174 SPILOSOMA ARGE. 



all the day and night without intermission. Soon 

 they leave the meadows, aggregated in great num- 

 bers, and commence the wandering state, or begin to 

 run, as is the phrase, devouring every thing in their 

 progress ; corn-fields, gardens, and even the coarse 

 and rank produce of road-sides, afford them tempo- 

 rary nourishment, until they have found a place of 

 security from the wind and weather. * 



SPILOSOMA ARGE. 

 PLATE XIX. Fig. 2. 



Plialaena (Noctua) urge, Drury, vol. i. pi. 18, f. 8. — Phalaena 

 (Bombyx) Dione, Fair.; Abbot and Smith, Lepid. Georg^ 

 vol. ii. pi. 63. 



Nearly all the Tiger and Ermine moths are subject 

 to great variation in their markings, but the present 

 species seems to exceed even the usual limits in this 

 respect. The ground colour of the upper wings and 

 thorax is generally cream-colour, at other times it is 

 of delicate pink ; the surface variegated with nu- 

 merous black lines and angular spots. The hinder 

 wings are either cream-colour or tinged with red, 

 having a fulvous marginal line and many oblong 

 black spots posteriorly. The antennaa are black at 

 * Quoted in Westwood's Drury, i. 7. 



