8 BRITISH MOTHS 



PHIGALIA, D0PONCHBL. (HIBERNIA, pars. Boisduval.) 

 This genus is closely allied to the preceding, but the body is very much more robust; the antennae more 

 strongly bipectinated ; the wings are large, broad, triangular, and villose ; the palpi very short, and concealed 

 by the hairs of the face ; the larvte are ten-footed, cylindrical, and smooth, very slightly setose, and with a bifid 

 tubercle on the eleventh segment of the body. 



Species 1. — PhigaliapilosariaP. — (Plate LVIII., Figs. 1, 2.) — Varies from 1^ to If inch in the expanse 

 of the fore wings, which are of a greenish mouse colour, with four dusky spots on the costa, equidistant ; the 

 first being near the base and the last near the tip of the ■^jjng ; from each of these proceeds a more or less distinct, 

 curved, dusky striga, which is often almost evanescent ; the hind wings are nearly similar in colour, but 

 rather paler, with only one striga ; the cilia with an interrupted striga at the base. The female is dusky-coloured, 

 with a pale line down the back ; it has very small rudiments of wings. The caterpillar is varied with yellow, 

 brown, ferruginous, and black ; the head, legs, and tail being rusty red. It feeds on the oak, whitethorn, &c., 

 in the summer, and the moth appears in March, and is a rather abundant and widely dispersed species. 



P Synonymes. — Geometra pilosaria, Wicn. Verz. ; Hiibner; Albin, 

 pi. 91, fig. e — i ; Wilkes, pi. 87 ; Stephens ; Wood, fig. 465 a and n ; 

 Geometra plumaria, Esper. 



PhaI(EJia pedaria^ Fabricius ; Haworth. 

 Geometra hyemaria, Boikhausen. 



NYSSIA, DupoNCHEL. (AMPHIDASIS, pars. Treitschke.) 

 The wings in this group are much smaller than in Phigalia, to which it is, however, very closely related ; 

 the antenucE of the males are strongly bipectinated, the pectinations not extending quite to the tip ; the palpi are 

 very small, and densely pilose, being concealed by the hairs of the front of the head. The female has short 

 rudiments of wings, or is entirely apterous, and the caterpillars are naked, cylindrical, and ten-footed. 



Species 1. — Nyssia hispidaria 'i. — (Plate LVIII., Figs. 3, 4.) — The male measures li inch in the expanse 

 of the fore wings, which are ashy-gray, and powdered with dusky atoms, with an incurved striga near the 

 base, another much curved beyond the middle, with a spot or indistinct striga between them, and a strongly 

 dentated subapical one, the space beyond being paler ; the cilia of all the wings spotted with large dusky dots, 

 and the hind wings with an indistinct striga. The female is dark gray-brown. The caterpillar is brown, with 

 dark spots j it feeds on the elm, and the perfect insect appears from the end of January to April. Mr. Matthews 

 has also taken it in September. It is not a rare species, and is taken on the trunks of oaks and other trees. 



Nyssia tauaria, Newman (Ent. Mag. 1, 413), has been regarded as a variety of this species. — " Brown gray ; 

 mesothorax, with its anterior margin and a longitudinal central line, forming together the letter T, black : fore 

 wings tawny-gray, transversely and irregularly waved with dark brown ; exterior margin with a wide irregular 

 band of pale brown ; cilise of the same colour, having a row of black dots internally ; hind wings pale brown, 

 with a black spot at the anal angle." Expansion of the fore wings 1^ inch. Taken at Leominster, in June. 



1 Synonymes. — Geometra hispidaria, Wien. Verz. ; Hiibner ; Haworth ; Stephens ; Wood, fig. 466, a and n. 

 Phalaena ursularia, Donovan, vol. ,-siii., pi. 447. 



Species 2. — Nyssiazonaria''. — (Plate LVIII., Figs. 5, 6, 70 — This pretty species measures 1^ inch in the 

 expanse of the fore wings of the male, which are grayish-black, varied with white markings ; a bar of the latter 

 colour extending from the base to beyond the middle, intersected by the black veins and followed by two slender 

 white striga, nearly parallel with tlie apical margin ; hind wings white at the base ; apical portion grayish-black, 

 with a broadish white bar, succeeded by a narrow and occasionally obsolete one. The head and thorax are 



