56 BRITISH MOTHS 



triangle ; the cilia long and hair-like, and the postoostal vein of the fore wings dilated at the base * ; the 

 caterpillars smooth, naked, and marked with lines, and the period of flight is at the end of the autumn. 



Species 1. — Oporabia dilutata'". — (Plate LXVIII., Figs. 7, 8.) — Varies from 1-^ to rather more than 

 1^ inch in expanse. This is an extremely variable species, its ordinary full-marked state being represented in 

 our figure 7, in which the fore wings are pale grey, with numerous darker undulated strigK, arranged at equal 

 distances apart, in pairs or threes, and which are especially indicated by black dots upon the veins ; these groups 

 of strigse in some specimens form darker fasciae, whilst in others they exist without the ground upon which they 

 are placed being darker-coloured, so that they do not form the fascia ; others have the fore wings almost 

 suffused, and of an uniform dark-greyish, shining hue, whilst some have the strigse only at the apical portion of 

 the wings (Ph. fimbriata, Haw.), and some are whitish witli dark markings, as in our figure 8 ; the hind wings 

 are paler and strigose, the strigae modified as in the fore wings of the different varieties. The caterpillar is dirty 

 green, spotted with reddish, and with a yellow line at the sides ; it feeds on the oak, elm, and other forest-trees, 

 and the moth appears in October and November, and is very common. 



™ Synonymes. — Geomeira dilutata, Wien. Verz. ; Hubner ; 

 Albin, plate 45, fig. 74, a — c; Harris, Exposition, pi. 8, fig. 3; 

 Haworth ; Stephens; Wood, fig. 639. 



Geometra guadrifasciaria, Borkhausen. 



Geometra affiniata, Borkliausen. 

 Phalcena iiiscriptata, Donovan, 15, pi. 517. 

 Geometra fimbriata, Haworth (variety). 



Species 2. — Oporabia polata ''. — (Plate LXVIII., Fig. 9.) — Measures 1^^ inch in expanse of the fore wings, 

 which are pale brownish grey, with a darker patch at the base, bounded by a rectangular slender dark striga, 

 beyond which is a darker brownish fascia before, and another beyond the middle of the wings, which is pale, with a 

 small blackish lunule at the extremity of the discoidal cell ; the edges of these bars marked on the costa with 

 darker patches, and with dots on the veins ; the apical portions of the wings dark, with a pale undulating sub- 

 marginal line, and with dark dots on the veins ,• the hind wings pale, with a dark striga beyond the middle, and 

 a dusky border. Taken in the Isle of Arran, and also on walls at Staley-bridge, near Manchester, by Mr. Edleston. 



^ Synonyme. — Larentia polata, Boisduval ; Duponchel. 



CHEIMATOBIA, Stephens. LARENTIA, p., & HIBERNIA, p., Boisduval. 

 We have here a group of insects, allied in some respects to the Oporabite and Lobophorse, whilst in their 

 subapterous females and hyemal period of flight they approach the HiberniaB, with which they are united by Mr. 

 Curtis, whilst Boisduval places one of the species with Oporabia dilutata in his genus Larentia, and the other 

 with his Hibemise. The palpi are very minute, as in the last genus. The antennss in the type (C. brumata) 

 are simply ciliated in the males, the joints being produced on the inside, whereas they are bipectinated in 

 C. rupicapraria. The wings of the males are large, .thin, and rounded, of obscure colours, and slightly undulated ; 

 those of the females are very small ; the abdomen of the males is short and slender, and the caterpillars are 

 slender, naked, and lineated. The moths appear in mid-winter. 



Species 1. — Cheimatobia brumata J. — (Plate LXVIII., Fig. 10.) — The male measures from 1 to Ig inch 

 in expanse, and has the wings ashy-brown, with numerous very nearly obsolete, undulated strigse, some of which 

 are occasionally confluent, and form a slight fascia across the middle of the wing ; the veins are dotted with 

 blackish, indicating the situation of the strigse when these become obsolete. The apical margin is dusky, and the 

 hind wings are pale and scarcely strigose. The female is brown, with very short rudiments of wings. The 



* This character is not, as might be conjectured, a sexu.il one, since it exists, as I have ascertained, in both sexes ; it occurs also in some 

 of the Lobophorso, and in Larentia (?) multistrigaria, thus confirming the relations of these insects pointed out at p. 31. 



