LOCKED
CASE
CONTENTS.
?AGH
;MOIR OF MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN ... 17
PIDOPTERA — INTRODUCTION . . 47
rlESPERID.fi 108
Grizzled Skipper.
Thymele Alveolus. Plate I. Fig. 1. . . 110
The Dingy Skipper.
Thymde Tages. Plate I. Fig. 2. . . . 112
Chequered Skipper.
Pamphila Paniscus. Plate I. Fig. 3. . . 114
Small Skipper,
Pamphila Linea. Plate I. Fig. 4. . . 116
Large Skipper.
Pamphila Sylvanus. Plate II. Fig. 1. . . 117
Pearl Skipper.
Pamphila Comma. Plate II. Fig. 2. . . 119
Pamphila Actseon 121*
JEPIDOPTERA CREPUSCULARIA . . . . 121
The Green Forester.
Ino Statices. Plate II. Fig. 3. ... 123
Six-spotted Burnet-moth.
Anthrocera Filipendulce. Plate II. Fig. 4. . 124
Five-spotted Burnet-moth.
Anthrocera Loti. Plate II. Fig. 5. . . 126
CONTENTS.
Eyed Hawk-moth. PAGE
Smerinthus Ocettatus. Plat III. Fig. 1. . . 127
Poplar Hawk-moth.
Smerinthus Populi. Plate III. Fig. 2. . . 129
Lime Hawk-moth.
Smennthus TUice. Plate IV. Fig. 1. . . 131
Death's-head Hawk-moth.
Acherontia Atropos. Plate V 133
Genus SPHINX 139
Privet Hawk-moth.
Sphinx Ligustri. Plate IV. Fig. 2. . . . 140
Unicorn Hawk-moth.
Sphinx Convdvuli. Plate VI 142
Pine Hawk-moth.
Sphinx Pinastri. Plate VII. Fig. 1. . . 144
Genus DEILEPHILA 146
The Madder Hawk-moth.
Deilephila Galii. Plate VII. Fig. 2. . . 147
Spotted Elephant Hawk-moth.
Deilephila Euphorbia. Plate VIII. . . . 149
Rayed Hawk- moth.
Deilephila Lineata . . . . . » 152
Genus METOPSILUS 154
Oleander Hawk-moth.
Metopsilus Nerii. Plate IX. . . . . 156
Sharp-winged Hawk-moth.
Metopsilus Celerio. Plate X 159
Elephant Hawk-moth.
Metopsilus Elpenor. Plate Xt Fig. I. . . 161
Small Elephant Hawk-moth.
Metopsilus Porcellus. Plate XI. Fig. 2. . . 163
Humming-bird Hawk-moth.
Macroglossa Stellatarum. Plate XII. Fig. 1. . 164
Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth.
Sesia Fuciformis. Plate XII. Fi 3. . . 168
Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth
Sesia Bombyliformis. Plate XI? /'ig 4. . . 170
CONTENTS.
Bee Clear-wing. PAGE
Trocliilium Apiforme. Plate XIII. Fig. 1. . 171
Breeze Clear-underwing.
JEgeria Asiliformis. Plate XIII. Fig. 2. . . 174
Black and White Horned Clear-wing.
jEgeria Spheciformis. Plate XIII. Fig. 3. . 175
Ruby-fly Clear-wing
JEyeria Chrysidiformis. Plnte XIII. Fig. 4. * 111
LEPJDOPTERA NOCTURNA, or MOTHS . 178
Orange Swift.
Plypialus Sylvinus. Plate XIV. Fig. 1. . . 179
Goat-moth.
Cossus Ligniptrda. Plate XIV. Fig. 2. . . 1 82
Wood Leopard-moth.
Zeuzera jEsculi. Plate XV. Fig. 1. . . 1U;
Buff-tip Moth.
Pygcera Bucepliala. Plate XV. Fig. 3. . . 18?
Puss-moth.
Cerura Vinula. Plate XVI. Fig. 1. . . 189
The Kentish Glory.
Endromis versicolor. Plate XVI. Fig. 3. . . 193
Emperor-moth.
Saturnia Pavonia-minor. Plate XVII. Fig. 1. . 195
Oak Egger-moth.
Lasiocampa Quercus. Plate XVII. Fig. 3. . 198
Drinker-moth.
Odonestis Potatoria. Plate XVIII. Figs. 1 and 2. 201
Lappet-moth.
Gastropacka Querdfolia. Plate XVIII. Fig. 3. . 203
Black Arches.
Psilura MonacJia. Plate XIX. Figs. 1 and 2. . 205
Scarlet Tiger-moth.
Hypercampa Dominula. Plate XIX. Figs. 3 and 4. 208
The Clouded Buff.
EutJiemonia Russula. Plate XX. Fig. I. . , 210
Cream-spot Tiger-moth.
Arctia Villica. Plate XX. Fig. 2. . . . 212
CONTENTS.
Ruby Tiger-moth. PAGB
Phragmatobia fuliginosa. Plate XX. Fig. 3. 214
Wood Tiger-moth.
Nemeophila Plantaginis. Plate XXI. Fig. 1. . 216
The Cinnabar Moth.
CaUimorpha Jacobs. Plate XXI. Fig. 2. . 218
Crimson Speckled Footman.
Deiopeia pukhella. Plate XXI. Fig. 4. . . 220
Broad-Bordered Yellow Underwing.
Triphcena Fimbria. Plate XXII. Fig. 1. . . 222
Large Sword-grass Moth.
Calocampa Exoleta. Plate XXII. Fig. 2. . . 224
The April Miselia.
Miselia AprUina. Plate XXIII. Fig. 1. . . 226
Peach-blossom Moth.
Thyatira Batis. Plate XXIII. Fig. 2. . . 228
Buff Arches.
Thyatira Derosa. Plate XXIII. Fig. 3. . . 230
The Herald-moth.
Scoliopteryx Libatrix. Plate XXIV. Fig. 1. . 231
Mottled Orange-moth.
Gortynaflavago. Plate XXIV. Fig. 2. . . 233
The Angle Shades.
PhlogopJiora Meticulosa. Plate XXIV. Fig. 3. •. 235
Pease-blossom Moth.
Chariclea DelpUnii. Plate XXV. Fig. 1. . . 236
The Gamma-moth.
Plusia Gamma. Plate XXV. Fig. 2. . . 238
Burnished-brass Moth.
Plusia Chrysitis. Plate XXV. Fig. 4. . . 240
The Clifden Nonpareil.
Catocala Fraxini. Plate XXVI. Fig. 1. . . 242
Red Underwing.
Catocala Nupta. Plate XXVI. Fig. 2. . . 245
The Brimstone-moth.
Rumia Cratagata. Plate XX VII. Fig. 1. . 248
Swallow-tail Moth.
Ourapteryx Sambucaria. Plate XXVII, Fig. 2. 249
CONTENTS.
Large Emerald-moth. PAGB
Hipparchus Papilionarius. Plate XXVII. Fig. 3. 251
Magpie or Gooseberry-moth.
Abraxas Grossulariata. Plate XXVIII. Fig. 1. 253
The Mottled Beauty
Melanippe Hastata. Plate XXVIII. Fig. 3. . 255
Clifden Beauty.
Zerene AUMlata. Plate XXVIII. Fig. 4. . 256
The Beautiful China Mark.
Hydrocampa Nymphxata. Plate XXIX. Fig. 1. 258
Green Silver-lines.
Hylophila Prasinana. Plate XXIX. Fig. 2. . 260
Scarce Silver-lines.
HylopMa Quercana. Plate XXIX. Fig. 4. . 262
The Dark Porcelain.
Argyromiges Sylvetta. Plate XXX. Fig. 1. . 263
Linnaeus' Glyphipteryx.
GlypUpteryx Linneetta. Plate XXX. Fig. 2. . 265
White-plumed Moth.
Pterophorus Pentadactylus. Plate XXX. Fig. 3. 266
Many-plumed Moth.
Alucita Hexadactyla. Plate X XX. Fig. 4. . 267
MEMOIR
OP
MARIA SIBILLA MEEIAN.
IN the earlier annals of the physical sciences, we find
very few female names included in the lists of those
who successfully devoted themselves to such pursuits.
The mode in which they were usually studied, the
learned languages in which it was thought necessary
that every thing relating to them should be written,
together with an unnecessary profusion of techni-
calities, and a most barbarous nomenclature, were
ill fitted to recommend them to notice in any case,
and must have made them unattainable, if not al-
together repulsive, to most of the gentler sex. The -
branches relative to natural history, in particular,
laboured greatly under these disadvantages ; and a
prejudice likewise existed against the study of some
departments, which long continued to operate un-
favourably. To this general neglect of these pur-
suits by her sex, at the period in question, the lady
to whom the following notices refer, forms a signaV
exception. Not that she can lay claim to high dis-
18 MEMOIR OP
tinction as a scientific naturalist, nor can it be
affirmed that either her powers of observation or
the capacity of her judgment were of the first order.
But the extraordinary zeal she shewed in the study
of that branch to which her attention was directed,
the sacrifices and inconveniences to which she sub-
mitted in prosecuting it, the excellent delineation
which she has made of many natural objects, and
the mass of materials which she has thus provided
to facilitate the labours of future inquirers, justly
entitle her to an honourable place in a biographical
series of those worthies who have exerted them-
selves to promote the study of nature, with which
it has been our anxious endeavour to enrich the
volumes of the NATURALIST'S LIBRARY.
Unfortunately not many particulars of her life
have been preserved, but the following notices may
not be void of interest to those who have had an oppor-
tunity of examining the works by which her name
has become known to the public. She belonged to a
family of which many of the members acquired con-
liderable celebrity as painters and engravers. Her
father, Mathew Merian, was the son of a magistrate
of Bale, and was born in that town in 1593. After
learning the art of engraving at Zurich, under
Dietrick Meyer, he removed to Nanci, where he
was employed in aquafortis engraving, a branch of the
art then only newly invented, and in which he par-
ticularly excelled. He subsequently went to Paris,
and having entered into partnership with an artist
of some note, named Jacques Callot, continued to
MARIA SIBILLA MER1AN. 19
reside there for several years, exercising his profes-
sion with diligence and success. He was not long,
however, in returning to his native country, and after
travelling through various parts of the continent,
finally settled at Frankfort, where he remained till
his death, which happened in 1651. During his
residence in that place he published various topo-
graphical and other works, illustrated with engrav-
ings, which are said to he executed in a style greatly
superior to similar productions of that period. Of
these we may mention, the Topography of Zeiler,
in twenty-seven folio volumes ; Theatrum Europe-
urn; Florilegium Plantarum; Itinerarium Italiae;
and the Dance of Death, copied from the famous
work so named at Bale, and augmented hy the
addition of several new designs. Shortly after his
settlement at Frankfort he had married «the daughter
of John Theodore tie Bry, the mother of the subject
of the present notice.
Maria Sibilla Merian was horn in the city just
named in the year 1647. Inheriting, in an eminent
degree, the talent for which her family was distin-
guished, she appears to have early devoted herself
to painting and drawing, and soon to have attain-
ed considerable skill in these branches. It is
probable that she enjoyed the instructions of her
brother, Matthew Merian, an individual to whom we
shall afterwards allude, who was so much older
than herself as to have acquired high distinction as
a painter while she was yet a child. It is affirmed,
however, that the chief care of her education de-
20 MEMOIR OF
volved on James Morell, likewise a painter by pro-
fession, to whom her mother had heen married
some time after the death of her first hushand.
This duty he is said to have discharged with much
solicitude and affection, and was rewarded by the
rapid progress of his young relative. That the best
means of instruction might be afforded to one who
held out the promise of much future excellence, he
placed her under the charge of Abraham Mignon,
with whom she continued for a considerable time.
She appears first to have practised miniature paint-
ing ; but, at the same time, to have devoted much
of her attention to drawing plants and insects. To
the latter she soon began to shew a decided par-
tiality, and received much commendation for the
accuracy and elegance with which she coloured and
delineated them. By tracing the forms of insects,
and collecting them for representation, she was
naturally led to attend to their habits and history ;
a subject wrhich she found so fruitful in interesting
facts, that she began, at an early period, to collect
materials for a work on the subject.
In the mean while, however, she continued to
exercise the more profitable occupation of portrait
painting, chiefly or exclusively in miniature, till she
reached the age of eighteen, when she was married to
a painter of Nuremberg, named John Andrew Graf.
This marriage did not prove a fortunate one. A
few years after it took place, Graf's affairs became
so much involved, and his conduct in other respects
so censurable, that he was obliged for a time to
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 21
leave the country. In consequence of this separa-
tion, the lady never assumed her hushand's name in
any of her publications, hut hecame known to the
public hy her maiden appellation. After this event,
experiencing perhaps the expediency of having some
means of emolument in addition to her more habi-
tual occupation, she is said to have employed a
portion of her time in executing pieces of em-
broidery; and it is asserted that she handled her
needle with as much skill as she did her pencil, her
productions being distinguished by an elegance and
delicacy of execution which made them resemble
paintings. In order to encourage others of her sex
to cultivate this elegant accomplishment, she pub-
lished a book of designs, which she named " The
New Book of Flowers."
The resolution which she had formed to illustrate
by her pencil the appearance and metamorphoses
of insects, was, however, by no means forgotten.
On the contrary, so zealous was she in the prosecu-
tion of this object, that, according to her own account,
she abandoned for a time all kind of company, and
applied herself exclusively to painting insects, in
order that she might, if possible, be enabled to
represent them with sufficient accuracy to give
satisfaction to natural philosophers.* The result of
her labours in this department appeared in 1679.
in a volume published at Nuremberg, entitled " Eru-
carum ortus, alimenta, et paradoxa metamorphosis."
the plates engraved by herself. Two omer parts
* Pref. to Insects of Surinam.
22 MEMOIR OF
were subsequently added, the last printed under the
care of her youngest daughter. This work has heen
translated both into German and French, and there
seems to be more than one edition of the original.
That now before us is printed at Amsterdam, and
the date, which appears only at the bottom of the
frontispiece, is 1717« It forms a quarto volume,
written in Dutch, consisting of three parts, and
containing one hundred and fifty plates, besides
ornamented frontispieces. The objects represented
are chiefly European lepidoptera, with their larvee,
generally accompanied with a figure of the plant
on which the latter feed. A few coleopterous and
dipterous species are occasionally introduced, and
the pupae in most cases are likewise represented
Although the engraving is rather coarse, and the
drawing often faulty, these plates, upon the whole,
afford not inaccurate representations of a considerable
number of insects, most of them in all their different
stages ; and must have been a useful and even an
elegant contribution to the entomology of the period,
which was sufficiently meagre both in descriptive
and illustrated works. The accompanying text, it
is true, is not of much value ; but it must be borne
in mind, in estimating its merit, that this branch of
natural history, as well as every other, was still in
its infancy. The ponderous volumes of Ulysses
Aldrovanus, the works of Gesner, Goedart, and a
few others, who studied Aristotle more closely than
they did nature, were almost the only accessible
sources of information on the subject ; for the more
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 23
philosophical investigations of Redi and Swammer-
dam, though at this time in progress, and even in
part published, were as y °x hut little known. It in
not, therefore, surprising that Madam Merian should
occasionally have fallen into error, the more espe-
cially as she seems to have been but imperfectly
acquainted even with the little that had been
accomplished by her predecessors in the same field
of labour.
