32 BRITISH MOTHS 



I 



CIDARIA, Treitschke. ZERYNTHIA, Curtis. MELANTHA, Boisduval. 

 As the generic name proposed by Mr. Curtis for the genus of which the common garden Carpet-moth may 

 be regarded as the type had been already employed in Lepidoptera by Ochsenheimer for a genus of butterflies, 

 I have reverted to the name of Cidaria employed for the former by Mr. Stephens. They have the antennas of 

 the males bipectinated ; the pectinations short and pubescent, and not extending to the tip ; the palpi are 

 rather short ; the wings rather short and broad, with the apical margins rather rounded and entire, the tips of 

 the fore ones not very acute. The caterpillars are slender, smooth, naked, and varied with spots : they are 

 10-footed loopers, and the chrysalis is inclosed in a cocoon amongst the leaves. Some of the species appear in 

 the perfect state in June and July, but others are double-brooded, appearing in May and again in August. 



Species 1. — ^Cidaria didy.mata ■■. — (Plate LXIIL, Fig. 1.) — Measures about 13 lines in expanse. Fore 

 wings dull ashy-brown, with interrupted brown and white strigse and fasciae, so as to appear clouded ; beyond 

 oft^ttry^iit^ the middle of the wing is a series of dark dots placed on the veins, followed by a darker space, in which is a 



_~y conspicuous still darker blotch towards the apex, obtusely bilobed on the outside, and with a submarginal 



whitish series of slender waved lines. Hind wings with all the ciliae brown, with two paler strigs running 

 across the middle. The female is much paler than the male, with much less brown. The ground colour of tlie 

 wing is variable in intensity. A widely dispersed, but rather local species. Taken at the eud of -July. 



•■ Synonyme. — Phal. Geom. didymata^ Linnaeus ; Haworth ; Stephens ; "Wood, fig. 549. 



Species 2. — Cidaria munitata^ — (Plate LXIII., Fig. 2.) — This species measures about 14 lines in 

 expanse. Fore wings pale mouse-colour or ashy, the base and a central fascia of fulvous red, edged with a dark 

 /^^^ line on each side, the hind margin being sinuated but not angulated, and the centre with a few darker wavy 



%....niZaZZ' lines ; the remainder of the vsdng marked with indistinct striolse, and a pale submarginal waved striga almost 



obliterated, several darker marks on the costa, and a dark oblique dash at the apex ; hind wings almost destitute 

 of markings ; the strigEe very pale and indistinct. Taken in various parts of Scotland, but rarer in the South 

 of England. 



* Synonymes. — Geometra munitata, Hiibner; Haworth ; Stephens; Wood, fig. 550. 

 Phal. Geom. tristriffaria, Donovan, 13, pi. 461, fig. 2.(?) 



Species 3. — Cidaria ferrugata'. — (Plate LXIII., Fig. 3.) — This very variable species measures about 



Aicrttieo '^ lines in expanse; it has the wings pale brown, with a huffish tinge, the base and a broad central bar of a 



/(t>»i.«^«^t, reddish purple colour, marked with numerous undulating darker lines ; the central bar is very irregular and 



"• variable in its extent and distinctness, but less attenuated behind than in the allied species, and is preceded and 



followed by a paler space, through wliich undulate several dark lines ; a chestnut-coloured patch is placed at the 



tip of the wings, and a brown one, sometimes divided into two, immediately behind a paler oblique one, and 



through it runs a pale subapical striga ; the hind wings pale at the base, and much undulated, with slight strigae ; 



the abdomen with a double row of dark dots down the back. A very abundant species in hedges and lanes, 



at the end of May and in August. 



'Synonymes. — PhalanaGeomelr a ferrugata, Linnaius ; Hiibner ; I fieonif (ra corcu/a(a, Hufnagle. 

 Haworth ; Stephens; Wood, fig. 553. Geometra spadieearia, Wien. Verz. 



Geometra alchemillaria, Esper. | Geometra Hnararia, Borkhausen. 



i!cttf"<'"-' Species 4. — Cidaria unidentaria ". — (Plate LXIII., Fig. 4.) — This variable species measures about 



^o/iiuja:r^ \ inch in the expanse of the fore wings, and is very closely allied to the last, but is distinguished not only by 



