CATALOGUE OF MOTHS. 69 



SPILOSOMA, Steph. 



21. Spilosoma mendica, (Linn.). The Musldt Moth. 



Diaphora mendica. Staint. Man., vol. i., p. 148. 



Arctia ,, Newm. Brit. Moths, p. 35. 



Spilosoma ,, Barr. Lep. Brit. Is., vol. ii., p. 277. 



Diacrisia ,, Meyr. Hdbk. Brit. Lep., p. 40. 



Lahva. Buck., vol. iii., pi. xlv., fig. 5 ; 0. Wils., pi. xii., 



fig. 2. 



Though well distributed in Durham, Mendica has not been 

 often recorded from Northumberland. Mr. Henderson and Mr. 

 Maling met with it at Jesmond, the latter also taking it near 

 Winlaton, and Mr. Bhagg found it at Kenton, which exhaust 

 the list for that county. In Durham it has been found at 

 Thornley on the Derwent, at Dunston and "Whickham by Mr. 

 Hedworth. Mr. Wasserman found it in a marshy field near 

 Sunderland Boad, South Shields ; Mr. Backhouse took it at 

 Darlington ; Mr. Greenwell met with it at Bishop Auckland ; 

 and Dr. Lees took a single specimen on a wall at Cotherstone in 

 Upper Teesdale. The species is not uncommon around Hartle- 

 pool, and I have often seen them on the herbage on the railway 

 side, paired aad exposed to the morning sun. The females sit 

 on palings and are very conspicuous, but the males are much 

 more difficult to see. I have also taken it at Castle Eden, and 

 at Carlton near Stockton-on-Tees. 



Though the sexes are so very different in hue, it is not a vari- 

 able insect, and extreme forms are rare. Mr. Barrett says, 

 *' from a larva found near Durham, Mr. J. Gardner has reared a 

 greyish-white male, of quite a different tone of colour from the 

 var. rustica. Mr. J. E. Bobson has a female from the same dis- 

 trict, having the fore-wings clouded with pale brown, and the 

 black spots reduced in number to two upon the median nervure ; 

 its fore-wings are moreover very broad and almost ovate" (Lep. 

 Brit. Is., vol. ii., p. 280, 1). My specimen was reared from 

 Hartlepool eggs by Mr. Lumsden. The only other local variety 

 I have seen is a female with the black spots unusually numerous. 



