AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 91 
fore wings brown, and with a small dusky spot near the posterior angle on the upper side, which is sometimes 
also slightly indicated in the female. 
The caterpillar is gregarious, pilose, of a blackish colour, with two black lines down the back, and the sides 
fasciculated with white hairs, and a red line above the legs. It feeds on various trees—oak, elm, black-thorn, 
&e., in June; and the moth appears at the end of July. It isa very widely-distributed and abundant species. 
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SPECIES 1—PORTHESIA AURIFLUA. Prare XVIII. Fra. 9,10, 11. 
Synonymes.— Bombyx aurifiua, Fabricius ; Hiibner; Stephens ; Phal. (Bomb.) pheorrhea, Curtis (on Brown tail Moth) ; Donovan, 
but not of Haworth; Wood, Ind. Ent. pl. 7, fig. 66. 10, pl. 555; Haworth; Curtis. 
This species is closely allied to the preceding; but different, both in the larva and perfect state. The 
expansion of the wings varies from 14 to 14 inch. The antennez are more strongly pectinated, and ferruginous ; 
the hind part of the abdomen (not the tip alone) is brown, with the tuft at its extremity fulvous or brown. The 
wings are white (not snow-white), with the costa in the males beneath broadly brown. 
The caterpillar is dusky brown, with two red dorsal lines, a white streak on each side, and with whitish 
lateral fascicles. It feeds on various plants, especially white-thorn, in June, and has at times become so remark- 
ably abundant as to cause a serious panic to the Londoners, especially in 1782, when prayers were offered up in 
the churches against the enemy ; and the churchwardens and overseers of the neighbouring villages, after ordering 
rewards for collecting these caterpillars, attended to see them burnt by bushels. The alarm was allayed by the 
little treatise of Curtis on the insect. The perfect insect appears in August. 
SPILOSOMA, Sreruens. (ESTIGMENE, Htsner.) 
This group is at once distinguished (as its generic name and the ordinary English name of Ermine Moths, 
given to its species, import) by its spotted abdomen, the spots being arranged in five longitudinal rows, The 
palpi are as long as the head, with the last joint oval. The thorax is not crested ; the wings opake, and covered 
with scales ; the spiral tongue distinct, but short, and the antennz are but slightly bipectinated. The species 
are liable to considerable variation, in the extent of the black markings on the wings. 

SPECIES 1.—SPILOSOMA MENTHASTRI. Puare XVIII., Fie. 12, 13, 14, 
Synonymes.— Bombyx Menthastri, Fabricius ; Donovan, 6. pl. Phalena Erminea, Marsham; Linn. Trans. i, pl. 1, fig. 1; 
189; Stephens (Spilosoma M.); Wood, Ind. Ent. t. 7, fig. 73. Haworth. 
Phalena (B) lubricepeda 9, Linneus; Wilkes, pl. 40: Harris, Estigmene Menthastri, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. 
Aurelian, pl. 38, fig. k—1; Albin, pl. 24, fig. e—k. 
This common insect varies from 11 to nearly 2 inches in the expanse of its wings, which are of a fine cream- 
colour, or very pale buff, with numerous black spots scattered over the fore wings, and a very few, often larger, 
on the hind ones. The head and thorax are white; the abdomen orange, with the tip white, and with five 
rows of black dots, one dorsal, two lateral, and two ventral. The male antennz are white, with the 
rays black. The markings of the wings are liable to very great variation, being sometimes almost wanting, and 
sometimes of an unusually large size, becoming more or less confluent, as in our figure 14, which is copied from 
Mr. Curtis’ figure of his species, Sp. Walkerii, which is, however, regarded by the best Lepidopterists as a variety 
only of the present species. An intermediate variety is figured by Stephens (Haustell, pl. 16, fig. 3). 
The caterpillar is brown and pilose, with a reddish dorsal line; it is found in August, feeding upon a great 
variety of plants, and the moth appears at the beginning of the following May. 
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