After residing about fourteen years at Nuremberg,
Madam Merian returned, in 1684, to Frankfort,
along with her husband, who had again rejoined
her some years previously. Not long after, how-
ever, she left him, in company with her two daugh-
ters, for the purpose of uniting themselves to a sect
of religionists, named Labbadists, who had esta-
blished themselves at Bosch, between Franeker and
Leuwarden. These enthusiasts were followers of
the famous John Labadie, a native of Bourg in
Guienne, who had renounced the doctrines of the
church of Rome, and promulgated a set of opinions
bearing some resemblance to those of the Quietists,
but mingled with several peculiar notions of his
own. His supposed sanctity and remarkable elo-
quence had given him, notwithstanding the extra-
vagance of some of his opinions, a great influence
over many, particularly females, — a class of fol-
lowers which Bayle affirms, significantly, he was
always much more anxious to conciliate than the
opposite sex. Besides Madam Merian, one of the
most celebrated of his converts was Anna Maria
24 MEMOIR OF
Schurman, of Utrecht, whose extensive learning
causes her to be ranked among the ornaments of
the seventeenth century. Some of his tenets were
not unlike those of the well known Antoiiia Bou-
rignon, who flourished at the same period and in
the same country, whose partiality in the choice of
votaries seems to have inclined in an opposite direc-
tion from that of her cotemporary ; at least if we
may judge from the influence she acquired over the
distinguished John Swammerdam, in whose mind
her fanaticism found a ready reception, after it had
lapsed into a state of gloom and hypochondriasm
brought on by excessive study. Madam Merian's
zeal, however, never appears to have reached such
a height as to unfit her for attending to the ordinary
duties of life, as was unfortunately the case in the
instance just referred to. On the contrary, she
availed herself of the opportunity, while at Bosch,
of examining the rich cabinet of insects in the pos-
session of M. Sommerdyck, which rekindled all her
zeal for the study of that branch of natural history.
She likewise went to Amsterdam, and visited the
different museums in that city, taking every means
in her power to extend her acquaintance with the
subject. She mentions, in particular, the gratifica-
tion and instruction she received from the collections
of Nicolas Witsen, director of the East India Com-
pany, and those of Dr. Frederic Ruisch and Levin
Vincent. It appears to have been the admiration
excited by a view of the many splendid productions
of tropical America, preserved in these cabinets.
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 25
that first inspired her with the 'desire of crossing
the Atlantic for the purpose of delineating them as
they appeared in their native haunts and localities.
The beauty of the insect tribes, especially, so far
surpassed what she had been accustomed to con-
template, that her partiality for them was fully
confirmed, and she determined to enjoy the pleasure
of observing them in their living state. What
tended not a little to confirm her in this design,
was observing how much was wanting to complete
the natural history, even of the most common and
interesting kinds; almost nothing being known of
any of them in the states in which they exist before
acquiring their final form. The difficulty of pre-
serving caterpillars and other larvae, sufficiently
accounts for the small number of these to be found
in cabinets, even at the present day ; and the most
obvious method of making up for this deficiency is
by coloured drawings taken from living examples.
The desire of supplying this important desideratum
in regard to some of the more remarkable insects of
America, as well as of determining the nature of
their metamorphosis and kind of food, had more
influence in leading Madam Merian to visit that
country, than a wish to delineate the perfect insects,
many of which were already well known in Europe
from preserved specimens.
She accordingly made arrangements for leaving
Europe, but did not finally set sail till the year
1699, taking one of her daughters along with her.
" It was a kind of phenomenon," says Reaumur,
26 MEMOIR OF
" to see a lady actuated by a love for insects so
truly heroic, as to induce her to traverse the seas for
the purpose of painting and describing them/' The
inconveniences to which she must have submitted
in leaving the comforts of home, and repairing to a
distant land, where her health was endangered by
exposure to a burning sun and a most unwholesome
climate, must indeed be admitted to imply a degree
of zeal of which we do not find many examples, and
which renders the epithet employed by the French
naturalist by no means inapplicable.
The place of her destination was Dutch Guiana,
often called Surinam, from a river of that name on
which the capital (Paramaribo) is situated. As a
Dutch colony, it naturally afforded her advantages
which could not easily have been obtained else-
where. Its situation, too, was highly favourable to
the purpose she had in view. Lying between 4°
45 " and 6° of north latitude, the temperature is
very high ; and as the rains are copious, and many
parts of the country low and marshy, vegetation
is sustained in the greatest luxuriance throughout
a great part of the year, affording appropriate places
of resort to many of the most gorgeous produc-
tions of the tropics. In this fruitful region, so po-
pulous in
.- .. bees and birds,
And fairy formed, and many-coloured things,
her ardent curiosity found ample means of gratifica-
tion, and she remained nearly two years diligently
employed in collecting and painting insects, shells.
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 27
and plants. She designed to remain for a much
longer time, but the heat of the climate had such
an injurious effect on her health, that she was un-
der the necessity of leaving the country before her
plans had been fully accomplished. She returned to
Europe towards the close of the year 1701, and on
showing her drawings to the lovers of natural his-
tory, they were judged so much superior to any
productions of the kind they had previously wit-
nessed, that she was urged to publish them imme-
diately. But the expense of executing engravings
on such a scale, caused this to be delayed for some
years, and it was not till 1705 that they were given
to the public, under the title of Metamorphosis
Insectorum Surinamensium, &c. the text drawn up
by Gaspar Commelin, from the manuscripts of the
author.
Before attempting to give some account of this,
the most important of her publications, it may be
proper to narrate the few additional particulars
which we have been able to collect regarding her,
and to notice some of the subsequent editions of her
works. The costly volume just mentioned originally
consisted of sixty plates ; with a view to extend it
and render it more complete, she is said to have sent
her eldest daughter a second time to America, to
collect additional materials. She received in conse-
quence many new drawings and manuscripts, which
she was preparing for publication, when she became
unwell, and died on 13th January, 1717- These
28 MEMOIR OP
new designs were added to a second edition of the
Surinam Insects, published two years after the
author's death hy her youngest daughter, Dorothea
Maria Henrietta. They are twelve in number,
making the entire amount of plates seventy-two,
but are regarded as very inferior in execution to the
others. Another edition subsequently appeared at
the Hague (1726) with the text in Latin and
French ; and mention is made of a fourth, wTitten
in the Dutch language, which is not, however, ac-
counted of much value.
Another work is occasionally referred to as the
production of Madam Merian, under the title of
" Histoire des Insectes de 1'Europe dessines d'apres
nature et expliques par M. S. Merian;" translated
into Dutch and French by J. Marret (Amsterdam,
1730.) This we have had no opportunity of ex-
amining, but it is said to be little more than a
reprint of the Erucarum ortus, &c. with some
additions and alterations.
Many of this lady's beautiful drawings are still
preserved. A considerable number, purchased at
a high price by Sir Hans Sloane, and subsequently
deposited along with his other collections in the
British Museum, are asserted, however, to exhibit
traces of the graver*, but the colouring is entirely
executed by her own hand. These are done on
* Surely there must be some mistake here, for if these
coloured drawings be done on vellum, there can be no trace
of the graver.
UNIVERSITY
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 29
rellum. Numerous others are to be found in public
collections at Petersburg!!, and in the cabinets of
Holland and Germany.
The acquirements of Madam Merian are certainly
upon the whole very remarkable, but her abilities
as an artist, and the taste displayed in the arrange-
ment of the objects which she depicts, may be said
to be in some measure unique. Many ladies have
distinguished themselves as successful aspirants after
distinction in the Fine Arts, but none, excepting
the subject of the present memoir, have been cele-
brated for the performance of a work so replete
with artist-like feeling, as that of the insects of
Surinam, which is certainly more elegant and taste-
ful in the composition of the objects brought together
upon the plates than any of its cotemporaries ; and
without instituting any unnecessary or invidious
comparison, we rather think, in these respects, her
pictures have not been surpassed by any works of
art of a similar description, by the moderns, to whom
her method of arranging and combining her figures
may serve as a lesson. Her manner of introducing
the insects in their various stages of metamorphosis,
in connexion with the plants upon which they
feed, is, in our opinion, not only very instructive
but extremely elegant, and her skill in composition
has almost invariably led her to do this in an artist-
like pleasing way.
Her opportunities, no doubt, eminently served her
in these respects, for she may be said to have been
born an artist, surrounded at the period of her early
30 MEMOIR OF
education with a perfect gallaxy of talent on every
side, both in her domestic circle and by so many of
her gifted countrymen in Flanders and Holland. The
great and deserved celebrity of Rubens, Vandyke,
Rembrandt, and others of the Flemish school of
painting, was a means of inducing many others to
tread in the same path, emulous of the honours
and wealth which had been heaped upon these
bright ornaments of a country at that time distin-
guished alike by the transcendant abilities of these
men, and by the wealth which poured into it from
its colonial possessions, and extensive and almost
monopolising commercial enterprise. These circum-
stances mainly contributed, in our opinion, to foster
the genius of that nation for the Fine Arts;
and this taste continued to prevail in the Low
Countries many years after the time which we have
adverted to, and only declined when the enter-
prize of other more fortunate and active competitors
stepped forward to divide with them the empire of
the seas and the sway of their foreign possessions.
Flower painting as well as the cultivation of parti-
ticular flowers, have ever been favourite luxuries
with the Dutch, and we find the works of Van
Huisum, Van Os, and many others, were produced
about the period of which we are writing, and no
doubt were treasured by Madam Merian as models
for her study and imitation, along with the other
fine pictures which she must have been in daily
habit of examining.
Several of the members of Madam Merian's
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 31
family acquired considerable distinction by their
talents and attainments. Besides rivaling her mo-
ther in the use of the pencil, the youngest daughter,
Dorothea Maria, was remarkable for possessing an
extensive knowledge of the Hebrew language. Her
brother, like most of her other relations, devoted
himself to painting, and had the singular advantage
to enjoy the occasional instructions of Vandyke,
Rubens, Youet, Lesiieur, Sacchi, and Charleo Ma-
ratti. These he had the capacity to turn to such
good account, that he became one of the most
popular portrait painters in Germany, being em-
ployed by the emperor and members of the court,
who loaded him with honours and presents. He
was entrusted with the management of public affairs
at Frankfort, and raised to the rank of an aulic
counsellor. The most celebrated of his numerous
paintings is the Artemisia, and the portrait of Pierre
Serini, who was beheaded in 1671. Of these pro-
ductions it has been said, that they are equal to the
highest efforts of Rembrandt and Rubens ; a degree
of praise which may readily be admitted to be over-
charged, but which may be assumed as sufficient
proof that they possessed merits of a very high
order.
Madam Merian's great work was originally en-
titled " Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium,
in qua erucaa et vermes ad vivum delineantur et
describuntur," &c. ; but in the subsequent editions,
containing twelve additional plates, the title was
slightly changed. In the edition printed at the
32 MEMOIR OP
Hague, which is the only one to which we have
had access, the title is as follows, — " Dissertatio de
generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surina-
mensium ; in qua, praeter vermes et erucas Surina-
menses, earumque admirandam metamorphosin,
plantae, flores et fructus, quibus vescuntur, et in
quibus filer unt inventse, exhibentur. His adjun-
guntur Bufones, Lacerti, Serpentes, Aranea3, aliaque
admiranda istius regionis animalcula, omnia manu
ejusdem Matronae in America ad vivum accurate
depicta et mine aeri incisa. Accedit appendix
transformationum Piscium in Ranas, et Ranarum
in Pisces." At the time of its publication, this was
justly considered a magnificent volume, far sur-
passing any illustrated work previously devoted to
this tribe of animals. The dimensions of the plates
— of that description which is technically called atlas
folio — allowed most of the objects to be represented
in their natural size ; and as many of the most
beautiful and striking are selected, they form a series
of as shewy and imposing pictures as can well be
conceived. Many of the figures, both of plants and
animals, are delineated and coloured with great
elegance and accuracy ; but this commendation can
by no means be extended to the whole, or even the
larger proportion of them. The author is frequently
led into serious errors, by having but an imperfect
acquaintance with the objects of her study, and
she is far from being free from the bad taste of the
period, in occasionally placing her figures in fanciful
and unnatural positions. In this respect, some of
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 33
them exhibit more of the artist than of the naturalist,
being disposed with a view to effect, rather than for
the purpose of displaying their habitual and charac-
teristic attitudes. When circumstances did not
admit of personal observation, she gave far too easy
belief to the reports of the Indians, who seem
occasionally to have imposed upon her. Hence it
is that she has introduced many idle stories into her
work, for which her only authority is, persuasum
e$t mihi ah Indis ; and also the fictitious figure in
Plate XLIX. composed of the body of a Tettigonia,
surmounted by the mitred head of a lantern fly, the
manufacture, in all probability, of some cunning
negro, who doubtless turned the unique specimen
to good account. The work, besides, is preeminently
liable to the objection which applies so forcibly to
all the pictorial illustrations published both in that
and the succeeding age ; namely, a want of precision
and finishing in the minute details, which are
indispensable requisites in every delineation de-
signed to be of service in natural history.
But notwithstanding these defects, some of which
are almost inseparable from the nature of the un-
dertaking, while others are to be ascribed to the
imperfect state of engraving at that period, as ap-
plied to the representation of natural objects, the
work in question forms an important contribution
to the library of the naturalist, and is a striking
memorial of the zeal and ability of its fair author,
ne fidelity with which many tropical plants are
34 MEMOIR OP
represented has rendered it useful to the hotanist*,
and the student of entomology may still refer to it
for information on many points which he will not
easily find elucidated elsewhere. It has been
already mentioned that her principal object was to
figure the larvae and pupae of lepidopterous insects,
and these accordingly will be found to constitute by
far the most valuable portion of the book, the
drawing and engraving of these being obviously much
more carefully executed than in the case of the com-
plete insect. But in order that the nature of the work
may be more fully understood, it will be proper to
describe a few of the more remarkable plates in
detail ; and in doing so, we shall occasionally avail
ourselves of the observations made on them by tha
late Rev. Lansdown Guilding, who was eminently
qualified to form an estimate of their character, not
only by his skill as a draughtsman and naturalist,
but likewise by his residence for a time in a country
similar to that whose productions they were de-
signed to illustrate t.
The two first plates are more remarkable for the
plants which they exhibit than the insects, the
former being the well known pine (Bromelia
ananas, L.), first in a state of inflorescence, with
* To commemorate Madam Merian's services in this de-
partment, although it was with her a secondary object, Swartz
has named after her his genus Meriana, which comprehends
two species of exotic plants, belonging to the class clecandria
and order monogynia.
t See Loudons Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. vii. p. 335.
