LEPIDOPTERA. 
89 
antennoe proclaim it to be a moth. It flies at dusk, 
and is readily captured, making its appearance in July. 
It is unknown i$ Scotland. 
The larva has several small lumps on some of the 
segments. It is yellowish or reddish brown in colour, with 
paler longitudinal streaks. It feeds on oak, bramble, elder 
(hence the specific name), and ivy. The chrysalis is con¬ 
tained in a suspended cocoon. The Emerald moths, re¬ 
markably handsome for the beautiful green, like grass or 
•emerald, which, however, very soon fades, belong to the 
group. The Magpie moth (.Abraxas grossularia ), spotted 
black and white, with a yellow patch at the base of each 
wing, sometimes called the Currant or Gooseberry moth, 
from its depositing its eggs and the larvae feeding on the 
leaves of the black currant and gooseberry, is extremely 
common in gardens, where the caterpillar, which is 
marked very like the perfect insect, often does consider¬ 
able damage. After feeding for a few weeks the larva 
spins together the edges of a leaf, after having fastened 
it to a twig by a number of silk threads. Here it re¬ 
mains as a larva all the winter. Early in spring, when 
the gooseberry tree puts forth its green leaves, the larvae, 
to use Mr. Newman’s words, “ cuts an opening in his 
pensile cradle, emerges, and begins to eat.” It is full 
fed in May, when it spins a transparent cocoon, in 
which it changes to a chrysalis, the moth appearing 
about midsummer. It is very variable in its markings. 
The species in this group are elegantly formed, and the 
wings often delicately pencilled. 
The group to which I now come (. Pyralidina ) is less 
extensive than the two previous ones. The fore-wings 
are long and triangular, the whole outline of the insect, 
