386 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



the legs and antenna? being prolonged below 

 those containing the wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June : it 

 .occurs in. most of our English counties, and 

 the name occurs in the Irish lists. (The 

 scientific name is Uianthoecia carpophaga.) 



615. The Pod-lover (Dianthcecia capsopliila) . 



615. THE POD-LOVER. The palpi are por- 

 reeted, the second joint being clothed with 

 bristly scales, which conceal the small ter- 

 minal joint ; the antenna? are almost simple in 

 both sexes : the fore wings are rather ample, 

 very straight on the costa, and rather blunt 

 at the tip ; their colotir is dark bistre-brown, 

 with numerous pale and clearly-defined mark- 

 ings ; the two discoidal spots are very distinct; 

 each has a very pale circumscription and a 

 dark median area ; there are four pale trans- 

 verse lines, the first very near the base, and 

 very short ; the second before the orbicular, 

 oblique and waved ; the third beyond the 

 reniform, and much bent ; and the fourth 

 parallel with the hind margin, and zigzag. 

 These pale lines have black borders, which 

 make them very conspicuous ; all the markings 

 are sharp and clearly defined ; the hind wings 

 are light dingy brown at the base, and have a 

 broad dark brown marginal band, preceded by 

 a slender waved line : the head and thorax 

 are richly varied with different shades of gray 

 and brown ; the body is gray-brown. 



The EGG is laid on the seed-pods of the sea 

 campion (Silene maritima), and the young 

 CATERPILLAR enters the capsule and feeds on 

 the seed ; as it increases in size it devours the 

 walls of the capsules, and even the calyx. 

 "When full-fed it rolls itself into a ring, and 

 feigns death if removed from its food. The 

 head is small, porrected in crawling, glabrous, 

 and beset with scattered hairs. The body is 

 obese, smooth, and cylindrical. It is sKghtly 



attenuated to wards each extremity. The head 

 is pale, semi-transparent brown, and h;is a few 

 hairs ; the ocelli are black, and there is a 

 black dot at the base of each hair ; the body 

 is pale wainscot-brown, with five paler longi- 

 tudinal stripes : the most conspicuous of those 

 is medio-dorsal ; the widest is lateral, and 

 includes the spiracles, which are pale in the 

 centre, but bordered with black. Exactly 

 intermediate between the medio-dorsal and 

 the spiracular lateral stripe is one less con- 

 spicuous and rather narrower than either. 

 The dorsal surface of the second segment is 

 glabrous, subcorneous, and darker brown ; 

 but the medio-dorsal stripe passes distinctly 

 through this darker portion. The belly, legs, 

 and claspers are very pale. These caterpillars 

 were full-fed on Midsummer-day. I am in- 

 debted to Mr. Birchall for a supply, which I 

 fed on the bladder campion (Silene inflata) in 

 the absence of their proper food -plant. They 

 became pale brown CHRYSALIDS on the llth 

 of July. 



The MOTH appears on the wing early in June, 

 and has hitherto only been found in Ireland on 

 the Hill of Howth and at Waterford,and in the 

 Isle of Man. (The scientific name as adopted 

 in England is Dianthcecia capsophila.) 



Ols. Mr. Birchall, in his " List of Irish 

 Lepidoptera," appends this note to his mention 

 of Dianthcecia capsophila : " There has been 

 j much discussion as to the claims of this insert 

 I to be considei'ed a species distinct from ( \<r- 

 pophaga, some of the darker varieties of which 

 from Scotland approach Capsophila both in 

 form and colour. The caterpillars of Carj>n- 

 p//(i(/(( and CapsophUa, like the perfect insects, 

 differ principally in colour : Capsophilain both 

 cases being darker. The caterpillars of ( '/>- 

 sincola and Conspersa are, however, equally 

 difficult tosepai'ate ; and these slight variations 

 in the cater pillar state seem to be characteristic 

 oftheDianthcecice, and alone are insufficient to 

 enable us to discriminate the species. So we 

 may suppose that the common origin of the 

 various species of the genus is indicated by 

 these slight differences in the caterpillar state; 

 but for the purpose of classification CarpophagA 

 and CapsophUa seem to me abundantly distinct, 



