288 



"BRITISH MOTHS. 



482. The Silver Cloud (Xylomiges conspicillaris). 



482. THE SILVER CLOUD. The palpi are 

 short, straight, and scarcely projecting, the 

 terminal joint is short, blunt, and scaly ; the 

 antennse are slightly ciliated in the male, 

 simple in the female : the fore wings are rather 

 narrow, the costal margin almost straight, the 

 hind margin slightly scalloped ; their colour is 

 dark smoky gray, with a pale gray inner 

 margin tinged with ochreous, and two bands 

 obscurely indicated near the hind margin ; 

 the usual discoidal markings are nob conspi- 

 cuous in our English specimens. 



Although this description will do very well 

 for the more usual form of the species, it 

 seems desirable to say that the distribution of 

 colour in the fore wings is excessively various. 

 Three marked varieties occur in the series of 

 Continental specimens kindly lent me by Mr. 

 Doubleday. 



The first variety may be described as having 

 the dark colour suffused over the whole costal 

 and median areas ; a pale oblique streak 

 descends from the tip and ceases before reach- 

 ing the middle of the wing ; but is nearly 

 joined by a second oblique streak proceeding 



from a large pale blotch near the anal angle. 

 (See the upper figure.) 



The second variety has the dark colour 

 much more limited ; it occupies the middle of 

 the wing, and, leaving a large oblong space at 

 the tip, ascends to the costa between the dis- 

 coidal spots. (See the middle figure.) 



The third variety is almost without the 

 dark colour, being of a confused and some- 

 what ash-coloured tint, variously clouded 

 with different shades of brown. (See the 

 lower figure.) 



In all three varieties there is a radiated 

 appearance more or less conspicuous in the 

 fore wings, arising from the blackness of the 

 wing-rays : the fringe seems always to be 

 dark, and there is a small linear tuft of pale 

 scales at the extremity of each wing-ray : the 

 hind wings are white or whitish, with a pale 

 brown discoidal spot, margin, and wing-rays ; 

 the fringe is white ; the head and thorax are 

 gray, the latter decorated with a dark dis- 

 coidal blotch, and darker borders, especially on 

 the sides ; the body is obese, crested at the 

 base, and squarely truncate at the extremity; 

 its colour is grayish brown. 



The CATERPILLAR is described by Guenee as 

 being of a brown colour, tinged with brick- 

 red, and marbled with brown and white ; the 

 spiracular stripe is broad and continuous, paler 

 than the ground-colour, and bordered above by 

 a dark stripe; the subdorsal stripe is indicated 

 by a dorsal series of darker lozenges, the 

 " trapezoidals " are white, each with a black 

 dot, the head is concolorous with the body, 

 and has two dark streaks on the face. It feeds 

 in July on bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus cornicu- 

 latuii) and other plants. 



When full fed it buries itself below the 

 surface of the earth, and changes to an obese 

 blunt CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May, and 

 is exceedingly rare in Great Britain. A few 

 specimens have been taken in Kent, Surrey, 

 and Worcestershire. (The scientific name is 

 Xylomiges consjjicillaris. ) 



