226 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



And our life seemed passed away ; 

 Yet there'll come another day, 

 When the sun's returning ray 



Comes with genial Spring. 

 That assuredly will be seen 

 Trees again in living green. 



We will cross this meadow to yonder oak tree in hopes of beating Chimabacche 

 phryganella out of the boughs, or finding the larva of Carpocapsa splendana in 

 the acorns. See ! we have started a greenish moth, which upon securing, we 

 find to be Cidaria miata, known also as the Autumn Green-carpet. There 

 is also another of the genus out now— the Red Green Carpet. ( Cidaria 

 psittacata), which oecurs in several localities in the north. 



But now we will go over to yonder osier-beds, by the side of which we see 

 several willow trees ; possibly we may obtain a full-grown Goat-moth cater- 

 pillar {Cossm ligniperda) , for they come out of their burrows about this 

 time in order to pupate. 



See ! a little moth flies out of the osiers. Now it has settled on the 

 trunk of a willow-tree and we see that it is a glossy-winged reddish-brown 

 coloured tortrix, with arched costal margin to the fore- wings, which latter are 

 at least thrice as long as they are broad. "We at once identify it as Padisca 

 piceana, specimens of which have been out since the end of June. Some 

 moths have an orange-coloured streak along the middle of the wing, other 

 individuals of this species have the inner margin whitish. 



There are several other tortrices out now : for instance the silvery-grey 

 Chemiatophila mixtana, with reddish costal margin, is common in heathy 

 places ; the pale-green Oxygrapha literana is still out ; the whitish-grey, 

 mottled 0. scotana, may be looked for by northern entomologists, among the 

 birch trees of Perthshire ; and the grey, slightly freckled 0. seabrana, having 

 two dull reddish clouds in the costal margin, may be found among elm trees. 



Most of the genus Peronea too occur in October. These moths all have 

 forewings longer than double their width. The very variable Peronea tris- 

 tana is not scarce in localities where the mealy guelder rose [Viburnum lan- 

 tana) grows plentifully. Some specimens are whitish, inclined to ochreous ; 

 others are greyish ; some are reddish grey, and others are whitish grey. 

 There is generally a large reddish brown triangular patch on the costal mar- 

 gin, extending almost as far as the apex of the wing : in some specimens 

 this patch is less reddish than others, and sometimes it is brown without any 

 red shade at all. There is also a small triangular spot on the inner margin 

 of each forewing. The pale-grey Peronea favillaceana may still be found 

 plentifully in beech woods, the rare P. maccana should be looked out for in 

 the north, the exceedingly variable P. hastiana is very common among sal- 



