258 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



the fore wings straight, the tip rather prolonged 

 and rather pointed, the hind margin rather 

 oblique ; their colour is dark lead-coloured 

 gray, mottled and marbled ; at the base of the 

 inner margin is a slender dash of white ; the 

 orbicular and reniform spots are visible in 

 outline only ; the fringe is spotted : the hind 

 wingo are white in the male with darker 

 wing-rays and a marginal series of dark dots : 

 dark smoky -brown, almost black, in the female, 

 with white fringe : the head, thorax, and body 

 are o the same colour as the fore wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 June, and occurs plentifully at Rannoch, in 

 Scotland, and has also been taken atKillarney, 

 in Ireland, but hitherto not in England. (The 

 scientific name is Acronycta My new.) 



437. The Powdered Wainscot (Simyra venosa). 



437. THE POWDERED WAINSCOT. The 

 antennae are almost simple in both sexes, but 

 those of the male are rather stouter than those 

 of the female : the fore wings are slightly 

 arched on the costa, and very sharply pointed 

 at the tip; their colour is white, approaching 

 to cream colour, with a narrow longitudinal 

 stripe of dark brown originating at the base 

 of the wing, and running along the middle of 

 the wing, but not quite reaching the hind 

 margin : the whole area of the wing is more 

 or less thickly sprinkled with brown dots : 

 the hind wings are snowy white : the head 

 and thorax are creamy white, the body snowy 

 white. 



The EGG is laid on the leaves and stems 

 of the common reed (Arundo Phragmites), in 

 June, and the young CATERPILLARS emerge in 

 about fourteen days and feed on that plant. 



The full-grown caterpillar rests in a nearly 

 straight position on the reed, but when an- 

 noyed rolls itself in a very compact ring and 



falls to the ground. The head is rather nar- 

 rower than the body, and very glabrous ; the 

 body is cylindrical with the segmental divi- 

 sions clearly indicated, and each segment has 

 a transverse series of prominent warts, each 

 wart crowned with a fascicle of radiating 

 hairs. The colour of the head is black, with 

 a white V-shaped mark on the face, two 

 whitish lilies on the crown, a whitish blotch 

 in the middle of each cheek, and a conspi- 

 cuous white base to the anteiinal papilla; ; 

 the colour of the body is varied ; there is a 

 broadish but irregular medio-dorsal blacli 

 stripe, then a lateral stripe of a creamj 

 white colour, in which are situated two rec 

 dish warts in each segment, the bristle 

 emitted by the warts being black ; then fol- 

 lows a broad gray or mottled stripe on each 

 side ; this is really composed of black and 

 white spots, the mixture of which gives the 

 gray colour, this stripe also contains a wart 

 on each segment, and below this wart u white 

 spiracle ; below this broad mottled stripe is 

 the skin-fold, which is white with a reddish 

 wart-like spot on each segment ; the ventral 

 area is honey-yellow, the legs variegated and 

 shining ; the claspers honey-yellow tinged 

 with green, semi-transparent, and without 

 gloss. When full fed it draws together the 

 edges of one of the broad leaves of the reed, 

 and spins a perfectly white cocoon on the 

 upper surface of the leaf, but before this 

 habitation is finally closed, it collects a num- 

 ber of fragments of the leaves, and in some 

 instances those of smaller grasses, and laying 

 them side by side with much care, skill, and 

 neatness, binds them together with silk, and 

 thus forms a kind of roof to protect the co- 

 coon in which it changes to a CHRYSALIS, and 

 in which also it has to pass the winter. 



The MOTH appears on the wing about mid- 

 summer, and has been found only in the fen 

 districts of Cambridgeshire. Both the cater- 

 pillar and cocoon are very conspicuous ob- 

 jects on the reeds, and both, as well as the 

 perfect insect, exhibit many striking simi- 

 larities to some of the Ursines. (The scien- 

 tific name is Simyra, venosa.) 



