252 



BEITISH MOTHS. 



hind-marginal series of eight black dots, and 

 opposite each of these the gray fringe is inter- 

 rupted by a smoke-coloured streak : the hind 

 wings have the hind margin slightly scalloped ; 

 they are white, occasionally but not constantly, 

 with black wing-rays : the head, thorax, and 

 body are uniformly gray. 



The EGS are laid in July, but whether on 

 the leaves, twigs, or trunk of the food plant, 

 I am unable to state with any certainty. The 

 CATERPILLAR is full-fed in August and Sep- 

 tember, and then if annoyed, rolls itself into a 

 compact ring, with the head on one side like 

 an lulus ; and in this position it remains for a 

 long time most pertinaciously. The head is 

 as wide as the body, wider than the second 

 segment ; the body is almost uniformly cylin- 

 drical, densely clothed with long hairs, which 

 on each segment converge at the extremities : 

 along each side is a slender skinfold passing 

 immediately below the spiracles : the head is 

 black and shining, with a white mark on the 

 face, shaped like an inverted letter V ; the 

 labrum is white. The body is pale gray, 

 gometimes approaching to flesh colour, and 

 sometimes having a tinge of smoke colour, 

 especially near the head, with a medio-dorsul 

 series of kite -shaped, snow-white spots ; eight 

 of these, those from the fifth and the twelfth 

 segments, both inclusive, are bordered with 

 intense velvety black ; three others, those on 

 the second, third, and fourth segments, are 

 linear and almost confluent, but still bordered 

 by the same intense black ; on the thirteenth 

 segment the black is present, but the white is 

 wanting : the converging hairs form a double 

 series of dorsal fascicles, each series composed 

 of nine fascicles, and arranged on each side of 

 the medio-dorsal ornamentation just described ; 

 these fascicles are usually of a uniform dingy 

 orange-red or salmon-colour, but in some 

 specimens are ochreous yellow ; in one speci- 

 men I have examined, six of these fascicles 

 were salmon-coloured, and the rest ochreous ; 

 all the other hairs on the body are ochreous ; 

 the spiracles are black, the legs nearly 

 black ; the claspers dark brown. 'This cater- 

 pillar feeds on the sycamore (Acer pseudo- 

 platanus), often on the loftiest branches; 



also on the horse chestnut (^sculus hippocas- 

 tanwn), and more rarely on the oak ( Quercus 

 Hobur) : when these beautiful and very con- 

 spicuous caterpillars are full-fed, they may be 

 observed crawling down the trunks in order 

 to undergo pupation, which takes place in a 

 web on the surface of the ground, amongst 

 fallen leaves, under loose bark, &c. : it remains 

 in the chrysalis state all the winter. 



The MOTH does not appear on the wing until 

 June, generally between the 8th and the 

 23rd, when it may occasionally be found 

 resting on the trunks of the sycamores. 

 It occurs every year all round London, and 

 also in the eastern and south-eastern counties, 

 as at Ipswich, Norwich, Stovvmarket, Col- 

 chester, Maidstone, Lewes, Worthing, and 

 Brighton, and Mr. Birchall records its occur- 

 rence in the county Galvray, in Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Acronycta Aceris.] 



Ols. The second figure represents an un- 

 common variety in Mr. Bond's collection, in 

 which the entire surface of the fore wings is 

 suffused with ochreous brown. 



429. The Poplar Gray (Acronycta megacephala). 



429. THE POPLAR GRAY. The antennae are 

 rather short and rather slender ; they are simple 

 in both sexes : the fore wings are pale gray, 

 mottled with darker or smoky gray ; the 

 orbicular spot is clearly defined, the reniform is 

 vague and amalgamated with a large pale blotch 

 nearer the tip, and this large blotch is also 

 vague and its boundaries undefined : the hind 

 wings are white with smoky wing-rays, and 

 not unfrequently also with two very vague and 

 indistinct smoky transverse bars : the head 

 and thorax are very dark gray, the body pale 

 gray. 



The CATERPILLAR rests on the surface of a 

 leaf in a curved posture, the head being 