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 35
the crown and basilar offsets just developed, and
secondly in a ripe state, cut out of its cluster of
serrated leaves, and prepared for the table ; both of
the figures extremely well executed. The insects
are rather coarsely engraved. Those towards the
top of Plate i. are the kakkerlac or American cock-
roach (Blatta Americana, L.), which infests most
of the houses of tropical America. The four upper
figures in Plate n. represent the Coccinella cacti,
and the four lower ones the different states of Pa-
pilio Dido, Fab., the caterpillar somewhat remark-
able for having two long pilose spines, springing
from the incisure of the anal segment. Plate m,
represents the different stages of a gigantic hawk-
moth, which does not appear to have been known
to Fabricius. The pupa, which is beautifully drawn,
has the case of the proboscis of great length, and
incurved like a ram's horn. The pupa and exuviae
of the larvae are improperly attached to a plant
(the Anona muricata, or soursop), as the sphingidaa
undergo their change in the earth, and envelope
themselves in a loose cocoon. Plate v. likewise
represents a large and finely marked sphinx (Sphinx
Tetrio, Fab.), together with its pupa and larva.
The latter is placed on a cassava plant, the root of
which is figured to show the tubers, which afford a
common and valuable article of food. The author
states, that when the tubers are well scraped, all the
juice is pressed out of them, as it is of a poisonous
quality. They are then placed on a plate of iron,
under which a fire is kept up, until the remaining
36 MEMOIR OP
moisture entirely evaporate. When thus prepared,
the remaining mass is as palatable as the best
European biscuit. If the expressed juice be swal-
lowed by either man or beast, death ensues, ac-
companied with excruciating pains ; but when the
juice is boiled, it forms an innoxious and even a
pleasant beverage. Mr. Guilding mentions, that
by the act of boiling only, this juice is (in the
Demerara settlement) converted into the rich and
dark sauce called cassaripe. The native Indians
form of dark clay their pots which bear the name
of this sauce, serving to season the hunter's daily
meal ; and the colonist has introduced the custom
into his more luxurious dwelling. The plan is, to
throw into the cassaripe pot, which is never cleaned
or altogether emptied, the remains of meat and
poultry ; to add the sauce, and stir the compound
preparation, which is said to form a most delicious
meal. In order still further to embellish the above
plate, Madam Merian has introduced a fine mottled
snake in a gravid state, together with a group of
its eggs. The figure not noticed in the text, which
is miserably engraved, is the curious Membracis
foliata. Plates vn. vui. and ix. illustrate respec-
tively the various conditions of three splendid but-
terflies, Pap. Achilles, Nymphalis Amphinome, and
Pap. Nestor. The former of these plates is of con-
siderable value, as aifording an excellent repre-
sentation of one of the largest and most highly
ornamented of tropical butterflies, accompanied with
a good figure of the larva, which seems to be of
MARIA BIBILLA MERIAN. 3?
rare occurrence, and likewise of the pupa, worthy
of notice for its short ovate shape. The caterpillar
of Nymphalis Amphinome (drawn on a plant which
our author calls Indian Jasmine, but which is the
Plumieria rubra of Linn.) is distinguished by
having its head surrounded with a coronet of eight
occipital spines, and two long anal horns, similar to
those in the caterpillar of the common puss moth
( Centra vinula)^ but to all appearance not en-
closing tentacula, as is the case in the instance just
mentioned. Although Pap. Nestor is asserted to
have been produced from the caterpillar on the
pomegranate branch (Plate ix.), there is some reason
to doubt the accuracy of this statement, as its form
and oblique lateral stripes rather indicate its con-
nexion with the crepuscular or nocturnal lepidoptera.
Plate xi. affords good representations of the two
sexes of a conspicuous moth, Attacus Erythrince,
and a beautiful species of the plant from which the
insect obtains its name. " If we can depend on
the drawings of the Iarva3," says Mr. Guilding,
" and the accompanying statements, we have here
an extraordinary instance of the change which
takes place during the development of the larva.
I have myself, as well as other observers, witnessed
the disappearance of spots, the alteration of colour,
and the variations in the clothing of caterpillars,
but have never noticed such great changes as are
here described. The yellow larva at its first moult*
ing exchanges its transverse bands for lateral spots ;
at the second, the six strong spines which defend
38 MEMOIR OF
the body are laid aside, and the general colouring
of the animal undergoes a change." On Plate xn.
along with a flowering branch of the plantain
fMusa pwradisiacay L.), to whose magnificent di-
mensions even Madam Merian's plates cannot do
justice, is figured a male moth of the genus Sa-
turnia, conjectured by Mr. Guilding to be the same
species as one drawn by himself in all its stages,
and sent for insertion in the costly zoological
illustrations of Mr. Wilson of Edinburgh, and
which he has named Attacus Wilsonii, in honour
of that gentleman*. The xvith plate may be
mentioned as affording an unpardonable instance of
our fair author's carelessness, and of the readiness
with which she listened to the stories of those who
procured her subjects for her pencil. In represent-
ing a branch of the cashew-nut tree (Anacardium
occidentals ), she has reversed the ripe fruit, and
placed it by means of an imaginary peduncle under
the leaves, where it never grows. The white cater-
pillar on one of the lower leaves is a very remarkable
creature, being entirely covered with thick tufts of
hairs of great length.
The xviuth plate is, in some respects, one of the
most remarkable in the book, and has not improperly
been described as an entomological caricature. The
animals themselves are not inaccurately figured,
* We are enabled to state, that Mr. Guilding's beautiful
drawing will be represented on the ivth plate of the 2d vol.
of these valuable illustrations, the publication of which wiH
V*e resumed forthwith.
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 39
but the manner in which they are represented to be
employed seems entirely fanciful, and probably sug-
gested by the idle stories of the natives. The prin-
cipal figures are those of the gigantic bird-spider
(My gale avicularia, Walck.), the hunting-spider
(Thmmsus venatorim^ Latr.), and parasol ant (For-
mica cephalotes, Fabr,) Of the former, one of the
figures is represented as destroying a humming-bird,
which it has just dragged from its nest ; and the other
as issuing from the huge cocoon of a kind of moth,
which it is asserted, without probability, to be in
the habit of adopting for its dwelling. As the story
of this spider devouring small birds seems to have
originated with Madam Merian, we shall translate
what she says on the subject ; and this account, along
with that of Formica cephalotes appended to it, may
be taken as an example of the descriptive portion
of her work. " I found," she says, " many large
dark coloured spiders on the guava tree (Psidium)^
which take up their abode in the large cocoon of a
caterpillar; for they do not spin webs, as some
travellers have tried to make us believe. Their
bodies are entirely covered with hair, and they are
armed with long pointed teeth, with which they
bite severely, and inflict dangerous wounds by in-
jecting some kind of liquid. Their common food
is ants, which they capture with ease as they run
upon the trees ; for, like all other spiders, they are
furnished with eight eyes, two placed above and
two below, two on the right side, and a like number
40 MEMOIR OF
on the left. When they cannot obtain ants, they
carry off even small birds from their nests, and suck
the blood from their bodies. They occasionally
change their skin, in the same manner as cater-
pillars ; but I hare never found them flying. These
spiders seize upon humming-birds when sitting in
their nests. This bird was formerly used by the
priests of Surinam as an article of food, and I am
assured that they were prohibited from eating any
other kind of food.
fcC Ants of a large size are found in America,
which in a single night sometimes strip trees of
their foliage so completely as to make them re-
semble stakes rather than trees. They are armed with
two curved teeth which cut across each other like
the blades of a pair of scissors, by means of which
they cut off the leaves, which fall to the ground,
leaving the branches as naked as winter makes
them in Europe. Thousands of ants are waiting at
the bottom to receive these leaves as they fall, and
they immediately carry them to their nests, not as
food for themselves but for their young, which are
as yet only small worms ; for it is to be observed,
that the winged ants lay eggs in the same manner
as flies, from which are produced small worms or
acari of two different kinds, some of them enclosing
themselves in a web, but the greater number passing
into nymphs. These nymphs some, who are igno-
rant of the matter, call eggs, but the eggs are much
smaller. The nymphs are employed at Surinam
for feeding chickens, and they form a more nourish-
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 41
ing food than either oats or barley. From these
the ants are produced, which, after changing their
skin, acquire wings and lay eggs, from which spring
the worms, for whose support the ants labour with
such unceasing diligence ; in these warm countries,
however, they have no occasion to make provision
against the cold, since there is no winter. They
excavate passages in the earth to the depth of eight
feet, so neatly formed that they might be supposed
to be the work of human art. When they wish to
cross from one place to another between which
there is no passage, they form a bridge in the fol-
lowing manner, — the first clings to a piece of wood,
which he seizes firmly between his teeth, a second
follows the first and adheres to him, and in like
manner a third and fourth, each supported by his
predecessor ; in this state they hang exposed to the
wind, till a blast brings the free end in contact with
the point which they desire to reach, and a bridge
is thus formed, which serves for the passage of
thousands. The ants carry on a perpetual war
with spiders and all other insects that inhabit this
country. When they issue from their excavations,
which they do twice in the year, their numbers are
so great that they fill the houses, and run from one
apartment to another, killing all the smaller animals
and sucking their juices. They devour one of the
large spiders, formerly mentioned, in a moment,
attacking it in such crowds that it is wholly unable
to escape. Even man himself is obliged to take
42 MEMOIR OP
flight, such multitudes traverse the houses in all
directions. When one house has heen in this
manner stripped and cleared, they pass on to the
next, till at length they return to their holes*."
The ahove accounts, there can he little doubt, are
to a considerable extent fabulous. That the fero-
cious spider could easily overcome the tiny hum-
ming-birds, if it succeeded in catching them, is by
no means unlikely, but it is very improbable that it
would attempt to feed on them. The mygale in
fact is scarcely ever seen on trees, but resides in
tubes under ground, and generally remains close to
the surface, while the humming-birds never alight
but on branches. Its food consists of wood-lice,
subterranean crickets, and cockroaches ; and when a
humming-bird was once placed for experiment in one
of its tubes, it was not only not eaten by the spider,
but the latter actually quitted its hole and left it in
possession of the intruder. The existence of any
bird-catching spider in America, is therefore regarded
by those who have had ample opportunities of obser-
vation, as wholly improbable t. The nest is very ill
drawn, and ought to have contained only two eggs.
Plate xx. is one of the best finished of the whole,
and is highly interesting to the entomologist, as
containing excellent figures of the caterpillar and
cocoon of the giant owl-moth, Erebus Strix, Fair.,
* Insects of Surinam, p. 18.
*}• A communication on this subject, made by Mr. M'Leay
to the Zoological Society, will be found in Taylor's PhiL
Mag. vol. iv. p. 460. third series.
MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 43
the glory of the noctuidrx, as it has been de-
servedly called. This caterpillar is black with a
green band on each segment, and is furnished with
a strong anal horn like those of the hawk-moths,
but it differs from these in having tufts of hair
springing from each side The figures of the moth
are much more carefully engraved than usual.
Plate xxni. represents Morpho Teucer with its
curious armed caterpillar placed on the ripe fruit of
the banana (Musa sapientum, Linn.) ; and the fol-
lowing plate is entirely devoted to the coleoptera,
containing figures of Cerambyx farinosus, Cerambyx
spinibarbis, and Prionus melanopus, with the larva
of the latter. The plant is the Mexican poppy
C Argemone Mexicana), drawn in a very character-
istic manner.
The xxixth plate merits attention as a very
successful representation of one of the most beauti-
ful butterflies known, the Urania Leiliis of Fabr.,
lately named Leilus Surinamensis, from being rather
hastily supposed to be confined to that country. A
singular larva is likewise figured, from which our
author affirms that the butterfly was produced. It
is thickly beset with sharp hairy spines of great
length, some of them half as long as the body, and
as rigid as iron wire. But a celebrated entomologist,
who has lately investigated the metamorphosis of
another species of Urania (U. Fernandince) has
given it as his opinion that Madam Merian's figure
and description of this larva are unworthy of credit.
44 MEMOIR OF
The fruit introduced into this plate is the shaddock
(Citrus decumana), the largest and one of the finest
of the citrine tribe.
Passing over numerous plates devoted to the
illustration of many fine lepidopterous species, some
of them of considerable merit, and a few (such as
Plate XLII.) unworthy of commendation, we shall
extract Mr. Guilding's notice of plate XLIX., which
affords an excellent delineation of both sexes of the
great lantern-fly. " The subterraneous larva and
the smaller expanded figure belong to a true cicada,
but not, I think, the Tettigonia tibicen, Fair. The
larger figures well represent the noble Fulgora lan-
ternaria, one of the most singular of all insects, and
a precious addition to any cabinet. The creature
at the bottom is fictitious. The hollow lantern-
shaped head of the Fulgora has been glued on a
Tettigonia, and probably sold to our good-tempered
author by some cunning negro. From her words,
* persuasum mihi ab Indis est,' she had evidently
no better authority for presenting us with this
strange figure. The sounds of the cicada, so like
those of the razor-grinder s wheel, are not produced
by the proboscis, but by the wonderful and complex
tympanum, which occupies half the abdomen of the
clamorous and impatient male. From the peculiar
shrillness of the confused notes drawn from the
quickly agitated organ, the creature is heard not
only at a great distance, but is superior in attracting
the attention to any thing I know. Often, as the
MARIA S1BILLA MERIAN. 45
sun has been descending, and I have been perform-
ing the solemn service of the dead, one of these
creatures has lighted on a neighbouring plant, and
there commenced his evening hymn, and thus
disturbed me. At other times, attracted by the
lights at evening service, the noisy intruder will
enter my parish church, and distress the preacher
with his rival voice. If its jarring notes cannot be
said to drown my powerful organ, they are certainly
heard distinctly above every thing by the still
assembly. Madam Merian gives us an account of
her first discovery of the shining property of the
Fulgora, and tells us of the horror which seized her
when she opened the box to separate the quarrelling
inmates and saw it filled with fire. A glass full of
any of our luminous insects, when in health, is,
indeed, a splendid show. The plant is the mon-
strous or double variety of the pomegranate (Punica
Granatum^ L.), sometimes cultivated as an orna-
ment of our gardens."
We have now mentioned some of the principal
plates of this splendid work, and although there are
many others of great interest and value, an account
of them would exceed the limits which we can
assign to the present notice. Towards the close of
the volume, the drawing and engraving are in ge-
neral less carefully executed, and the objects
represented are of a more miscellaneous description.
Serpents, lizards, shells, and frogs, are occasionally
introduced, and one of the last plates is occupied by
46 MEMOIR OF MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN.
showing the process of transformation by which a
Surinam frog (Rana paradoxa^ Cuv.) is converted
into a fish ! The closing plate presents a heteroge-
neous assemblage of various objects, disposed in a
most fantastical manner, and is utterly worthless.
LEPIDOPTERA.
INTRODUCTION.
IN a previous volume of our entomological series,
we have given a view of such of the day-flying
lepidoptera, or butterfly tribes, as have been ascer-
tained to inhabit Britain. Their extreme beauty
renders them by far the most attractive of our
native insects, and we trust that few can have their
attention directed, however briefly, to their history,
without having their curiosity gratified by the in-
stances of singular instinct and economy with which
it abounds. These constitute, however, only one
section of the lepidopterous order, and that by no
means one of the most extensive. The hawk-moths,
and moths properly so called, form the other divi-
sions ; and to these we propose to devote the present
volume, with the same limitation as formerly in
regard to locality A view will thus be afforded of
the entire order of our
- painted populace
That live in fields and lead ambrosial lives,
comprehending an account of the most interesting
and remarkable native species which it contains.
