416 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



of the same colcmr as the fore wings, the body 

 of the same colour as the hind wings. 



The CATERPILLAR is figured and described 

 with evident care in Boisduval's " Collection 

 des Chenilles : " the head is greenish : the 

 body is sometimes of a reddish-brown colour, 

 sometimes of a violet-brown; it has, on 

 the back of every segment, four small black 

 dots, arranged in pairs between two darker 

 stripes, and is also covered with crowded 

 white dots below the spiracles ; the spiracles 

 are white and are rendered conspicuous by 

 being placed each, in the middle of a long 

 narrow black spot, and these black spots form 

 a very regular series, below which there is an 

 orange-red stripe, bordered both above and 

 below with a very narrow stripe of pure 

 white ; and again, below this compound stripe 

 of white and red there are on each segment 

 two black dots placed obliquely ; the vertical 

 surface is generally of a pale yellow or green ; 

 the legs and claspers are concolorous with 

 the ventral surface. It feeds on the prickly 

 saltwort (tialsola Kali) and various species of 

 goosefoot (Chenopodiuni) from the middle of 

 May to the beginning of July, when it is full- 

 fed and spins on the surface of the ground a 

 very flimsy and imperfect cocoon, in which it 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS in about a week. 



The MOTH appears on the wing continuously 

 from the last week in July to the beginning 

 of September, and is common on the shores 

 of the Mediterranean ; but as regards Britain, 

 two specimens only have been taken, both in 

 the Isle of Wight; one of them is in the 

 possession of Mr. Bond, who has most kindly 

 brought it to me for figuring an'd description 

 in this work. (The scientific name is Hadena 

 peregrina.) 



649. The Nutmeg (Hadena Chenopodii). 



649. THE NUTMEG. The palpi are por- 

 rected, the second joint slender and not very 



scaly; the antennas are simple; the hind | 

 margin of the fore wings is very slightly 

 waved ; their colour is gray-brown, obscurely 

 mottled and lined with darker and paler 

 brown ; both discoidal spots are traceable, but 

 inconspicuous ; their circumscription is black 

 and very slender, and within this is a second 

 paler circumscription ; three paler transverse 

 lines cross the wing : the first is short, near the 

 base, and waved, and both sides are delicately 

 bordered with black ; the second is before the 

 orbicular, also waved, and bordered on both 

 sides with black ; the third is beyond the 

 reniform, zigzag, and bordered on the inside 

 only with black : parallel with the hind mar- 

 gin is a bent and zigzag pale line ; the hind 

 wings are gray -brown, a crescentic discoidal 

 spot and the wing-rays being darker ; the 

 fringe is pale ; the head, thorax, and body are 

 gray-brown. 



The EGGS are laid about Midsummer, on 

 the stalks and leaves of several species of 

 goosefoot (Chenopodium), on which the cater- 

 pillars appear almost exclusively to feed ; they 

 are full-fed about the end of August, and then 

 fall of their food-plant and roll into a compact 

 ring if annoyed. The head is narrower than 

 the body, and porrected in crawling ; the body 

 is obese, uniformly cylindrical, very smooth 

 and velvety, the anterior extremity sometimes 

 extended in a leech-like manner. The head 

 is glabrous, opaque green, and reticulated on 

 the sides of the cheeks with paler markings ; 

 the body is olive-green, delicately reticulated 

 with black, and having two parti-coloured 

 stripes on each side, the upper imperfectly de- 

 fined, white or pinky white, or more rarely 

 yellow; it extends from the head completely 

 round the anal flap, and is bordered above 

 with a series of amorphous patches of intense 

 velvety black ; the lower stripe is narrow, but 

 very distinct and clearly defined ; it passes, 

 just below the spiracles, from the head to the 

 anal claspers ; its colour is pink, narrowly 

 bordered above and below with pure white ; 

 the spiracles are also pure white, delicately 

 bordered with black ; the belly, legs, and 

 claspers are pure olive-green. Such is a 

 description of the more usual or normal 



