AND TIIKIR TRANSKORMATIONS. gj 



whitethorn, and pear, as well as on grasses ; and although not a common insect, it is very abundant 

 whore it occurs, as in the Iluntingdonsliirc fens, Epping, and near Hcrtt'ord. Tlie moth appears at the 

 beginning of July. 



GASTROPAcnA Ilicifolia, Linnaeus ; (Ochsenheinier ; Stephens ; Wood, Ind. Ent., pi. 53, fig. .35 ; and our 

 plate 12, fig. 8 and {! ;) is not above one-fourth of the size of the preceding, with tlie wino-s orey ; tlie disc of 

 the fore ones varied with three oblique reddish fascia) ; the hind margin marked with a row of white spots. 



Ochsenheinier describes two distinct varieties of the caterpillars, which are found in June, July, and Aucrust, 

 on the sallow, as well as on Vaccinium Jfyrtillus. The moth appears in May. 



Introduced by Turton as a native species, but no British specimen is preserved in any of our cabinets. 



Gastroi'aciia Poi'ULiFoLiA, Fabricius ; (Iliibner, Bomb., jd. 43, f. 189 ; Stc])heus ; Wood, pi. 53, fig. 3(5 ; 

 and our pi. 12, fig. 9, 10;) is another equally unauthenticatcd species, introduced by Martyn. It is as large 

 as G. Quercifolia, but the fore wings are narrower, and the body more slender ; the general colour is reddish 

 buff, the thorax with a dark line, and the wings marked with numerous dusky arches, forming several oblique 

 fasciae. The caterpillar feeds on various species of Populus and Salix ; and the moth appears in June. 



FAMILY Vll— ARCTIID.E, Leach. 



This family, with wliicii 1 have united the Notodontida; of Stephens, nearly corresponds with the third 

 section of the Nocturna of Latrcillc, or the Pseudo-Bombyces, and comprises those species which have the 

 wings deflexed in repose, the posterior pair not extending beyond the costa of the anterior ; they are connected 

 together by a spring and socket ; the antcnnip of the males are strongly bipectinated or serrated, the spiral tongue 

 is either obsolete or of very small size, and the labial palpi are generally short and obtuse at tlie tip, with the 

 last joint very small. The caterpillars vary very considerably, being in some species naked, but variously 

 tubercled ; in others thickly hairy ; and in some furnished with long tufts of hairs. They feed entirely upon the 

 external parts of plants, and enclose themselves in cocoons when about to undergo their transformations. 



I find it impossible to draw a line between the genera which compose Mr. Stephens's two families, Notodontidic 

 and Arctiidffi. The structure of the mouth will not assist in the inquiry, because Hammatophora, Cerura, &c., 

 amongst the Notodontida, have the maxilla^ and even the maxillary palpi (as discovered by Curtis), developed as 

 strongly as in Spilosoma and Arctia ; whilst there is as great a variation in the transformations of the genera of either 

 trroup, as there is between the respective species of the two groups. The family, nevertheless, comprises several 

 distinct types of form, which Boisduval has considered as the representatives of as many distinct tribes ; namely : 

 — 1. NoTODONTiDES (including Hammatophora and Clostera, as well as the more typical groups). 2. Cocliopodes 

 (Apoda and Hoterogenea). 3. Psychides. 4. Endromides (Aglaia and Endromis). 5. Liparides 

 (Liparis and Orgyia). (i. Chelonides (.\.rctia, &c.) 