48 INTUODUCriON.
Several of the hawk-moths are among the most
conspicuous insects we possess, one of them the
largest found in Europe ; and their caterpillars are
likewise remarkable for their size and beautiful
colour. Although moths in general yield to the
diurnal kinds in richness of decoration and colours
which seem as if they caught their glowing tints
from the pure skies and cloudless sunshine under
which these gay creatures delight to roam, they
yet present much to please the eye even in their
mode of embellishment. Their subdued and occa-
sionally almost sombre hues are finely adapted to
the seasons in which they are destined for active
life, and are often blended and intermixed in so
harmonious a manner as to produce a most pleasing
effect. Neither is this " sober livery" by any means
universal among the tribe ; many are decorated with
the richest colours, displayed in strongly contrasted
bands and spots, and sometimes glossed with a
metallic lustre. In the form of caterpillars, too
they become objects of the highest interest and
curiosity. In that condition they exhibit examples
of the most laborious industry and of the greatest
ingenuity, together with a variety in their modes
of living, and peculiarity of form and appearance,
scarcely surpassed by any other race of little crea-
tures. Then also they afford those
• millions of spinning worms
That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair 'd silk ;
thus adding to the other considerations recommend-
INTRODUCTION. 49
ing them to notice, that which arises from contri-
buting directly to our interests.
Hawk-moths and moths possess, of course, many
properties in common with butterflies, besides the
peculiar consistency of the wings. In the confor-
mation of the mouth, mode of propagation, character
of the metamorphosis, and many other particulars,
there is a general agreement, as may be inferred
from their being associated together in the same
ordinal division of their class% Instead, therefore,
of repeating what has been already said respecting
the various organs, their functions, and several
other general properties, it will suffice to mention
what peculiarities are observable in the tribes in
question. Their habits and economy, however, are
in many cases so remarkable and interesting, that
in order to do that part of the subject any thing
bike adequate justice, it will require to be treated in
considerable detail.
They are distinguished from butterflies, among
other characters, by having at the base of the under
wings, near the anterior edge, a stiff bristle or hair
which passes through a hook on the under side of the
anterior wings and maintains them when at rest in
a horizontal or somewhat inclined position. The
most characteristic and destinctive mark of the
hawk-moths, the tribe to which we shall first direct
our attention, is to be found in the form of the
antennae, which increase in diameter from a slender
base £early to the apex, forming a prismatic, fusi-
form club <ind usually terminating in a subulated
feO INTRODUCTION.
point which is occasionally somewhat curved. This
thickening of the antennae upwards indicates affi-
nity to the diurnal lepidoptera, but in most of their
other properties they are more closely allied to the
moths or nocturnal kinds. The wings are narrow
and elongated, of a firm consistence, and never
borne perpendicularly in repose, but either parallel
to the plain of position or slightly deflexed. The
suctorial trunk (maxillce) is usually of great
length, often equal to that of the whole body ; and
appears, at least in some instances, to be of a more
simple structure than among butterflies, consisting
only of a simple semi-cylindric canal. When., for
example, that of the death's-head-moth, which is
short and rigid, and so sharply pointed as to be
able to pierce the skin of the hand, is cut across,
only a single perforation of an oval shape is visible.
The palpi embrace the base of the trunk, consist of
three articulations, and are so densely invested with
hairs and scales, that their jointed structure is not
discernible till these are rubbed off. The eyes are
large, globose, and prominent, composed of a great
number of facettes. The tarsi are all divided into
five joints ; the intermediate tibiae are furnished
with two spines, and the hinder ones with four ;
and in the anterior pair, which are destitute of
spines, there is a slender lobe lying along a part of
the under side of the tibia, and attached to it by
the upper extremitv.
These insects constituted the genus SPHINX ot
Linnseus, and they compose tW family named Ore-
INTRODUCTION. 51
puscularia by Latreille. The latter term has been
applied to them, because many of the most conspicu-
ous species are observed on the wing chiefly during
the morning and evening twilight ; others, however,
do not shun the " garish eye of day," but may be seen
darting about in the sunshine in company with but-
terflies and other exclusively diurnal kinds. Their
flight is exceedingly rapid, and continued nearly in a
direct line, somewhat like that of a bird, differing
greatly in this respect from the devious zig-zag motion
of most other lepidoptera, many of which seem to
float rather than to be impelled by muscular exertion.
The wings, notwithstanding, are rather of small size
compared with the body ; but the thickness and mas-
siveness of the latter admits of great development in
the muscles by which these organs are moved, and
a momentum is thus communicated to them more
than sufficient to compensate for their somewhat
limited extent of surface. By their rapid vibration,
the taper body of the insect is poised in the air like
that of a hawk, while it hovers over the petals of a
flower, and extracts the mellifluous juices by means
of its long tubular proboscis. The resemblance just
alluded to has caused them to be named hawk-
moths ; and as many of them, when thus hoveling
in the air, produce a humming sound, and in this
respect, as well as in feeding on the wing and in the
darting rapidity of their movements, bear some like-
ness to humming-birds, a few are named after these
" winged gems," and are well known under the some-
what composite title of humming-bird hawk-moths.
52 INTRODUCTION.
The number of these insects found in Britain is
not inconsiderable, and includes all the kinds in-
digenous to Europe, except a few species. Several
conspicuous kinds hare been admitted into our
native lists, in consequence of the occurrence of one
or two examples ; but from what we know of their
history and geographical distribution, it seems more
proper to ascribe their appearance in this country
to fortuitous causes, — such as accidental importation
along with foreign productions, than to their being
aboriginal natives of the soil. Such seems to be the
case with Sphinx Carolina, b-maculatus, Daucus,
and Qruroei, some of which, when caterpillars, feed
on exotic plants for which the vegetation of this
country can scarcely be supposed to afford any ade-
quate substitute. But on this subject it is difficult
to speak decisively, as many species which were
once thought to be exclusively confined to one kind
of plant have been found to subsist readily on others,
when their ordinary pabulum was not to be pro-
cured. DeilepJdla nerii, for example, has occurred
in the larva state in Britain, and is frequent in
certain years in the north of Germany and other
parts of the continent, where the tender shrub from
which it derives its name (the nerium oleander J,
and which was thought to be its only food, does not
grow spontaneously, and could therefore seldom if
at all be obtained.
The caterpillars of the typical sphinxes are ol
large size, ornamented with fine colours, and pos-
sessed of as distinctive characters as the perfect
INTRODUCTION. 53
insects. They have six pectoral legs, eight abdo-
minal or membranous legs, and two anal ones, a
number corresponding to that of the majority of
butterfly larvae, to which also they are perfectly like
in structure. The body is usually rather narrow
anteriorly, and encreases slightly in diameter to the
eleventh or penultimate segment, which bears a
long dorsal horn, somewhat curved and having its
]>oint directed backwards. In some cases two or
three of the anterior segments become rather sud-
denly attenuated towards the head, which thereby
acquires some resemblance to a pig's snout, and
has given occasion to the French name chenille*
cockonnes*. The surface is without hair, sometimes
% smooth, but more commonly shagreened, or covered
with hard grains like a piece of seal skin ; the
prevailing colour fine green, the sides often adorned
with oblique stripes of yellow, purple, or blue. The
caudal horn, which appears under a glass to be co-
vered with small points, arranged after the manner
of scales, has been conjectured to be a weapon of
offence or defence, but the animal has never been
observed to employ it for such purposes. When at
rest, they usually elevate the anterior part of the
body, and retract the head under the second or
third segment, thus assuming a peculiar attitude in
which they have been thought to bear some resem-
* This form is exemplified in tbe caterpillars of Deilephila
Elpenor, D. Porcellus, and others belonging to the group which
we have distinguished as a subgenus under the name of Mi-
topsilug.
54 INTRODUCTION.
blance to the fabled sphinx of antiquity, which led
Linnaeus to distinguish them by that name. They
in general live singly, and feed on the leaves of
plants, principally of the herbaceous kind. When
about to be transformed, they undergo a sudden
and total change of colour, their usual bright hues
being converted into dull grey or brown. Prepara-
tory to the same important operation, they merely
scoop out an oval chamber in the earth, without en-
closing themselves in a silken cocoon, being satisfied
with the protection afforded by the slightly agglu-
tinated particles of the circumjacent soil. The
chrysalis is generally without angular projections,
and in some instances the sheath containing the
proboscis is prominent and detached, and curved,
downwards over the breast.
The larvae of the Zygenidae and ^Egeridae, how-
ever, which likewise pertain to the crepuscular sec-
tion, recede considerably from the more characteristic
forms and habits just described. They are destitute
of a caudal horn, and those of the latter family
gnaw the woody portions of trees and shrubs, form-
ing a rude cocoon of the triturated fragments and
undergoing their transformations in the interior;
while those of the former live exposed on the foliage
of plants, and spin a long oval or spindle-shaped
cocoon, of a coreaceous texture, which they attach
to the stem or branches.
The last, and by far the most extensive section
of the lepidopterous order, is that containing the
INTRODUCTION. 55
insects known by the familiar name of MOTHS.
This numerous assemblage, which the minute in-
vestigations of modern observers have caused to be
arranged in a multitude of generic groups, was
originally comprehended within the ample boun-
daries of the single genus Phalama^ as defined by
Linn&us and the older naturalists. They present
many remarkable variations, both in their general
appearance and in the details of their structure.
Their manners and economy are likewise so diver-
sified and curious, that a minute account of these
would afford ample materials for a work of con-
siderable extent, exclusive of any description of the
insects themselves. In the space here designed to
be allotted to the subject, in conformity with the
endeavour we have hitherto made to combine two
objects, which have been frequently disjoined, to the
material hinderance of accurate knowledge in natural
history, viz. a general account of the habits of ani-
mals, with a correct view of their specific forms and
appearance, we shall first mention what is peculiar to
these insects in their winged state, and then describe
their external structure and habits as caterpillars.
An opportunity will thus be afforded of presenting
what is most striking in their ways and instincts,
which, taken in connexion with what has been said
in a previous volume regarding the phenomena of
transformation, &c. and what is subsequently sup-
plied in notices of the respective genera and species,
will form at least what is most material to be known,
and all that is likely to interest a general reader,—
56 INTRODUCTION.
it may be something more — in the histoiy of the
lepidopterous tribes.
These insects are best distinguished by the shape
of the antennae, which are setaceous or diminishing
in thickness from the base to the apex. They are
generally long and flexible, and composed of oblong,
subquadrate, or transverse joints. In many cases
they are toothed or serrated, and often emit a series
of parallel branchlets on one or both sides, some-
what resembling the teeth of a comb, whence they
are said to be pectinated or bipectinated. These
branchlets are sometimes themselves furnished with
a secondary row, and have two or three divergent
spines at the tip, all of them placed with much
regularity, and presenting a very beautiful appear
ance under a magnifying lens. They are generally
more or less clothed with scales, which sometimes
(as in Hypena proloscidalis ) are very long and not
unlike feathers. Whenever they deviate from a •
simply articulated structure, the antennae are more
developed in the male than in the female ; if serrated
in the former, for example, they are often simple in
the latter ; and if those of the male are pectinated,
his partner usually has them merely serrated, or at
most imperfectly pectinated. In a group of small
silver-spotted moths ( Aryyromiges ) , which suspend
their slender cocoon to the under side of a leaf by
means of four threads at each end, exactly after the
manner of a hammock, the antennae when in repose
are bent backwards and lodged beneath the wings.
The superficial scales are greatly more varied in
INTRODUCTION. 57
shape than among butterflies ; indeed, it has been
asserted that they assume a different form in each
species. This, however, is by no means the case,
hut they are frequently dissimilar on different parts
of the same individual. Many of them are so long
and slender that they have the appearance of hairs,
but the application even of a faint magnifying power
shows that they are more or less dilated at the tip,
and frequently bifid, trifid, or palmate. Of this
nature are the kinds composing the hair-like tufts
and crests on many of the noctuidse, as may be seen
by examining the gamma-moth (Plusia gamma),
a common species in most parts of the country.
The proboscis is apparently of the same structure
as in the day-flying tribes, and presents nothing
peculiar in its appearance. It is seldom of great
length, and in many instances it is merely rudi-
mentary, while in others it is altogether wanting.
The Swifts or Ghost-moths (Hepiali), the Goat-
moth, and many others, are so circumstanced, and
they are probably in consequence incapable of taking
any nutriment. Moths are occasionally observed to
feed on solid substances, such as sugar; this they
are enabled to do in the same manner as flies
(Diptera), by discharging a liquid from their trunk,
which softens and dissolves the particles till they
become sufficiently fluid to be absorbed.
The palpi generally consists of three joints, but
in some cases, as in the genus Lithosia, they are
only two jointed. These organs are sometimes very
diminutive, but in general they are well developed,
58 INTRODUCTION.
and at times so much elongated as to form a length-
ened muzzle in front of the head. From this cir-
cumstance some of these insects are named Snout-
moths. In a group of small species, distinguished
by the name Peronea, they aie directed obliquely
downwards and much thickened towards the tip,
forming a scaly somewhat hatched -shaped mass.
One species (Anacampsis longicornis) receives its
name from the length and unusual appearance of
the appendages in question, which are curved up-
wards on each side of the head, appearing like two
long divergent horns ; and in another, they are ad-
vanced in front of the head and curved towards
each other after the manner of a lobster's claws,
whence the insect is named the Lobsterclawed-moth
( Chelaria rhomboidella) . These are what are called,
from the place of their insertion, the labial palpi,
and are the only organs of the kind with which the
generality of moths are provided. In certain groups,
however, there is likewise a maxillary pair, some-
times conspicuous and uncovered, but usually mi-
nute and concealed among the frontal hairs. Such
is the case with the family TENEITES of Latreille,
and a few others allied to them. On the other
hand the palpi, like the trunk, are sometimes wholly
wanting, as may be seen in the Ghost and Emperor
moths.
The thorax is shorter, and generally more robust
than among butterflies. Besides the patayia or
tappets which they possess in common with the
latter, many of them have an irregularly shaped
INTRODUCTION. 59
appendage on each shoulder, having the appearance
of a lappet ; these are named tegulce or base- covers,
and are well exemplified in the genus Lithosia and
its affinities. This part of the hody often bears one
or more conspicuous dorsal tufts of feathery hair-
like scales, of which the anterior and posterior are
sometimes concave ; in which case the former has
the concavity directed forwards, and the latter has
it turned in an opposite direction.
