149 



of the Gcumetrina whose wings look as if they 

 were blotted over with ink or mnstard, they 

 are the fascination employed by tho male of the 

 Gooseberry Moth, Abraxas grossulariata, that 

 flutters like a piece of calico among the heclge- 

 i'ow sloes and garden ribes in the summer noon- 

 tide, and of the male of its cogener iilniata which 

 I have met with in the woods of 

 Montreux whose inseet population 

 captivated the fancy of Lord 

 Byron ; those of Lomaspilis mar- 

 ginata and Ligidia adustata 

 possess them : as likewise the male 

 of the Small Seraphim, Lobophora 

 sexalista, the appearance of whose 

 six wings seems a negation of 

 design and whose markings ap- 

 proach the carpet pattern. The 

 males of Ozola picaria of Swinhoe 

 kindly identified by Mr. Water- 

 house, that resembles a small Gooseberry Moth and 

 which must be common in India, have their bind 

 tibiae flattened into an open, diamondshapedpocket, 

 in which the femur B reposes; there is no fan 

 but at its upper corner can be seen a little raised 

 file resembling the organ of stridulation of the 

 Dor Beetles. 



The males of certain Geometrina that have 

 grey, liehen patterned wings that vary from 

 white to brown, Boarmia selenaria, seemingly 

 very brown in India, and consortaria, rhombo- 

 idaria and repandata, which in our country seek 

 concealment during the day on tree trunks and 

 palings, have scent fans on their bind tibiae as 

 have the males of the similarly liehen patterned 

 Tephrosia laricaria and those of Alcis acaciaria 

 of ßoisduval that would seem to be a common 

 object in Japan. The male of our Waved Umber, 

 Hemerophila abruptaria that starts up out of 

 the garden lilac has scent fans but those of 

 Hemerophila hnmeraria of Moore found in India 

 are more conspicuous and of a black colour : the 

 males of two similar exotics, Luxiaria contigaria 

 of Wilkinson inhabiting Japan and those of Pigosa 

 tephrosiaria of Guenee occuring in India also 

 have them to perfume the warmer air and spicy 

 breezes of the tropics. Scent fans are also noticed 

 on the bind tibiae of Ageronia prunaria, some- 

 times on the wing among the bushes before 

 sundown, at times brightly coloured, the Orange 

 Moth, which is distribiited over Europe, according 

 to Mr Swinhoe's catalogue has penetrated into 

 India : the male of Gnophos peiiita a dingy 

 relative of our Annulets identified by the late 

 Mr. Moore which was common at Dalhousie in 

 India in 1884 is certainly provided with scent 

 fans : and in respect to its cogeners that inhabit 

 Europe according to Mr. W. F. Kirby the males 

 of Gnopbos Stevenaria, dumetata fiirvata, obscu- 

 rata, respersaria, sartata, have tliickened bind 



tibiae ; those of glauciiiaria, variegata, luucidata, 

 puUata, asperai'ia, tibiaria, are short and thick, 

 and those of dilucidaria and serotiuaria, long 

 and thick. The developmeut of the scent fans 

 in niany cases has resulted in the loss of the 

 tarsal joints so that the bind legs are no longer 

 adapted for Walking, these are seen in every 

 stage of imperfection. 



The spring has the aspect of a new creation. 

 It is plcasant to warder in the New Forest when 

 the Brimstone Butterliics again gladden the glades 

 of holly and oak and thick-bodied, hairy-sealed, 

 geometrical moths are seen that in days gone 

 by, when winters perchance were absent and the 

 earth circled not round the sun on the slant, 

 have been a gronp connecting the Geometrina 

 and Bombycina ; it is then we meet with the 

 furry Oak Beauty , Amphidasis prodromaria, 

 and later on when the Orange Tip enlivens the 

 cresses beside the brook with its mossy, orange 

 wings , the Peppered , Amphidasis betularia, 

 slumbering on the tree trunks mottled and tapes- 

 tried with protective lichens like a seaweed 

 covered shore from which the tide has ebbed. 

 Mr E. K. Robinson has told us that the females 

 of the Peppered have the habit of collecting 

 around them their mustachioed males in the 

 evening shades, colonr does not enslave for in 

 the manufacturing districts the Peppered is a 

 blackamoor ; more probably the cobwebby an- 

 tennae of the male gather the dewy atoms of 

 fragrance, for although cockroaches use their 

 antennae and Trichoptera their palpi as a blind 

 man employs bis stick, that the antennae of 

 truculent wasps posses the sense of smell must 

 be evident Dr. J. W. Slater thought when you 

 see their play at the moment the jam pot is 

 placed on the table. Sometimes these moths seem 

 to take leave of their senses. At the opening 

 of the ycar, when violets inebriate with their 

 fragrance and thinly clad ladies drive to recep- 

 tions, the similarly attired Cockney Moth, Biston 

 liirtaria, greets the smoky dawn in the parks 

 and Squares of London with a wing drumming 

 that recalls to mind the policeman's rattle and 

 then hilariously flies off in seach of its semiapterous, 

 comfort loving spouse, who climbs the gate post 

 to enjoy the growing warmth. This uproar would 

 seem to be a reproduction of the whining cries 

 of those little gems the Hover Flies that arise 

 when their wings commence to vibrate an cease 

 with the vDn-ation : for it is in this wise that 

 the gold laced Sericomya borealis sits and sings 

 to itself on the high tors of Devonshire or on 

 the old stumps of the Caledonian forest ; thus 

 when weary of balancing iiuder the trees in the 

 sunsbine of May the yellow spotted Syrphus 

 bifaciatus alights on the blue^veronica its thorax 

 glittering like a gold drop and extemporizes a 

 ditty : and so later on when August calls forth 



