NOCTUAS. 



417. The Poplar Lutestring (Cymalophora Or}. 



417. THE POPLAR LUTESTRING. The an- 

 tenna) are very slender in both sexes, but 

 slightly stouter in the males than in the fe- 

 males : the fore wings are scarcely curved on 

 the costa, and bluntly square at the tip ; their 

 colour is gray, with two transverse dark lines 

 at the base, and two transverse bands ; the 

 first, the broader of the two, is nearly direct, 

 and is situated before the middle of the wing ; 

 it is composed of four dark lines ; the second, 

 beyond the middle of the wing, is rather 



ique, and is composed of four zigzag lines ; 



ween these bars the orbicular and reniform 

 iscoidal spots are perceptible, but not con- 

 spicuous : each has a pale area and a darker 

 border; near the hind margin is a dark zigzag 

 line, commencing in a dark streak at the tip 

 of the wing, and on the very margin is a 



ncler dark line : the hind wings are dingy 



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

 body is stout and of a brownish-gi-ay 



lour. 



The CATERPILLAR, when full-fed, resides 

 habitually between two leaves of the poplar 

 or aspen {Populus nigra t and Populus tremuld], 

 on which it feeds : the two leaves thus con- 

 verted into a residence are always on one 

 shoot, ?o that the wind, moving the shoot or 

 twig altogether, has no tendency to separate 

 them ; they are generally placed with the 

 back of the upper leaf to the face of the lower 

 one, and the edges are united together by 

 silken threads, with much skill and neatness ; 

 in this retreat the caterpillar rests during the 

 day in a curved form, the head being brought 

 round towards the middle of the body, but the 

 body invariably resting on its ventral surface, 

 and not on its side ; when driven from this 



retreat, it frequently escapes backwards, and 

 but rarely falls to the ground, generally hang- 

 ing suspended by a thread. The head is 

 narrower than the second segment, the face 

 rather flat and porrecteu ; the body is rather 

 depressed dorsally, and flattened ventrally ; 

 it has a number of minute warts, each of 

 which emits a hair. The colour of the head is 

 red, of the body whitish -green, or tinged with 

 glaucous : it has a very bleached and semi- 

 transparent appearance, probably owing to its 

 habit of living protected from the sunlight ; 

 there is a medio-dorsal stripe of dingy green, 

 probably owing to the presence of food in the 

 alimentary canal ; this is especially visible 

 when the caterpillar is crawling, an act which 

 it performs with much activity when expelled 

 from its retreat ; just below the spiracles is a 

 faint yellowish stripe ; the ventral is rather 

 paler than the dorsal area. It undergoes pu- 

 pation in its retreat, and turns to a red-brown 

 CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June 

 and July, and has been taken in most of our 

 English counties. (The scientific name is 

 Cymatophcra Or.} 



418. The Figure of Eighty (Cymitcp',ora ocularis}. 



418. THE FIGURE OF EIGHTY. The antenna) 

 are very slender ; the fore wings are ample, 

 almost straight on the costa, and obtuse at the 

 tip ; their colour is pale brown, with a tinge of 

 red in recently disclosed specimens ; there is 

 a slightly paler transverse median band, which 

 contains the reniform and orbicular spots ; 

 these are closely approximate and very con- 

 spicuous and ornamental, the central area of 

 each being dark and the border pure white ; 

 on the left wing this ornamentation represents 

 the number 80, on the right wing it is rc- 



EDWARD NEWMAN'S BRITISH 

 MOTHS. No. lt>. PRICE On. ; 



i LO.SDON: W. TwKi;i>rn, 

 ( .'i.')7, STRAND. 