As appendages of the thorax, the legs next require
a brief notice, but they present nothing very peculiar
in their formation. An exception to this character,
however, is perhaps to be found in the occasional
great length of the coxae, which in the anterior legs
of certain species (Hypena proboscidalis, for ex-
ample) are as long as the tibiae, and not much
shorter than the thighs. The two last named
divisions of the leg are often densely clothed with
long hairs, and the tibiae, in the fore pair, are usually
furnished with a strong spine on the inner side,
which sometimes assumes the appearance of a rigid
compressed lobe. In most cases this is the only
projection on the anterior legs ; the intermediate
tibiae generally have two spurs at the apex, and
besides a similar pair in the hinder ones, there are
often two others in the middle. The latter arrange-
ment is frequently observed also in the intermediate
tibiae. This portion of the leg often bears a pen-
dant tuft of loose hair, which probably assists in
balancing the body during flight 5 and in some in-
stances (as in the genus Alcis) the tibiae have a
60 INTRODUCTION.
groove internally which receives the tuft within it
when at rest. The tarsi are always pentamerous,
the joints usually elongated, the basal one being
sometimes longer than the tibiae. Hepialus Hectus
is anomalous in this respect, the tarsi being entirely
wanting in the hinder legs.
It has been already stated that the wings of the
night-flying lepidoptera are never held in a vertical
position when at rest ; but this negative character
is almost the only general one that can, in this par-
ticular, be ascribed to them. In other respects,
their position and bearing are so varied, that the
distinctions arising therefrom have been sometimes
employed to divide the whole tribe into separate
groups. In many they are parallel to the plain of
position, or slightly inclined, and the upper pair
folded along the back in such a manner that the
one overlaps the other, thus rendering the two an-
terior margins parallel with each other and with the
body, while the under pair are folded up beneath
somewhat after the manner of a fan. It frequently
happens, in an arrangement similar to this, that the
internal edges do not overlap but are simply applied
to each other ; or the internal edges are parallel and
more or less remote from each other, leaving a portion
of the back of the abdomen exposed, while the line
of the anterior edge of the upper wings gradually
recedes from the body to the hinder extremity, and
thus forms the side of an isosceles triangle. In many
instances the upper wings meet at their internal
edges, and are elevated above the body in such a way
INTRODUCTION. 0 1
as to form a kind of roof over it, the ridge of which
is some times sharp, at other times rounded. The
Cinnabar-moth (PL 21. fig. 2.) affords an example
of the former, the Goat-moth (PI. 14. fig. 2.) of the
latter. Many of the smaller moths (Tinice) have
their wings convoluted, or rolled round the hody so
as completely to embrace it. Others, contrasting
with these, keep them always fully expanded, so
that the posture maintained in flight is scarcely
changed when they alight ; of this description are
several of the brindled-moths, common in gardens,
produced from geometer caterpillars which feed on
fruit trees. In some genera the under wings project
considerably beyond the upper, as may be seen in
the Lappet-moth. It may likewise be noticed that
several of the small Tortricidce are remarkable for
having a sudden and deep emargination on the
anterior edge of the upper wings, as if a semicircular
portion were cut out ; whence they are known to
collectors by the epithet of Notch-wing moths.
A difference in the port of the wings is sometimes
a sexual distinction, but that is often marked in a
more decided manner. On this subject it may be
regarded as the most general rule, that the female,
contrary to what is observed in many of the higher
animals, is larger than the male, sometimes even
double the size*. The greater or less development
of the antennae has been already mentioned as occa-
* In" the clouded Buff-moth (Euthemonia Rir9ula), and a
few other species, the female* however, is constf iab> small
Pa: the other sex.
62 INTRODUCTION.
sionally affording an obvious indication of the re-
spective sexes. In several cases the colours and the
mode of their distribution are so dissimilar, that
when taken in connexion with other strongly marked
differences, they would lead an observer, ignorant of
the relations that subsist between them as proved
by other circumstances, to refer the two sexes to
entirely different genera. An example of this is
seen in the Gipsey-moth (Hypogymna, dispar) and
several others. A few female moths are entirely
apterous, or have wings of such a rudimentary kind
as to be wholly unfit for flight, a peculiarity which
may be witnessed in the well-known species named
the Yapourer (Qrygia antiqua).
In such instances as that just mentioned, it is
evident that the sexes would often experience the
utmost difficulty in discovering each other, unless
they were possessed of some peculiar means for
that purpose. The case, indeed, is precisely analo-
gous to that of the glow-worm, whose " nuptial
lamp " has been long regarded, and to all appearance
with perfect propriety, as a special provision to meet
this exigency. Even when both sexes are winged,
as is usually the case, a speedy introduction to
each other's society is too necessary a step to be left
to the chances of a casual encounter, as many of
them are extremely short-lived, and not very loco-
motive in their habits ; and an opportunity might
thus be wanting to execute a function for which
alone, in many cases, they seem to enter upon their
winged state. The males, accordingly, particularly
INTRODUCTION. 63
of certain kinds, possess an extraordinary acuteness
in the sense of smell (or, it may be, are gifted with
some peculiar faculty the nature of which is un-
known to us), by the intimations of which they can
discover the opposite sex at a great distance, and in
the most secret situations. Advantage is often taken
by collectors of this circumstance to secure specimens
of the rarer kinds, and the following plan, as de-
scribed by Mr. Haworth, may frequently be followed
with success when most others are unavailing. " It
is a frequent practice," he says, " with London
Aurelians, when they breed a female of this and
some other day-flying species (he speaks of Lasio-
campa Quercus)^ to take her, while yet a virgin,
into the vicinity of woods, when, if the weather be
favourable, she never fails to attract a numerous
train of males, whose only business seems to be an
incessant, rapid, and undulating flight in search of
their unimpregnated females. One of which is no
sooner perceived, than they become so much ena-
moured of their fair and chaste relation, as absolutely
to lose all kind of fear for their own personal safety,
which, at other times, is effectually secured by the
reiterated evolutions of their strong and rapid wings.
So fearless indeed have I beheld them on these
occasions, as to climb up and down the sides of the
cage which contained the object of their eager
pursuit, in exactly the same hurrying manner as
honey-bees, which have lost themselves, climb up
and down the glasses of a window." The Chinese
likewise turn this ardour in pursuit of the female
64 INTRODUCTION.
to good account, by fixing individuals of that sex,
Dertaining to a species whose caterpillar produces
valuable silk, by a thread to a tree in an exposed
situation, where they are soon visited by numerous
males to the great increase of the proprietor's stock.
The eggs produced by these insects present endless
variations in their form, substance, and colour.
The surface is often very beautifully carved, as was
formerly described to be the case with those of
butterflies, a circumstance, it has been justly re-
marked, which distinguishes these tribes from all
other oviparous animals. In general they are of
one colour, the prevailing tints being white, yellow,
grey, and brown. Sometimes, however, they are
speckled like the eggs of birds, and at other times
encircled with zones of different shades, a mode of
distribution of which those of the feathered race
afford no example. Thus, for example, the egg of
the Brimstone-moth (Rumia Cratcegata), otherwise
remarkable for being covered with hexagonal reti-
culations, is yellow spotted with bright red; and
that of the Lappet ( Gastropacha Quercifolia) is
Mue with three circular bands of brown. In some
distances the colours undergo a succession of changes
is the egg advances to maturity, an effect which
may be produced either by the changing condition
of the embryo becoming manifest through the trans-
parent integumeift, or the chemical action of air,
moisture, and other influences on the substance of
which the latter is composed. An example of this
description is afforded by the eggs of a rarfe British
INTRODUCTION. 65
moth, named by the fancy the Glory of Kent
(Endromis versicolor), which are bright yellow on
their first exclusion, and then become successively
green, rose-colour, and black.
The profuse fertility of most insects is well known,
and the subjects of the present notice partake largely
of this general attribute of their race. The Silk-
worm-moth, for example, lays about 500 eggs, the
Goat-moth 1000, and the Tiger-moth 1600. They
are deposited either singly or in groups, and in the
latter case are often arranged in a uniform symme-
trical order by the parent moth, a process in which
she manifests great ingenuity and prospective care,
both for the preservation of the eggs and the welfare
of the future young. The insoluble gum with which
they are usually covered, protects them from the in-
fluence of the weather when they are left exposed.
But in many cases they are placed under some kind
of shelter, and several species cover them with down,
which they pluck from their own bodies by means
of a pair of anal pincers with which they are pro-
vided apparently for this express purpose.
The caterpillars of moths are much more varied
in their general forms and in the structure of their
parts than those of butterflies, and indeed they may
be said to be formed on a greater variety of models
than most other animals. Their clothing and ap-
pendages are likewise extremely various ; every kind
of the former found in butterfly-larvae being ob
served among them, besides several others peculiar
to themselves. One of their most important varia
66 INTRODUCTION.
tions is in the number of feet, a circumstance which
necessarily gives rise to different modes of progres-
sion, and occasions striking differences in habit and
appearance. Before alluding, however, to the num-
ber and arrangement of the feet, it will be proper
to mention what peculiarities are observable in the
structure of these members. In many instances
there is no fleshy plate at the extremity of the pro-
legs capable of being expanded and contracted to
serve the purposes of a foot, the leg being simply a
conical fleshy prominence, having the extremity
surrounded by a complete coronet of hooks. Ex-
amples frequently occur in which the prolegs have
very much the appearance of a wooden leg, the upper
part being thick, succeeded by a slender cylindrical
piece which terminates in a circular expansion sur-
rounded with crotchets, and having a small nipple
in the centre which holds the place of a foot.
Although these small hooks are generally present,
this does not seem to be universally the case, for
the subcutaneous larvae of a small moth of the
Linnean genus Tinea, and a few others, are said to
be without them. The true, or pectoral legs, are
always six in number, and nearly uniform in figure ;
the most remarkable among the few exceptions to
this, is to be found in the caterpillar of the Lobster-
moth, which has the two posterior pairs greatly
elongated and terminating in a kind of claw. The
amount of abdominal legs, however, is very variable
in different groups, and in the anomalous caterpillars
of two small brownish-yellow moths (Heterogenea
INTRODUCTION. 67
Asellus and Limacodes Testudo), they are entirely
wanting, their place being supplied by a number of
small simple tubercles. The larvse of a great pro-
portion of the largest and most conspicuous of oar
native moths are provided with ten prolegs, like
those of butterflies, and placed in the same order.
In many others there are only eight, either one of
the abdominal pairs, or the anal one, being absent.
When the latter is the case, the hinder extremity
of the body sometimes bears two caudal appendages
(as may be seen in the caterpillars of the Puss and
Lobster moths), with the free motions of which a
pair of anal legs would probably interfere. Many
larvse possess only six prolegs, others four, and a
few of the smaller kinds merely a single pair, attached
to the anal segment. Such as have a considerable
number of intermediate legs generally keep their
body, when walking, parallel with the plain of posi-
tion, and advance by the rapid and successive motion
of each segment, as if, as has been happily remarked,
a wave were flowing over or pervading their bodies.
But such a mode of locomotion evidently cannot take
place when most or all of the abdominal segments
$re without legs, as is the case with some of those
just mentioned. These accordingly adopt a different
method, by means of which they are enabled to
move about with ease and celerity. They first fix
their prolegs to the plain of position and stretch the
body forward to its full extent ; then laying hold
with the anterior legs, the tail is let free and drawn
towards the head, the intervening portion of the
DO INTRODUCTION.
body being bent upwards into a loop or arch. Every
progressive movement is effected by a repetition of
the same manoeuvre, and the ground is thus traversed
by regular and measured steps, each of which is
nearly equal to the length of the insect's body.
These peculiar attitudes have caused the caterpillars
to be termed loopers and geometers ; and as they
possess the power, from the great strength of their
muscles, of fixing themselves by the hinder legs
to a branch, and stretching out the body stiffly
into the air, a position which they often maintain
immovably for a length of time, they are likewise
known by the name of surveyors. The kind of
locomotion just described is best exhibited by such
larvae as have only two or four prolegs, but it is
likewise seen in those that have six, and occasionally
even in species furnished with the full compliment
of ventral legs.
In the colour of their bodies these caterpillars
are as greatly diversified as in their other properties.
Such as live in the interior of trees, and in places
where they are little exposed to the influence of
light, are frequently of a dingy white or yellowish
brown colour; but the kinds which frequent the
foliage of plants, constituting by far the largest
proportion, are often ornamented with the most
vivid and varied tints. Reaumur asserts that they
exhibit examples of every known colour, besides
an infinite variety of shades, of which it would be
difficult to find the like elsewhere. Some are of
one uniform hue, but the majority are adorned
INTRODUCTION. 69
with several, often very vivid and strongly con-
trasted. Sometimes they are distributed in rays or
longitudinal stripes, at other times in bands which
follow the contour of the rings ; often in waves or
spots of regular or irregular figure ; and not unfre-
quently in insulated points, and numerous other
forms too complex and varied to admit of being
here particularised*. It frequently happens that
the colours of larvae, before their first moult, are
entirely different from those afterwards assumed ;
and in some instances they undergo a considerable
alteration at every successive change of skin. Dif-
ference of colour, in individuals of the same species,
sometimes indicates the respective sexes of the
future moth ; thus, according to De Geer, the brown
caterpillars of a common species, the Yellow Un-
derwing ( Triphcena pronuba) produce males and
the green ones females.
Many of these caterpillars are distinguished by
horns and protuberances of various sorts, which add
greatly to the singularity of their aspect. The
curious caudal appendages of those of the Puss and
Lobster moths have been already alluded to, and will
be more particularly described hereafter. Several
have a kind of horn on the hinder extremity, some-
thing resembling that of Hawk-moth Iarva3, but
it is never so long and acute as in the latter, at
least among British species, but rather assumes the
form of an elongated tubercle. An example of this
* Reaumur, Memoirs pour servir a Vhistoire des Insectes^
torn. i. page 76.
70 INTRODUCTION.
may be seen in the conspicuous caterpillar of the
Lappet-moth, which is further deserving of notice
under this head, from heing provided with a lateral
series of fleshy lobes, hanging one from each segment
and giving the creature the appearance of having
twenty feet. It is from these appendages bearing
some resemblance to lappets that the moth has
obtained its English name. The larva of the
Twin-spotted underwing (Miselia bimaculosa), of
the Coxcomb ( Lophopteryx Camelina), and some
others, have the penultimate segment armed with a
pair of short horns ; and that of a geometer-moth,
named the Lilac-beauty (Pericallia syringaria),
has two long recurved ones on the back of the eighth
segment. Others of these surveyors have a variety
of dorsal prominences, which contribute greatly to
increase the remarkable resemblance many of them
bear to a withered twig, by representing the knots
and other projections of the wood. The curiously
formed caterpillar which produces one of the most
lovely of our native moths, named, from the rosy
spots on its upper wings, the Peach-blossom ( Thya-
tira Batis), bears a large tubercle near the head,
divided at the top into two short horns. A still
more remarkable projection is found in a prettily
marked caterpillar occasionally met with in gardens
throughout the country. It is an obtuse fleshy
pyramid rising from the back of the fourth segment,
of a black colour, fringed with hairs, and incapable
of motion ; the moth named the Dagger (Acronycta
Psi) originates from this larva. Several have the
INTRODUCTION. 71
power of emitting a short retractile vesicle from
some one of the abdominal segments; and the
caterpillar of the Emperor-moth has a perforated
tubercle in front of the pectoral legs, through which,
when disturbed, it squirts a transparent fluid. This
is evidently given for defence, but with regard to
most of the appendages previously mentioned, and
others of a similar kind, we are wholly unacquainted
with their use.
