous, and 

 black-spotted ; the claspers opaque green, 

 with two black spots on each. It feeds on 

 white thorn ( Cratccgm oxyacantlui), and is 

 lull-fed about the middle of June, when it 

 spins an oblong cocoon, formed of minute 

 particles of the rind of the white thorn twigs, 

 small fragments of the green leaves, and an 

 abundance of silk ; this is generally attached 

 to the underside of a small hawthorn twig : 

 in this it changes to a CHRYSALIS, and remains 

 in that state about two months. 



The MOTH appears in September, and is 

 common throughout England, but Mr. Birchall 

 says it is not abundant in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Diloba caruleocephala.} 



