240 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



and hang by a thread when disturbed. The 

 head is about equal in width to the second 

 segment, the divisions of the crown are rather 

 convex and prominent ; the body is dorsally 

 depressed, ventrally flattened, it bears nume- 

 rous fine scattered hairs ; the colour of the 

 head is dark brown on the crown, paler across 

 the face, and has a black spot on each side, 

 clo?e to the mouth ; the colour of the body 

 is almost white, or yellowish -gray, the dorsal 

 area more inclining to gray, and having a 

 narrow slightly darker medio-dorsal stripe, 

 probably due to food in the alimentary canal ; 

 there is also a distinct black mark on each 

 side of each segment; the sides and belly are 

 whiter than the back. My specimens were 

 full fed at the beginning of October, and then 

 spun slight cocoons among the birch leaves, in 

 which to turn to CHRYSALIDS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June. It 

 seems to be of much more limited distribution 

 than those species which immediately precede 

 and follow. My specimens have come from 

 Huddersfuld and Ipswich, and I have seen 

 others from the western counties. Mr. Birchall 

 has taken it at Killarney, in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Cymatnphora 



416. The Lesser Lutestring (Ci/ma(nphorn dilxta], 



416. THE LESSEK LUTESTRING. The antenna? 

 are slender and very slightly pubescent in 

 both sexes, but most so in the males : the 

 fore wings are ample, very slightly curved on 

 the costa, and bluntly square at the tip ; their 



colour is dingy gray with a tendency to a 

 brickdust-red tinge in fine and recently dis- 

 closed specimens ; at the base there is usually 

 a darker shade, and there are two distinct 

 transverse brown bars ; one of these is rather 

 before, the other rather beyond, the middle ; 

 both of these are nearly direct, but their 

 borders are waved, and both of them are 

 evidently composed of four lines crowded 

 together ; there is a third but indistinct band 

 nearer the hind margin, and a delicate dark 

 line on the margin itself : the hind wings are 

 gray with two faint transverse bars of a darker 

 tint : the head, thorax, and body are gray ; 

 the body is stout, and invaiiably has one, and 

 sometimes two, erect medio-dorsal tufts of 

 black scales near the base. 



The CATERPILLAR resides resting on its ven- 

 tral surface, and with its head turned on one 

 side, between two spun-together leaves of oak 

 (Quercus robur] or birch (Betula alba), and 

 comes out of its domicile to feed during the 

 night : it hang.s by a silken thread when 

 driven out of this retreat. The head is nar- 

 rower than the second segment, rather convex 

 on the crown, and very glabrous : the body is 

 obese and maggot-like ; it bears numerous 

 fine scattered hairs. The colour of the he-ad 

 is dark brown, almost black ; of the body pale 

 gray, with a narrower medio-dorsal stripe 

 rather darker, and a narrow lateral stripe 

 rather lighter ; the spiracles and a series of 

 dots beneath them are nearly black. It spins 

 a slight cocoon among the leaves, and therein 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS towards the end of 

 June or beginning of July. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 and occurs in most of the English counties; 

 Mr. Birchall also reports it from Killarney, in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is CymatophoTA 

 dilufa.) 



Ob*. The upper figure represents a very 

 beautiful variety in the cabinet of Mr. Bond, 

 kindly lent me expressly to figure in this 

 work ; but it is not a species given to 

 variation, this and its immediate congeners 

 being insects of much uniformity in tint, 

 markings, and size. 



