242 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



versed; the wing is traversed by several 

 transverse dark lines, two or three of them 

 before, and four or five beyond, the figure of 

 eighty ; there is a short oblique dark stripe 

 at the tip : the hind wings are dingy brown, 

 with two or three slender darker lines across 

 the middle, and a darker hind margin : the 

 head, thorax, and body are gray-brown : the 

 body is stout. 



" The CATERPILLAR is very pale yellowish- 

 green, with greenish dorsal line, and greenish 

 line along the spiracles, which are reddish ; 

 a row of black dots above the legs (Frey}. It 

 feeds on aspen (Populus tremula)^ Stainton's 

 Manual, vol. i. p. 175. " The CHRYSALIS is 

 black and stout, enclosed in an extremely deli- 

 cate open network of a rusty brown colour ; it 

 is very difficult to find ; it frequently nay, 

 generally spins on the surface of the spread- 

 ing moss, or barely beneath it, sometimes be- 

 tween two leaves ; in this latter case it is soon 

 blown away, and, in the former, falls an easy 

 prey to the first prowling mouse : it should, 

 therefore, be sought for as soon as possible 

 after the change ; this, I think, should cer- 

 tainly not be later than the first week in Oc- 

 tober. ... I have found the following 

 a very good method of obtaining it. Instead 

 of turning up the sod, lay hold of the grass 

 lying close to the trunk, and pull it (the 

 sod) from the tree about an inch or so, and 

 the chrysalis, if there, will almost invariably 

 be found attached to the tree, or else among 

 the blades of grass which lie close to it. 

 Its presence may be detected by the open 

 network alluded to above. If, after pulling 

 the grass from the trunk, small pieces of bark 

 are found loosely attached to it, i.e., the 

 trunk, they should be carefully removed and 

 examined, as behind them the caterpillar fre- 

 quently spins up." Greene's Insect Hunters 

 Companion, p. 19. 



The moth appears on the wing at the end of 

 June, and has occurred in Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 Essex, Buckinghamshire, and Worcestershire, 

 but is always esteemed a rarity. Mr. Greene 

 has taken it in Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Cymatopltora ocularix.} 



419. The Yellow-Horned (Cymatophora flavicornis). 



419. THE YELLOW-HORNED. The antenna 

 are stout, particularly in the males, and of an 

 ochreous-yellow colour : the fore wings are 

 rather narrow, the costa nearly straight, the 

 tip blunt ; their costal area is gray from the 

 base to the middle ; the remainder of the wing 

 is dark smoky gray, the orbicular spot is large, 

 but rather indistinct ; the reniform spot im- 

 perceptible; the wing is traversed by seven 

 or more transverse dark lines, three of these 

 are before the discoidal spots ; these lines are 

 perfectly separate at the inner margin, but 

 united on the costa ; two others are beyond 

 the discoidal spots, and much bent ; again, 

 nearer the hind margin, are two others, waved 

 and indistinct : the hind wings, head, thorax, 

 and body, are gray-brown : the thorax is very 

 stout, the body rather so. 



The head of the CATERPILLAB is pale wainscot- 

 brown, with a black spot on each cheek, near 

 the mouth : the body is dingy yellowish-green, 

 the second segment having six black spots, all 

 of them close adjoining the head, and the two 

 dorsal ones being larger than the rest ; on each 

 of the following segments are five black spots, 

 the largest of which form a dorsal series ; the 

 second, smaller, constitute a supra-spiracular 

 series ; and the third, the smallest, an infra- 

 spiracular series ; each of the larger black spots 

 has a row of three white dots above it. and one 

 white dot below ; the third and fourth seg- 

 ments have a transverse band or belt of twelve 

 white dots. It feeds on birch (Betula alba}, 

 of which it rolls up the leaves into a kind of 

 case, and only comes partially out to eat : it 

 is almost impossible to beat this caterpillar : 

 in order to obtain it, the rolled-up leaves must 

 be sought out and picked : it is full-fed in the 

 beginning of July. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in March, 