Many of them are almost wholly free from hairs
and pubescence, but in numerous instances these
form one of the most striking characters belonging
to them. Although much more varied in the
clothing of their bodies than butterfly larvae, they
are devoid of the strong spines formerly described
as characterising many of the latter*. These haira
are of different kinds, and arranged in a variety of
methods. Sometimes they are soft and decumbent :
at other times, long, slender, and tortuous, investing
the body as with a fleece of wool; while in other
instances they are long and stiff resembling bristles.
Frequently they are all directed backwards, at other
times they are turned towards the head, and in some
cases they are nearly all pointed upwards or down-
wards so as to cover the back or belly and leave the
opposite half of the body almost bare. In some
they are scattered promiscuously over the surface,
* See vol. x. p. 65. The above remark, however, must be
understood as applying only to the caterpillars of British
moths ; those of certain exotic species are armed with spines
of such a size that Mr. Kirby describes them as " tre-
mendous."
72 INTRODUCTION.
and in others issue in tufts from rounded tubercles
arranged in a certain order. These tufts sometimes
assume a very peculiar form, especially in the larvae
of Tussock-moths (Qrygia, Laria, &c.) and a few
others. Two long fascicles stand out from behind
the head and project forwards, the hairs of which
are dilated at the point in such a manner as to make
them resemble a painter's brush. A similar fascicle
springs from the hinder extremity and is directed
backwards, and along the back there is a series of
short wedged-shaped tufts of equal length formed
by thick-set parallel hairs. These elongated tufts
are often rendered still more conspicuous by being
of a different colour from the other hairs ; the latter
also vary greatly in their tints, which are often
mingled and diversified so as to produce a very
ornamental effect. When the hairs are long and
thickly set, as is often the case, they form a very
efficient clothing, and tend to save the larva from
injury when it happens to fall ; they likewise seem,
at least in many cases, to be organs of touch,
for the slightest impression upon them produces
movements in the animal which indicate that it is
felt. Lyonet has shown that those of the Goat-
moth caterpillar are partly hollow, and set in a
scaly ring somewhat elevated above the skin, through
which the root communicates with a soft integu-
ment upon which the nerves form a reticular tissue,
a structure which renders it highly probable that
they perform the function just alluded to.
With so much difference in the form, members,
INTRODUCTION. 73
and clothing of the body, the caterpillars of moths
are adapted to lire in a great variety of situations
and circumstances. By far the greater proportion
are to be found on the foliage of plants ; many
occur only in the interior of the stem or branches;
not a few burrow in the earth to consume roots ;
and a small number are inhabitants of the waters.
Neither are they less varied in the nature of their
food. Few kinds of vegetable produce are exempted
from their ravages, and unhappily their taste both
for these and various sorts of fruits, often coincides
with our own. Corn is not only exposed to their
depredations while in the blade, but even after it
has been laid up in supposed security, the grain is
sometimes converted into a tenement for a small
worm, the offspring of a moth, which speedily con-
sumes all but the outer covering. They eat with
avidity the most bitter plants which our fields
produce, as well as those replete with a caustic and
corrosive juice, which on that account are left
untouched by other animals. The stings of the
nettle, and the prickles of various other plants, are
so far from warding off their attack, that these
plants seem to be the resort of a greater number of
caterpillars than those that are without any such
defence. Wool, feathers, hair, and many other
substances which set at defiance the digestive powers
of other animals, are well known to form a favourite
repast to these anomalous creatures, and as if no
limits were prescribed to their voracity, some of
74 INTRODUCTION.
them do not hesitate to devour each other whenever
they have an opportunity.
Most of these caterpillars feed during the day,
but many are as exclusively nocturnal in their
habits as the moths that spring from them. The
geometers especially may often be observed during
the whole day perfectly motionless, either stretched
flatly along a branch, or projecting from it like a
broken twig ; but the gnawed leaves in their vicinity
show that they are not always thus inactive. An
example of this kind may be seen in a species of
pretty large size, common in autumn on cherry-trees
throughout the south of Scotland and many parts
of England, which so closely resembles the bark,
that it is detected with the utmost difficulty. The
same circumstance accounts for a fact sometimes
mentioned with surprise, that the extent of the
injury done to our culinary vegetables is often quite
disproportionate to the number of depredators seen
upon them — the season of their greatest activity
being that in which they are not exposed to observa-
tion. Others take their food only in the morning
and evening, the middle of the night and of the
day being their seasons of repose.
Although the enemies of caterpillars are numerous
and destructive, consisting of birds, parasitical ich-
neumons, &c. and although they are occasionally
subject to a kind of epidemic disorder which destroys
them in great numbers, yet they often increase to
an undue extent, and occasion considerable injury.
INTRODUCTION. 75
Instances of their depredations are indeed of such
ordinary occurrence as to have fallen under the
observation of almost every one, and absolve us from
any necessity of giving many details on the subject.
Perhaps the species which have proved most in-
jurious to the produce of our fields in this country,
are those of the Brown-tail-moth (Porthesia auri-
flua, Steph., Bom. phceorrhoea, Curtis. Don.), the
Gamma-moth (Plusia gamma), the Antler-moth
(Charceas gramims), the Lackey (Clisiocampa
neustria), the Buff-tip (Pygcera bueephala), the
Cabbage-moth (Mamestra BrassicceJ, the small
Ermines ( Yponomeuta), and a few others. The first
mentioned of these increased to an extraordinary
degree in several parts of England in the summer
of 1782, and by completely defoliating the trees,
occasioned such alarm that prayers were ordered to
be read in the churches to avert the calamity. It
was apprehended, by those ignorant of their history,
that these caterpillars would likewise destroy the
growing corn and grass ; but it was soon shown that
the leaves of trees and shrubs form their only food,
and that these valuable productions would conse-
quently escape their attack. So numerous were
these creatures, that subscriptions were opened in
many parishes, and poor people employed to cut off
the webs at the rate of a shilling a bushel, which
were burned under the inspection of the overseers
of the parish; and it is stated that no less than
fourscore bushels were for a while collected daily in
76 INTRODUCTION.
some of the parishes*. The caterpillar of the
Gamma-moth is common in all parts of the country,
and as it feeds indiscriminately on a great variety
of vegetables, it probably produces more damage
than most of the indigenous species. The larvfc,
of Charaeas Graminis has sometimes done much
mischief to the pastures in the south of Scotland
and northern parts of England, but it is happily of
rather rare occurrence in the south. In the conti-
nental countries of Europe, the ravages of some of
the caterpillars just mentioned are sometimes carried
to an extent of which our own country, probably
from its insular situation, affords no example. On
one occasion those of the Gamma-moth overran
great part of France, devouring almost every thing
green, with the fortunate exception of the different
kinds of corn. The peasantry of Alsace suffered so
severely that they went to their priests and entreated
them to try the effect of religious processions in
ridding them of the plague ; and the people of Paris,
under the idea that the creatures were poisonous,
ceased for a time to use any kind of vegetable for
food. Unhappily no effectual means of easy appli-
cation has yet been found to guard vegetables from
their attacks or speedily to diminish their numbers.
Reaumur suggests that in times of scarcity they
might be used as an article of food !
o
Of these caterpillars some are solitary during their
whole life, appearing to hold no intercourse whatever
* Hist, of Brown-tail-moth, by W.Curtis London 1782.
INTRODUCTION. 77
with the rest of their kind ; many live in societies for
some time after they are hatched, but separate as
they grow up ; while others continue together all
the time they are caterpillars, even undergoing their
metamorphoses in company, and not scattering till
they acquire wings. The habitations which they
construct, and many particulars in their economy,
depend to a certain extent on their habits in this
respect, and in noticing this branch of their history,
perhaps the most interesting that belongs to it, we
shall first describe some of the most remarkable
structures of solitary caterpillars, and next advert to
those formed by the combined exertions of several.
The habitations of the former sort are either
formed by the union of separate pieces, sometimes
of different materials, or more simply by folding or
rolling together the leaves of plants ; and they are
designed either for the protection of the caterpillar
during its lifetime, or the reception of the chrysalis
into which it is subsequently converted. Several
form a covering for their bodies similar to that of
the Phryganidae, or Case-flies, with which they move
about like a snail or any other of the shell-bearing
molluscae. Of these one of the most curious is the
larvae of a small Tinea, which has not unaptly been
named the stone-mason caterpillar. It forms a
sheath for its body, or a kind of moveable tent, by
agglutinating into a compact structure, small particles
of stone detached from the wall on which it lives.
This miniature tent is of a conical shape, somewhat
curved, open at both ends, and borne rather obliquely.
INTRODUCTION.
The head and anterior part of the little inmate
project, when it moves, from the opening at the
widest end, and when the moth is perfected it issues
from the other, which has heen previously widened
to allow an easy passage. Previous to its change
into a chrysalis, the caterpillar fixes its dwelling
securely to a stone, by means ot a strong mooring
of silk. The gentleman who first described the
proceedings of this creature, supposed that it used
the particles of stone for food, but more accurate
observation soon proved that they are employed only
for the purpose above described. Its real food
seems to be lichens and minute mosses, which
usually abound on old walls.
The weight of such a covering may be supposed
to impede materially the insect's movements, for
never, says Reaumur, was a Roman soldier charged
with such a burden. Others accordingly select a
lighter material to cover the layer of silk which
they invariably place next their bodies. Some
kinds (such as Psyche radiella, Curtis B. E. fol.
332) may be said to thatch it, for they invest it
with small pieces of withered grass of different
lengths, which lie over each other and form a kind
of imbricated coating. Others fabricate this outer
vestment from fragments of leaves; and a small
species described by Reaumur, which feeds on a
kind of Astragalus, ornaments its covering with
what he, calls furbelows or flounces, resembling those
used by ladies in former times*. Similar to these
* Reaumur, vol. iii. PI. 11. fig. 1.
INTRODUCTION. 79
are the coverings of the caterpillars of the Clothes-
moths, in the fabrication of which they show a
degree of diligence and ingenuity, which it would
be more pleasing to contemplate if less frequently
exercised to our disadvantage. Their mantle con-
sists of a small somewhat cylindrical tube, open at
both ends, and rather widest in the middle. The
exterior of this tube is a tissue of wool and silk, but
the interior is lined with pure silk, for the greater
comfort of the little tenant, whose body is soft and
tender. So indispensable to its welfare is a fabric
of this kind, that the worm begins to weave it soon
after it issues from the egg. The growth of its
body, however, renders it necessary that the do-
micile should be frequently enlarged both in length
and width. The former it readily accomplishes by
putting out its head from one end, cutting the
filaments of the wool with its scissor-like mandibles,
and then, by turning its head backwards, incorpo-
rating them with the rest of the tissue; it then
turns itself in the opposite direction, which the
wideness of its tube in the centre enables it do with
facility, and repeats the same operation at the other
extremity. The widening of the tube is a more
difficult task, and the plan which it adopts to ac-
complish it is as ingenious as if it were the result
of a process of reasoning. The most obvious me-
thod, and that which we would probably adopt in
such a case, would be to make a rent the whole
length of the garment, and again fill it up by in-
serting a new piece sufficient to afford the extension
80 INTRODUCTION.
required. But such a proceeding on the part of
the worm would expose its body for a time with*
out adequate protection, an accident of which it
seems to have the utmost dread and guards against
it with every precaution. It accordingly makes
the rent extend only half way along, and when that
fissure is filled up, forms another at the opposite
end. There are generally two fissures made in each
half, the one being opposite the other, so that the
widening of the tube is effected by the insertion of
four separate pieces. The colour of the garment is
necessarily the same as that of the cloth which
affords the raw material, and if the latter be party-
coloured it exhibits a corresponding variety of hues.
The creature feeds on the same material with which
it clothes itself
These may be called domestic moths, as they are
found only in houses, where they live at the expense
of the proprietor. Others, of more innoxious habits,
frequent the foliage of trees, and fabricate, with still
greater ingenuity, their little moveable tents from
the thin membranes which form the outer coats of
the leaves. Their proceedings were first accurately
described by Reaumur, whose account we shall there-
fore follow, using as nearly as possible his own words.
One of the kinds which he mentions is found on
the leaves of the elm, and its method of working
may be taken as an example of the plan followed
by the whole tribe. It commences by mining its
way into the substance of the leaf between the two
enclosing membranes, consuming, as it proceeds,, the
INTRODUCTION. 81
parenchyma or pulp which constitutes its only
food. In this way it excavates a portion of the
leaf, leaving nothing but the thin superficial mem-
branes, which it takes particular care not to injure,
as they form the material from which the mantle is
to be manufactured. The latter is composed of two
equal and similar pieces, each forming one-half,
shaped and united with as much regularity and
precision as if executed by the most skilful artist.
The difficulty of the task is increased by the pieces
not being of regular figure, each of them being
one-half wider at the one end than the other,
and each side presenting a different curvature, the
one slightly concave and the other convex. When
the two pieces are cut into the requisite shape, they
still continue to adhere to the leaf by means of the
small crenatures left by the operator's teeth, and it
now remains only to sew the two portions together.
For this purpose it employs the silken thread, which
every caterpillar can spin, and attaches the two edges
so firmly and neatly, that it is difficult, when the
habit is completed, to discern the point of junction
even by the aid of a lens. A rounded form is
given to it by its being at first moulded, as it were>>
on the body of the insect itself, and its dimensions
are easily increased by the walls being pushed
outwards. The interior is freed from inequalities
by the pressure of the insect's head, and then lined
and strengthened with a coating of silk ; those parts
being made strongest, which, from their prominence*
82 INTRODUCTION.
are most exposed to friction. The little dwelling is
now complete, but continues attached to the spot
where it was formed. In order to disengage it, the
insect puts out the anterior part of its body, and
fixing its fore-legs to the leaf, drags the case for-
wards, retaining its hold of it chiefly by the small
hooks on the abdominal legs. It is now in a con-
dition to transport itself from one leaf to another,
and select the portions best suited to its taste,
without incurring the risk, which it seems so much
to dread, of exposing itself to the air.
Apparently with the view of saving themselves
the labour of sewing up one of the sides of their
domicile, some of these creatures have the sagacity
to mine the leaf close to one of the edges, and thus
preserve the membrane unbroken on three of its
sides. " Their proceedings," says one of the authors
of the Introduction to Entomology, " I had the
pleasure of witnessing a short time since upon the
alders in the Hull Botanic Garden. More ingenious
than their brethren, and willing to save the labour
of sewing up two sides in their dwellings, they
insinuate themselves near the edge of a leaf instead
of in its middle. Here they form their excavation,
mining into the very crenatures between the two
surfaces of the leaf, which, being joined together
at the edge, there form one seam of the case ; and
from their dentated figure, give it a very singular
appearance, not unlike that of some fishes which
have fins on their backs. The opposite side they
INTRODUCTION. 83
are necessarily forced to cut and sew up ; but, even
in this operation, they show an ingenuity and con-
trivance worthy of admiration/'
A numerous tribe of small caterpillars feed, like
those just described, on the pulp of leaves, but form
no tent, contenting themselves with the protection
afforded by the walls of their galleries. These have
been named leaf-miners, and are very common on a
variety of plants. Their tracks appear on the surface
of the leaf like white tortuous lines, sometimes ex-
panding into areas, and often intersecting each other.
