396 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



626. The Largo Ranunculus (Folia flavocinda). 



626. THE LARGE RANUNCULUS. The palpi 

 are slightly porrected, the terminal joint being 

 slender, but very perceptible ; the antennre are 

 almost simple in both sexes ; the fore wings 

 are very slightly arched on the costa, blunt at 

 the tip, slightly waved on the hind margin, 

 and very slightly scalloped at the anal 

 angle; their colour is smoky-gray, marbled 

 and mottled with darker markings ; there is 

 a series of six or seven orange spots parallel 

 with the hind margin, and on each of these 

 rests a black arrow-head pointing towards the 

 base of the wing ; there are also four trans- 

 verse orange marks in the median area of the 

 wing, one on each side of each discoidal spot, 

 and the two innermost of these orange mark- 

 ings are united at the base : the hind wings 

 are dingy smoke-colour in the male, darker 

 in the female ; in both sexes they have two 

 transverse bars of a darker shade parallel with 

 the hind margin : the head and thorax are 

 gray, the body more inclined to smoke-' 

 colour. 



The EGGS are laid in October and hatch in 

 the spring ; the caterpillars feed on chickweed 

 (Stellaria media), groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), 

 on various species of mint, and many other 

 herbs ; they are full-fed in June and July. 

 The full-fed caterpillar rests inalmost a straight 

 position, with the head slightly tucked in, but 

 falls off its food-plant and forms a rather loose 

 ring when annoyed. The head is mani- 

 festly narrower than the body, and partially 

 retractile within the second segment ; the 

 body is uniformly cylindrical, smooth, and 

 velvety ; the colour of the head is pale opaque- 

 green, with black ocelli : the body is pale 



apple-green, inclining to glaucous, and 

 sprinkled with minute white dots ; there is a 

 narrow median stripe on the back, slightly 

 darker than the ground-colour, but very in- 

 distinct ; along each side is a very slender 

 white stripe passing below the spiracles, but 

 just touching them; this is bordered above by 

 a very narrow and interrupted black stripe, 

 particularly observable between the first and 

 second spiracles, and having a conspicuous 

 black dot behind the second, third, fourth, 

 fifth, and sixth spiracles : the spiracles are 

 dingy-yellow, bordered with black : the legs 

 are almost colourless ; the claspers pale trans- 

 parent green. When full-fed the caterpillars 

 enter the earth to change to CHRYSALIDS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in Septem- 

 ber : it is common near London, and is gene- 

 rally distributed in the southern counties, but 

 has not been met with in. the north. It occurs 

 in the county Wicklow, in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Poliaflavocincta). 



627. The Deep-brown Dart (Epvnda lutulenta), 



627. THE DEEP-BROWN DAUT. The palpi 

 are very short and inconspicuous; the antennae 

 pectinated in the male, simple in the female ; 

 the fore wings are straight on the costa; their 

 colour is smoky black-brown, the discoidal 

 spots being scarcely distinguishable from the 

 ground-colour: in many of the females there 

 is a distinctly darker broad median band; the 

 hind wings are pure silvery white in the males, 

 smoky-brown in the females ; the head and 

 thorax are of the same colour as the fore 



