370 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



area is concolorous with the disk of the wing : 

 the hind wings are smoky-gray, with a reddish 

 fringe, and having a pale transverse waved 

 line, sometimes very indistinct, rather below 

 the middle : the head and thorax are of the 

 same colour as the fore- wings ; the body is 

 gray at the base, but reddish beneath and 

 towards the tip. 



When full-fed the CATERPILLAR rests in a 

 straight position, but falls off its food-plant 

 and feigns death when disturbed, lying on its 

 back with the entire ventral surface exposed, 

 and the head bent round on one side until it 

 touches the fourth pair of ventral claspers ; 

 the head is shining, porrected in crawling, 

 otherwise prone, much narrower than the body, 

 and partially received into the second seg- 

 ment : the body is very obese, velvety, slightly 

 increasing in size from the second to the 

 twelfth segment ; the second segment has a 

 semi-circulardorsal plate, thetruncate diameter 

 of which is towards the head. The colour of 

 the head is light brown, reticulated with darker 

 brown : the second segment has the dorsal 

 plate dark brown, the anterior and lateral 

 margins darker, and the disk traversed by 

 thi'ee pale longitudinal lines ; the dorsal sur- 

 face of the body is purplish brown, irrorated 

 with indistinct pale markings, some of which 

 are so arranged as to form three very narrow 

 pale dorsal stripes, all of them indistinct, but 

 the medio-dorsal one especially so ; the spira- 

 cles are intensely black; the ventral is paler 

 than the dorsal surface, semi-transparent and 

 tinged with green ; the legs are greenish 

 brown, tipped with pale brown ; the claspers 

 concolorous with the ventral surface. It feeds 

 on the elm (Ulmus campestris), oak (Qucreiis 

 ftobur), and Sallow (Salix caprea.) 



The MOTH appears on the wing in October, 

 November, and even December if mild; it 

 survives the winter and reappears in the 

 spring, not unfrequently being observed on the 

 catkins of the sallow, but then generally in a 

 worn condition : in October it sometimes comes 

 to sugar in such abundance as to be a positive 

 annoyance to the collector. It is found every- 

 where in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Cerastis Vaccinii.} 



593. The Dark Chestnut (Cerastis spadicea). 



593. THE DARK CHESTNUT. The fore wings 

 are square and pointed at the tip ; their colour 

 is chestnut-brown, rich and dark, with no 

 conspicuous markings ; the discoidal spots are 

 to be traced with a lens, and the lower half of 

 the median area of the reniform appears filled 

 up with black: the hind wings are smoky 

 gray, the fringe is reddish-brown: the head 

 and thorax are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings; the body is pale gray at the base, 

 brown-gray in the middle, and reddish to- 

 wards the tip. 



The CATERPILLAR, according to Guenee, much 

 resembles that of Orthosia lota; the head is 

 red, with two black lines down the face ; the 

 colour of the body is dark-brown, marked 

 with lighter; there is a very indistinct medio- 

 dorsal stripe, broadly clouded with brown; 

 the spiracular stripe is reddish flesh-colour, 

 dotted with paler, and surmounted by a broad 

 band darker than the general ground-colour ; 

 there is a corneous plate on the second and 

 thirteenth segments as in Cerastis Vac<'inii. 

 When young this caterpillar is found on black- 

 thorn and honeysuckle, and is then of a gray- 

 green colour ; later in life it descends from 

 these trees and feeds on low plants. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in October, 

 and is of common occurrence in England and 

 Scotland, and Mr. Birchall reports it from 

 Ireland on the authority of Mr. Bristow. 

 (The scientific name is Cerastis spadicea.} 



94. The Redheaded (Cerastis crijtliroceplwla) . 

 594. THE REDHEADED, The palpi are 



