238 



BKITISII MOTHS. 



frequently, but not constantly, a smaller white 

 spot on each side of the fifth segment ; there 

 is a short oblique dark stripe on each 

 side of each segment, but this is by no 

 means conspicuous or distinct ; the spiracles 

 are black ; the ventral is paler than the 

 dorsal area, indeed, inclined to gray ; the 

 logs are reddish-brown ; the claspers are paler, 

 corresponding to the ventral area ; I have fre- 

 quently found this caterpillar feeding on the 

 common bramble (Rulus fruticosus} , and I know 

 of no other food-plant ; when full-fed it spins 

 a few leaves together, and in the retreat 

 thus made it turns to a cylindrical CHRYSALIS 

 Avith a conical body, which terminates in 

 a slender horn-like point directed back- 

 wards. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 is common in most of the English counties ; 

 Mr. Birchall says it is very common in Ireland, 

 and gives Killarney, Wicklow, Galway, and 

 Howth, as habitats. (The scientific name is 

 GonopJiora derasa.) 



Obs. Ochsenheimer has united the Buff- 

 arches with the Peach-blossom, under the 

 genus Thyatira ; they are very different in 

 appearance, and I quite incline to Mr. 

 Bruand's view of keeping them distinct. 



413. The Peach-blossom (Thyatira lati*). 



413. THE PEACH-BLOSSOM. The antenna) 

 are very slightly pubescent in the male, quite 

 simple in the female ; the fore wings arc blunt 

 at the tip ; their colour is olive brown with 

 one small and four large roundish spots on 

 each, and also one additional large spot com- 

 mon to both wings near the middle of the 

 inner margin ; the largest of these spots is 

 amorphous, and is seated at the base of the 



wing ; two others closely approximate are at . 

 the extremity of the costal margin ; a fourth i 

 occupies the anal angle ; and close to this on 

 the hind margin is the smaller spot already | 

 mentioned ; the disk of all these remai'kable 

 and very ornamental spots is rosy or rosy- 

 brown, but their circumscription is white ; 1 

 they have much the appearance of the fallen 

 petals of some flower, whence the name of 

 " Peach-blossom :" the hind wings are dingy- 

 brown, with a paler and indistinct transverse I 

 median band : the head is pale brown ; the 

 thorax pale brown with transverse bars of | 

 rosy brown, faint and delicate; the body is 

 pale brown, the second, third, and fourth seg- 

 ments having a small dorsal crest. 



The CATERPILLAR rests with the anal clas-pera I 

 raised from its food-plant, and apparently not I 

 used for prehension ; the legs likewise are 

 seldom attached. The head is about equal in 

 width to the second segment ; the face is prone, 

 and the crown slightly produced and indis- 

 tinctly notched ; the body is rather velvety, 

 the dorsal area irregularly humped ; the prin- 

 cipal hump is on the third segment ; it is 1 

 bifid, projected forwards, generally extending J 

 over the second segment, and sometimes over j 

 the head ; the fourth and fifth segments are 

 nearly simple, but those which follow from 

 the sixth to the tenth, both inclusive, have 

 each a medio-dorsal crest or hump ; the twelfth 

 segment is dorsally pointed : the co-lour of 

 the head is reddish-brown ; the dorsal area 

 of the body is reddish-brown, marbled with 

 reddish-gray ; it feeds on the common bramble 

 (Rubus fruticosus), and in September, or some- 

 times as early as the end of August, spins a 

 very slight and loose cocoon among the leaves, 

 and when in confinement among the moss or 

 rubbish on the floor of the breeding-cage, and 

 therein changes to a blackish CHRYSALIS, which 

 lias a stout thorax but rather small conical 

 body and a sharp anal point. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July of the following year, and is far from 

 uncommon in most of our English counties, 

 and Mr. P.irchall says it is very common in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is Thi/ntird 