They are mostly very diminutive, as may be inferred
from the nature of their haunts, many of them finding
ample scope and accommodation within the dimen-
sions of a leaf "not equal in thickness to this paper.
The most cursory observer cannot fail to have
noticed that the leaves of trees and shrubs are often
rolled together into hollow cylinders, folded in a
variety of forms or collected into packets, and that
they are held in these positions by a series of silken
ligaments. Each of these will be found to contain
a small caterpillar, generally belonging to the tribe
of insects now under consideration, which has
adopted this method of sheltering itself from the
weather, and feeding at its ease in concealment
from its numerous enemies. Leaves of great strength
and elasticity are frequently seen twisted and con-
voluted for this purpose, and it is not a little
surprising that creatures of such small dimensions,
frequently not exceeding two or three lines in length,
should be able to overcome the resistance of thg
84 INTEODUCTIOX.
fibres and nervures over so comparatively large a
surface. This, however, they accomplish with
apparent ease, instructed by the same beneficent
Power that teacheth man knowledge, and who has
conferred even on the lowest of his sentient creatures
an instinct which operates with the most salutary
regularity, and is perfectly adequate to the supply
of all their wants.
Before a caterpillar of this sort commences its
operations, it seems to take a survey of the leaf, in
order to discover the part best adapted to its purpose.
By availing itself of some natural inflection or cur-
vature, such as may generally be found even in the
flattest leaves, its labour is sometimes considerably
lessened. It then takes up its position nearly mid-
way between the edge of the leaf and the place to
which it desires to draw it, — the latter being gene-
rally the mid-rib, or some one of the principal
nervures, — and spins a multitude of threads between
these two points. These threads are the mechanical
means by which the operation is to be accomplished.
The curvature once formed, they easily prevent the
recoil of the leaf, but it is not so obvious in what
manner they cause it to roll up. One of the most
philosophical observers that ever laboured in this field
of natural history, confesses that he was unable to
satisfy himself how this effect was produced, although
the operation was going on under his eyes. " Le
paquet," he says, " ii'est que Tassemblage des fils files
successivement. Dans 1'instant que chaque fil vient
de sortir de la filiere, pendant qu'il est encore mol,
INTRODUCTION. 85
pour ainsi dire, 1'insecte 1'applique contre la feuille,
il est asses gluant pour s'y coller : il peut bien avoir
&e tire droit d'une partie de la feuille a 1'autre, mais
il ne S9auroit avoir ete asses tendu pour faire un
effort capable de ramener une des deux parties de
la feuille vers 1'autre. Je S9ais que ce fil, quoique
extremement delie, a quelque force; je lai vu en
bien de circonstances, suspendre la chenille en Tair,
mais il n'a pas ete possible, que quand il a ete attache
avec le degre de tension necessaire pour forcer une
des parties d'une feuille a* s'approcher de 1'autre.
Si apres avoir ete file, il se raccourcissoit en sechant,
ce raccourcissement le mettroit en etat d'agir;
mais ou peut aller le raccourcissement d'un fil si
court? Combien seroit petite la courbure qu'il
pourrait donner a la feuille* !" It is very likely,
however, that the thread suffers some contraction as
the moisture evaporates by the action of the air, and
however slight that contraction may be, that it co-
operates with other causes to produce the curvature.
The only other means which the insect has been
observed to employ, are drawing the threads towards
itself by its fore legs, and hanging upon them with
the whole weight of its body. These threads are not
placed at random, but arranged in small bundles or
fascicles, each of which consists of two parallel rows,
crossing each other in the centre. When the insect
has formed the lower series, it passes to the other side
and spins the second, making use of the former, while
so doing, as a kind of platform for the support of its
* Reaumur, Mem. ii. p. 215.
86 INTRODUCTION.
body. Its whole weight consequently tends to draw
the leaf forwards, while every successive thread of
the superior set that is fixed, immediately secures
the additional curve gained by the continued pressure.
The effect of this mode of proceeding soon becomes
visible in the appearance of the threads ; the lower
ones become loose and floating, and those last spun
alone continue tight. One convolution of the leaf
being in this manner secured, the laborious little
workman proceeds to form a second, by fixing his
cords further back on the bent part of the leaf, and
managing them as before. When the last roll is
completed, the whole is secured by a series of silken
bands, one or two of which are placed at each ex-
tremity of the cylinder; or it is fastened with
irregular threads, which form a kind of thin web
along the whole extent of the leaf. The caterpillar
now takes up its abode in the interior, and finds
ample means of subsistence in the internal layers of
its dwelling, without injuring the outermost roll ; or
if the latter be likewise consumed, it is under the
necessity of constructing another tenement.
Reaumur, and several authors who have followed
him, assert, that when these leaf-rollers are unable
to overcome the resistance of the leaf by the mecha-
nism just described, they render it more flexible by
purposely gnawing the nervures and the thickest por-
tions ; but others are inclined to regard this state-
ment as erroneous. As they are often occupied a
considerable time in forming their habitations, it is
scarcely to be supposed that they always abstain
INTRODUCTION. 87
from food till their task is completed, and if they
do not, they may frequently increase the suppleness
of the leaf, although we do not allow them credit
for being sufficiently sagacious to gnaw its fibres for
that express purpose.
The proceedings of different caterpillars, in forming
dwellings of this kind, vary considerably ; but the
mechanical means which they employ are in most
cases similar to the above. Some roll the leaves
from the point down the mid-rib, others from the
side towards the centre. Many compose their
habitations by rolling two leaves together, while
others draw the two sides towards each other and
convert the whole leaf into a capacious tube. A
few, less laborious than their fellows, select the long
and nearly parallel leaves which terminate the
young shoots of the willow, and very expeditiously
adapt them to their own purposes, simply by wind-
ing round them a number of silken cords. Such
kinds show a wonderful degree of instinctive fore-
sight, in carefully gnawing the bud at the extremity
of the shoot, which is enclosed in the centre of the
packet, and thereby preventing it from sprouting, as
its doing so would have the effect of disarranging
the whole tenement, and probably rupturing the
bands by which it was held together. A small
number take up their abode in the centre of um-
belliferous herbs. It is well known, that in many
of these plants the little umbels gradually become
longer as they recede from the centre, and that
consequently when they approyimate to each other,
Htf INTRODUCTION.
as they sometimes do naturally for the protection of
the seed, they form a little hollow or cup in the
middle, a circumstance so well exemplified in the
wild carrot (Daucus Carota)^ that it has procured
for it the name of the bird's nest. Ingeniously
availing itself of this tendency, the caterpillar draws
the pedicles closely together with ligaments of silk,
and thus provides for itself a pretty secure lodge-
ment in the interior.
The larvae which follow the modes of architecture
hitherto described, spend their lives in solitude,
each confining himself to his own leafy tenement,
as closely as a hermit to his cell. Others, however,
are of a more social and convivial disposition, and
not only feed in company, but form tents which are
common to the whole community. These little
commonwealths are the offsprings of one mother,
originating from eggs which she has deposited in
clusters on the plant best adapted to the nourishment
of the young. In some cases, as has been already
mentioned, the latter continue together only for a
certain time after they are hatched and then separate,
probably in order to obtain a more abundant supply
of food. But in other instances, it seems essential
to their economy that they continue to associate
until they reach their perfect condition. Of the
former description are the caterpillars, so abundant
in some years on fruit trees, which produce a moth
of a beautiful snow-white, with the apex of the
abdomen bright yellow (Porthesia Chrysorrhcea},
whose nests may be taken as an example of the
INTRODUCTION. 89
kinds generally formed by these family associations.
When they first issue from the egg, they arrange
themselves side by side in regular lines, two or three
deep, and eat their way along the surface of the
leaf, advancing simultaneously and with as much
regularity as if they were executing a military
manoeuvre. In this systematic way they speedily
consume the leaf for rather more than half its thick-
ness ; leaving, however, untouched the inferior epi-
dermis and the nervures, as these are to form the
canvass and cordage, if it may be so expressed, of a
portion of their future tent. At an early period
some of them may be seen carrying their lines of
silk from one side of the leaf to the other, and as
these increase in number^ the latter, now become
thin and pliable, gradually acquires a concave shape.
By the aid of additional spinners, the threads are
multiplied till they form a continuous web or veil,
the silk of which is remarkable for its whiteness.
Under this, as a kind of roof, they find shelter from
the weather, and make little excursions when in
want of additional food.
Now busily convened, upon the bud
That crowns their genial branch, they feast sublime ;
And spread their muslin canopy around,
Pavilioned richer than the proudest kings.
Several leaves, prepared in this manner, are gene-
rally necessary to afford accommodation to an entire
colony. These slight erections, however, are de-
signed merely for temporary protection, and are all
abandoned for one of a more durable construction.
90 INTRODUCTION.
in which they pass the winter and continue to dwell
all the time they remain in society. This they
generally form near the extremity of some of the
twigs that afforded them food. It presents, when
completed, the appearance of a large packet of silk
and leaves rudely interwoven, and of no uniform
shape, the latter heing regulated entirely by the
disposition of the shoots which support it. The
whole colony work busily at this new edifice, and
stretch their strong nets in all directions till they
have enclosed a sufficient space. The different
webs divide the interior of the nest into several
compartments of very irregular form, but each of
sufficient capacity to contain a number of caterpil-
lars. When the interior is laid open, a number of
cells are visible, forming such a complete labyrinth,
that it is difficult to comprehend how the larvas that
lodge in the centre find means to reach their
quarters. This, however, they are enabled to do
by means of doors or passages, which they take
care to leave open at convenient places as the
structure advances. The texture of these nests is
so strong that they withstand all the storms of
winter and spring, and protect their little inmates
till the beginning of summer, when they disperse
in order to undergo their metamorphosis.
The nests of other kinds of social caterpillars are
frequently formed with less art than the above.
Those found in such profusion in certain seasons
on apple trees, made by caterpillars which produce a
small pearl-white moth, sprinkled with black dots,
INTRODUCTION. 91
are of this description, although these larvae are
among the species which continue in company till
they become pupae, a circumstance which might be
supposed to render a secure protection more neces-
sary. Their nests appear like an assemblage of
irregular webs, very transparent, and almost resem-
bling those spun by certain spiders. These form a
kind of hammock on which the caterpillars repose,
not even leaving it when they feed, but merely
stretching their heads over the sides. They seem
to be very sensitive, and on the slightest touch draw
back or advance on their silken couch. This they
are observed to do nearly in a straight line, without
turning to the right or left ; and on careful exami-
nation, it is found that this is occasioned by each
being enclosed in a kind of long sheath of filigree
work, of so delicate a texture as to be invisible to the
naked eye. In the course of their lives each society
makes seven or eight of these nests, a new one
being requisite every time they shift their quarters
in search of food.
These larvae, as well as a large proportion of the
species formerly alluded to, are converted into chry-
salides in the same abodes they occupied during
their reptile state ; but many provide for their
safety, while in that comparatively defenceless con-
dition, by constructing cells of great strength and
solidity. Most pf these will be described here-
after, in connexion with the particular history of
the species which form them. They are usually
92 INTRODUCTION.
composed of particles of earth or sand, agglutinated
or held together by an intermixture of silk threads.
Such are a few of the structures of these minia-
ture architects, and it is impossible to peruse even
the most brief and imperfect account of them with-
out being struck with the admirable skill and
foresight which they manifest. The almost unde-
viating uniformity of the cells of the hive-bee has
been sometimes adduced as an argument against
the intelligence of these industrious insects, their
operations, being thought to be thereby assimilated
to those of a piece of unconscious mechanism. But
this objection, if it be one, does not apply to the
creatures we have just been considering. There is
always sufficient variety in the circumstances under
which they work to require the exercise of con-
siderable intelligence. They must discriminate and
select, and adapt their plans to new contingencies
which are continually occurring in the course of their
proceedings. The facility with which they do this
has- been often exemplified. We have already men-
tioned a small larva which forms a moveable tent
of the epidermis of a leaf, and which, to save the
trouble of sewing up one of the sides, makes its
excavation close to the edge, where it leaves the
membrane entire to form one of the walls. While the
operation was going forward, Reaumur cut off with
a pair of scissors the whole of the outer edge, and
left it in a great measure open. Thus unexpectedly
exposed and defeated in its object, the worm was
INTRODUCTION. 93
not long in determining what steps it would be
necessary to take in order to repair the disaster.
It almost immediately began to connect the two
dissevered membranes by means of silk threads, a
task which it completed in a few minutes, and then
continued its operations, as if it had experienced no
material interruption.
The chrysalides of butterflies were formerly de-
scribed as being, with very few exceptions, of an
angular shape, and suspended either by the tail or a
band round the middle ; those of moths, however, are
generally of an oval or elliptical form, somewhat
inclining to conical, and scarcely ever suspended*.
In a few instances they assume the figure of an elon-
gated cone, and in others they approach to cylindrical.
They have no projections or protuberances on the
body, but the head is occasionally armed with one or
two sharp points, and the abdominal segments with
a series of spines directed backwards. The hinder
extremity is sometimes furnished with a number of
small hooks, similar to those in butterfly pupae,
although they are not employed for the same purpose,
fhe colour of these pupae is very uniform, being in
general a deep chestnut-brown, sometimes approach -
* Among the few instances of suspension afforded by our
native species, we may mention, as examples, some of the small
plumed moths (Alucitula), and a few Geometers belonging
to the genus Ephyra, which have their chrysalides attached
to the under side of leaves, &c. by the tail and middle, nearly
in the same manner as practised by the caterpillars of the
white-cabbage butterfly.
94 INTRODUCTION.
ing to black. Occasionally, however, they are of
brighter hues ; that of Geometra alniaria is bluish ;
that of the dark crimson under wing (Catocala
sponsa), lilac; and that of the common Magpie-
moth (Abraxas grossulariata), a species remarkable
for the similarity of its colours through all its diffe-
rent stages, is ornamented with alternate rings of
black and yellow.
The security which arises to the pupse of butter-
flies from being hung out of the way of danger, is
provided for among moths, by enveloping them in
a dense tissue of silk or extraneous substances, and
frequently by burying them in the earth or in the
interior of plants. This covering of the chrysalis,
of whatsoever materials it is composed, is named the
cocoon. Silk is almost always used in its composi-
tion, and in very many cases it is the only substance
employed. In structure, texture, and many other
properties, cocoons vary extremely. Sometimes the
caterpillars content themselves with filling a certain
space with threads, crossing each other in various
directions, and leaving many voids between them :
in the centre of this loose web the chrysalis is placed.
In other instances the fabric is more closely woven,
but still sufficiently open to allow the chrysalis to
be seen, and apparently inadequate to protect it
from the weather. In such cases, however, addi-
tional shelter is often obtained by drawing round
it a few of the leaves among which it is usually
placed. Many hairy larvae increase the compactness
of their cocoons by stripping their own bodies and
INTRODUCTION. 95
pushing the hairs into the interstices of the silk.
