244 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



mm tVio 



brown, reticulated with dingy white ; the 

 colour is paler about the mouth, and this pale 

 region has a black reniform spot on each side 

 of the mouth, including the ocelli, which are 

 also black ; on each side of the face, near the 

 median division, is a whitish line, which 

 ascends to the crown, and then turns obliquely 

 towards the anterior margin of the second 

 segment. The colour of the body is yellowish, 

 the warts being white, and very frequently 

 that is, in many of the specimens surrounded 

 by a smoke-coloured ornamentation, that im- 

 parts a decidedly different appearance to those 

 specimens which possess it ; the spiracles are 

 wainscot-brown, the bristles from the warts 

 are white ; the legs and claspers are very pale, 

 almost white. From the 8th to the middle 

 of July, I observed these caterpillars spinning 

 their cocoons on the still verdant leaves of the 

 oak ; and, on subsequently examining these 

 cocoons, I found them very tough and compact, 

 and each contained a smooth, brown, obese 

 CHRYSALIS, having a veiy pointed anal ex- 

 tremity, furnished with a series of minute 

 hooks, by which it is suspended, head down- 

 wards, in the interior of the cocoon. From 

 the circumstance of the perfect insect being 

 almost invariably found on the trunks of the 

 oaks in April, when they are perfectly de- 

 nuded of leaves, it must be inferred that the 

 falling leaves, acting as parachutes, carry with 

 them, in their descent, the enclosed chrysalis, 

 which, thus protected, remains on the ground 

 until the moth makes its escape : in confine- 

 ment, this escape took place at the end of 

 February and the beginning of March at 

 least a month before the ordinary time in a 

 state of nature. 



" Of the chrysalisof this rare and very beauti- 

 ful insect, I took twenty-six last autumn ; like 

 that of Cymatophora ocularis, it is extremely 

 difficult to find, and should be sought for as 

 soon as possible, viz., at the middle and end 

 of August. The following directions may en- 

 able others to find it : detached oaks growing 

 in meadows of a dry, loamy soil, seem the 

 best ; the situation evidently preferred is the 

 corners filled with dry rubbish and little 

 stunted brambles. Insert the trowel well 



into the earth, six or seven inches from the 

 angle, and turn up the sod, bramble and all, 

 if possible : to find the chrysalis, after this 

 is done, is a work both of time and pain ; it 

 will not do in this case to tap the sod. First, 

 carefully examine the dead leaves, for the 

 caterpillars frequently spin up in them : you 

 must then, regardless of scratches, tear the 

 roots asunder as gently as possible. The 

 cocoon is very weak, composed of little bits 

 of stick, dried leaves, &c., and requires deli- 

 cate handling. Indeed, the whole concern 

 demands an elaborate manipulation." Greene. 

 The MOTH appears on the wing in April, 

 and seems to be very generally distributed in 

 our English counties, but nowhere common. 

 (The scientific name is Cymatophora ridens.} 



421. The Marbled Green (Bryophila glandifera 



421. THE MARBLED GRT?FK. The antennae 

 are slender, simple, and similar in both sexes ; 

 the wings are straight on the costa, and blunt 

 at the tip ; their colour is gi^ay, with darker 

 markings, and the whole suffused with green: 

 there is a dark blotch at the base, followed 

 by a white bar, which extends from the 

 costal almost to the inner margin, but not 

 quite ; the inner discoidal spot is larger and 

 reniform, the outer small and orbicular ; the 

 costa and fringe are spotted with black, and 

 there are several transverse bent black lines : 

 the hind wings are pale at the base, smoky 

 at the margin, and the fringe is white and 

 unspotted : the head and thorax ars whitish 

 gray ; the body gray. The ground colour of 

 the fore wings is very variable, sometimes 

 nearly white, sometimes gray green, some- 

 times very decidedly green, and sometimes 

 reddish-brown. 



The EGGS are laid in September, on those 

 flat lichens which so commonly cover the 

 surface of stones used in building Avails, 

 bridges, houses, churches, &c. ; they are 



