AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 



35 



VENUSIA, CuKTis. 

 The antennEB in the males are bipectiiiated, the pectinations increasing in length to the tips ; the palpi are 

 very short and horizontal, not forming a beak in front of the head ; and the fore wings are triangular-ovate, 

 marked with numerous slender, undulated, entire strigse. The relations of this genus with Larentia ? multi- 

 strigaria has already been noticed (p. 31). 



Species 1. — Venusia cambrica''. — (Plate LXIII., Fig. 15.) — This species measures IJ- inch in expanse of 

 the fore wings, which are " light bright gray, with numerous sinuated strigas, forming patches on the costa ; 

 basal striga a black thin line ; a pale brown pair next, anotlier fine dark pair before the middle, and a pair 

 beyond it ; the inner one blauk, as well as the nervures where they intersect it ; the other is broader and 

 yellowish brown, and there is a pair of crenated brown strigas towards the posterior margin ; a line of seven 

 sublunate brown spots at the base of the cilia" of all the wings ; hind wings very slightly strigose. Taken near 

 the Devil's Bridge, Cardigan. In the collections of J. C. Dale, Esq. and Mr. Bentley. 



•* Synonvme. — Venu^i'a cambrica^ Curtis, Biit. Eiit. pi. 759. 



HARPALYCE, Stephens ; CIDARIA, Treitschke ; ZERENE & ELECTRA, Curtis; 



MELANTHIA, Bdv. 



The carpet-moths composing this genus are closely allied to the Cidarife, from which they differ in having 

 the male antennae not bipectinated ; the fore wings are short and triangular, with the apical margins entire, and 

 when at rest thev are carried horizontally, forming a broad triangle. Like the Cidarice, also, they have two of 

 the teeth of the subapical striga near the costa darker than the rest. It is proper to observe, that there is great 

 diversity in the arrangements proposed by recent lepidopterists, as to the generic distribution of this and the 

 following closely-allied groups. How far a precise knowledge of the larvas of the different species will clear up 

 the confusion remains yet to be determined. 



Species I. — Harpalyce fulvata'^. — (Plate LXIII., Figs. 16, 17, 18.) — This pretty insect measures about 



1 inch in expanse of the fore wings, which are of a bright orange-yellow colour ; the base with a slender, darker Jj*^'^'' 



orange striga, and the middle of the wing with a broad, irregularly sinuated, dark purplish-brown bar, being j?,jj 



lightest on the costa, and edged on each side with a slender pale line ; the tip of the wing pale, behind which is 



an oblique dark line, followed by a dark orange cloud ; the hind wings pale-yellowish white. The caterpillar 



is pale green, with darker lateral lines, and a pale back. It feeds on the rose, and the moth, which is common 



and widely dispersed, appears in July. 



' SiNONYMES. — Geometra fulvala, WieD. Verz.; HUbiicr; Hawoith; Stepliens ; Wuod, fig. 561 ; Hairis, Aureliaii, pi. 35, fig. 1. 



PhaltBiia sociata, Fiibricius; Stewart. 



U^ia^i. 



Species 2. — Harpalyce ocellata '. — (Plate LXIII., Figs. 19, 20.) — This species measures rather more 

 than 1 incli in expanse of the fore wings, which are of a white colour, the extremity having a pearly brownish 

 gloss ; the base brovrn, varied with gray and fulvous scales, followed by several grayish patches ; across the 

 middle of the wing is a broad, irregular, dark-brown fascia, with the margins more fulvous ; the centre with 

 several gray waves, which towards the costa surround a black dot ; beyond the fascia are several slender, ashy, 

 interrupted, short strigae, running from the costa, the outermost terminating in a small black patch ; hind wings 

 with a small, dark, central dot, and the margin brownish. The caterpillar is brown, with the anterior segment;* 



F 2 