Others employ, for the same purpose, particles of
earth, or the raspings and gnawed portions of the
wood on which they subsist. Most of the species
which retire under ground to pass this inactive
period of their existence, form structures of con-
siderable strength, in which very little silk is em-
ployed ; but in nearly all cases the interior is lined
with a fine tapestry of that material, by which it is
rendered smooth and warm. In addition to this,
some use an internal layer of varnish, and others a
soft substance resembling paste, which they apply
with their head to the whole of the inside, which
is thus coated over something after the manner
of a blackbird's nest. But the cocoons most fre-
quently met with are composed of pure silk, united
into a pretty compact fabric, which renders them
impervious to air and moisture. Of these, one
of the handsomest and most familiarly known is
that of the silk- worm. Such cocoons are formed by
a single continuous thread, not wound in a circular
direction, but in a succession of zigzags, the vis-
cosity of the thread when it first issues from the
spinneret enabling it to adhere wherever it is ap-
plied. The greater number of the more closely
woven kinds are enclosed in a loose web, which is
first spun as a kind of scaffolding for the caterpillar,
while employed in rearing its interior an>d mora
substantial structure. In a few cases, however, this
exterior envelope is a compact tissue, closely em-
bracing the other, so that the chrysalis appears to
96
be enclosed in two separate cocoons. An example
of this may be seen in the Yellow Tussock-moth
(Dasychira pudilunda).
The perfect insect extricates itself from the pupa-
case nearly in the same way as butterflies ; but the
majority have the additional task awaiting them of
making their way through the walls of the cocoon.
The firm consistence of the latter, in many instances,
may reasonably be supposed to render this a matter
of no easy accomplishment to creatures des*;tute of
jaws or other instruments for eroding hard sub-
tances; and unless the difficulty were provided
against by prospective wisdom, the structures which
they fabricate with so much skill and labour to
protect them during their state of repose, would
often prove their tombs. It is sometimes the moth
that is furnished with the means of effecting her
own liberation, and in other cases it is provided for
by the caterpillar, through some peculiarity in the
construction of the cocoon. Of the former descrip-
tion are the puss-moth, and several other kinds,
which are provided with an acid secretion, which
they discharge on the end of the cocoon from which
they desire egress, and by its solvent power the com-
pact wall soon loses its cohesion and gives way to
the slightest pressure. Others possess the means of
breaking the threads at one end, employing for that
purpose, according to Reaumur's opinion, the minute
facets of the eyes, which are the only hard organs
in the head, after the manner of a file. Generally
however, the texture is loosened by some solvent
INTRODUCTION. 9?
menstruum acting on the gum which holds the fibres
of the silk together, and the animal is able to force
itself through without having recourse to any other
means. It is found that the cocoons, from which
the silk-worm moth has emerged, can occasionally
be unwound in an unbroken thread, but in far the
greater number of instances this is impossible.
When the caterpillar provides for the egress of the
moth, it generally does so by making a circular
incision near the one end, leaving only a small
portion entire to act as a hinge, and this the moth
easily pushes outwards when it desires to escape.
But sometimes a much more elaborate contrivance
is resorted to, of which a curious example is afforded
by the flask-shaped cocoon of the Emperor -moth.
This has frequently been so well described, that we
cannot expect to make it better understood than by
using the words of a previous writer. " If you examine
one of these cocoons, which are common enough in
some places on the pear tree Or the willow*, you
will perceive that it is generally of a solid tissue of
layers of silk almost of the texture of parchment ;
but at the narrow end, or that which may be com-
pared to the neck of the flask, that it is composed
of a series of loosely-attached longitudinal threads,
converging, like so many bristles, to a blunt point,
in the middle of which is a circular opening. It is
through this opening that the moth escapes. The
silk of its cocoon is of so strong a texture and so
* In Scotland they are most frequently foumjl on heaths
and moor-land, the larva subsisting on the heather.
98 INTRODUCTION.
closely gummed, that had both ends been similarly
closed, its egress would have been impracticable ;
it finds, however, no difficulty in forcing its way
through the aperture of a sort of reversed funnel,
formed of converging threads that readily yield to
pressure from within. But an objection will here
probably strike you. You will ask, Is not this
facility of egress purchased at too dear a rate?
Must not a chrysalis, in an open cocoon, be exposed
to the attacks of those ichneumons of which you
have said so much, and of numerous other enemies,
which will find admittance through this vaunted
door ? Our caterpillar would seem to have foreseen
your dilemma; at least, under heavenly guidance,
she has guarded against the danger as effectually as if
she had. If you cut open the cocoon longitudinally,
you will see that within the exterior funnel-shaped
end, at some distance, she has framed a second funnel,
composed of a similar circular series of stiff threads,
which, proceeding from the sides of the cocoon, con-
verge also to a point, and form a sort of cone exactly
like the closed peristome of a moss; or, to use a
more humble though not less apt illustration, like
the wires of certain mouse-traps. In this dome not
the slightest opening is left, and from its arched
structure, it is impenetrable to the most violent
efforts of any marauders from without; whilst it
yields to the slightest pressure from within, and
allows the egress of the moth with the utmost
facility. When she has passed through it, tne
elastic threads resume their former position, and
INTRODUCTION. 99
the empty cocoon presents just the same appearance
as one still inhabited. Rosel relates, with amusing
naivete, how this circumstance puzzled him the first
time he witnessed it ; he could scarcely help think-
ing that there was something supernatural in the
appearance of one of these fine moths in a box in
which he had put a cocoon of this kind, but in
which he could not discover the slightest appearance
of any insect having escaped from it, until he slit it
longitudinally. But from an observation of Meinec -
ken, it appears that these converging threads serve
a double purpose ; being necessary to compress the
abdomen of the moth as it emerges from the cocoon,
which forces the fluid to enter the nervures of the
wings, and give them their proper expansion. For
he found, that when the pupa is taken out of the
cocoon, the moth is disclosed at the proper time,
but remains always crippled in its wings, which
never expand properly, unless the abdomen be com-
pressed with the finger and thumb, so as to imitate
the natural operation*."
Although moths may be characteristically said
to be nocturnal insects, i* must not be understood
that their appearance is exclusively confined to the
night, or even the twilight. The Gamma-moth, the
majority of the male Bombyeidae, and others too
numerous to mention, may often be seen " floating
amid the liquid noon," associated with the multitude
of other tribes wilich the sunshine awakes to active
* Int. to Entom. iii. p. 279.
100 INTRODUCTION.
life and enjoyment. But with far the larger propor-
tion, night is the chosen and appropriate season of
activity. During the day they conceal themselves
in clefts of trees, among tangled vegetation and
under leaves, and seldom issue from their retreats
till the light is beginning to fail. Some are on the
wing only in the earlier part of the night, others
are later in appearing, and continue their flight till
the morning is far advanced. During these ex-
cursions, many fall a prey to bats and night-birds
of various kinds, which delight to capture their
insect food when on the wing, seldom searching for
it when at rest, according to the general practice of
their day-feeding companions.
The great beauty of many of these insects, the
almost infinite variety of their colours and markings,
as well as their curious habits and economy, have
long rendered this a favourite branch of study with
the generality of Entomologists. A large proportion
of the works relating to insects, especially works
of the illustrated class, are devoted to the elucida-
tion of this tribe ; and in almost every collection of
indigenous specimens, they occupy a prominent
place. The zeal with which the rarer and more
beautiful kinds have been sought after, and the
estimation in which they have been held when
obtained, is sufficiently evinced by the high-sound-
ing names, by means of which collectors have
attempted to express their admiration. Such de-
signations as the Emperor, Nonpareil, Kentish
Glory, Richmond Beauty, £c. have been applied to
INTRODUCTION. 101
them almost as liberally as similar names are used
by the fanciers of gigantic gooseberries and peer-
less tulips, in reference to the objects of their
predilection. In proportion to the eagerness shown
in the pursuit, has been the variety of plans adopted
to obtain specimens with the greatest ease and in
the best possible condition. One of the most satis-
factory methods is to rear the larvae, when these
can be obtained, till they change to pupa?, and the
moths are thus secured as soon as they emerge,
with the beauty of their plumage unimpared. Mr.
Kirby mentions, that the seasons in which the
London amateurs repair to the woods in search of
larvae, are the beginning of April, June, the begin-
ning of July, and September ; and they dig for the
pupae late in July, and in January and February.
The perfect insects are to be found all the summer
and autumn, and certain kinds even in winter.
The attractions of a youthful female of their own
species have been already mentioned as affording a
likely means of procuring several of the larger
Bombycidae, even in places where they might not
previously be supposed to exist. Advantage is
often taken of the propensity which these insects
show, in common with many other nocturnal ani-
mals, to repair to a light, when they may be readily
seized as they continue to flutter around it in a
kind of bewildered state. As the most effectual
means of employing a light, it is recommended that
it should be placed in a lanthorn, and the latter
fixed on the breast by means of a belt round the
1 02 INTRODUCTION.
waist, both hands being thus left at liberty. If
indisposed, however, to make much personal ex-
ertion, the Aurelian may often reap a rich harvest
merely by opening the windows of a lighted apart-
ment, especially if his dwelling be in the vicinity of
woods, and securing such visitors as make their
appearance within. The following extract shows
with what success this plan has been attended.
" My success in obtaining lepidoptera, to which I
am particularly attached," says the Rev. C. S. Bird,
" I owe to the use of a lamp to attract moths.
During the moonless nights of summer, I sit with
a Sinumbra-lamp, and perhaps one or two smaller
lamps, placed on a table close to the window. The
moths speedily enter the room, if the weather be
warm. I have had a levee of more than a hundred
between the hours of ten and twelve. In the spring,
too, and autumn, I have been frequently fortunate,
though generally having my patience sufficiently
med. In March, for instance, I have taken many
specimens of Blston prodromarius in one evening ;
Glcea rubricosa and Lytcea leucographa have accom-
panied them. In April and May, Cucullia fissina
and Peridcea serrata have visited me. "When No-
vember has arrived, Petasia cassinea and Pcecilo-
campa populi have crowded into my room. Of
course, at such cool times of the year the window
must be kept shut till the moths knock for admit*
tance. If at any time of the year a warm mist
pervade the air, there is almost a certainty of success.
But should any one be induced by this account
INTRODUCTION. 103
to try the lamp, he must make up his mind to expe-
rience more of unfavourable evenings than favour-
able* There is, however, this advantage in my
sedentary plan of mothing, that it can be combined
with reading or writing ; and the intervals between
the arrivals need not be lost
" Moths are extremely sensible of any keenness in
the air ; a north or east wind is very likely to keep
them from venturing abroad. Different species
have different hours of flight. Thus, on a, mild and
dark November evening, Pcecilocampa populi will
occupy from seven to ten o'clock, after which it will
make way for Petasia cassinea, which will fly till
one or two in the morning, I have, for experi-
ment's sake, sat up in the summer till three o'clock,
when the whole heaven was bright with the rising
sun, and moths of various kinds have never ceased
arriving in succession till that time. Some of them
must come from a considerable distance. Scoto-
phila porpkyrea, being a heath moth, must come
nearly a mile.
" Moths, like butterflies, have their peculiar
modes of flight, by which I can generally distin-
guish them on their entrance, before I can see their
colours. Some announce themselves by a loud
knock on the floor ; this is the case with Leiocampa
dictcea. Some ascend instantly to the ceiling, as
Agrotis cortlcea. Many, I might say the majority,
pass the lamp rapidly ; and this shows the compara-
tive inutility of using the lamp out of doors, where
only those that loiter about it can be taken. Some
] 04 INTRODUCTION.
hare a soft and gentle flight ; as, for instance, Cos-
mia pyralma, one of my most welcome visitors,
whose entrance I am usually made aware of by see-
ing something drop down on the table, as quick as
hail, but as light as a fleece of snow ; whilst, on the
contrary, the conceited vagaries and absurd violence
of Clisiocampa neustria are absolutely amusing;
and cratcegi and populi are nearly as bad. It is not
the Nocturna alone that come to me in the night—-
many of what Mr. Stephens calls the Semidiuma,
the Geometridce^ accompany them at all hours. It
may likewise be worth while to say a word on my
method of securing my prey. Suppose that, either
with or without a bag-net, I have imprisoned a
moth under an inverted wine-glass, I then light a
small piece of German tinder, half the size of a
sixpence, or less, and introduce it under the edge,
and by means of the smoke the insect is stupified
almost immediately. It is then wholly in my power,
though it would quickly revive : — I pierce it ; and,
by means of a pin dipped in oxalic acid, and thrust
into the body beneath the thorax, I prevent its
revival, and fix it on the settling board. The Ger-
man tinder does not injure the colour, as brimstone
would, whilst it puts the moth so completely in my
power for a few moments, that the specimens I thus
take and kill are often as perfect and beautiful as if
I had bred them. Of course, I use it for insects
taken in the day, or bred, as well as for those cap-
tured by the lamp*." The locality to which the
* Entomological Magazine for January 1834, page 39.
INTRODUCTION. 105
above account refers is the vicinity of Reading, in
Berkshire. The list given by Mr. Bird of the spe-
cies taken in the manner described, includes many
of the rarer and most beautiful kinds found in this
country.
Another method of capturing moths has recently
been practised in the north of England by P. J.
Selby,Esq. of Twizel, and has been attended with
so much success, that we have much pleasure in
being enabled to subjoin the following account of
it as communicated by that distinguished natu-
ralist. " In the course of my entomological pursuits
— for that fascinating department of Zoology has
for the last year engrossed a great part of my leisure,
— my attention was first directed to the mode I have
since adopted for the capture of nocturnal lepidoptera,
by the extraordinary success that I understood had
attended the exposure of a sugar-cask, recently
emptied, in a favourable situation ; and by means
of which attraction a great variety of moths, some
of them of very rare occurrence, had been secured.
As sugar casks are not easily procured in this
country, I bethought myself of some succedaneum,
and it presently struck me that a beehive, or as it is
generally called here, a skep, recently emptied of
its honey, or well anointed with the same, might
answer the purpose, as it was evident the insects
were attracted by the saccharine matter and smell.
I accordingly had one prepared, and the very first
evening was convinced that it would prove a very
efficient trap, as several moths of different species
106 INTRODUCTION.
were seen and taken upon it. Unfortunately, the
best part of the season was nearly over hefore I
commenced operations, as it was not exposed till
after the middle of August ; but from the success I
have had up to the present time, I am convinced it
is one of the most effectual modes of obtaining the
noctuidae, and that many which would otherwise
escape observation are thus to be obtained. Indeed,
some of those I have already procured, I had never
before met with in this district ; and I dare say, but
for this attractive trap, they would have remained
long undiscovered, as some of them are in their
force or full flight at a much later period than we
are generally accustomed to look after moths. I
anticipate a rich harvest during the ensuing spring
and summer, not only of the noctuidae, but also of
the other large moths ; the Geometridas and smaller
species I know come to it, as some of them have
already been taken upon it. By this mode also,
many interesting particulars relating to their natural
history are likely to become known to us, such as
the period of duration of different species, the pro-
portion of males and females, &c. I find that in
the early part of the season their duration is much
shorter than at a later ; in many of those occurring
in August and September, it seldom exceeded two
or three weeks ; whereas such as did not appear till
towards the end of October have continued till the
present period, that is, nearly three months; as
I have taken every mild evening specimens of
Glcea Satellitia up to the 26th of January, and
INTRODUCTION. 107
Calocampa exoleta as late as the 7th of the same
month.
" The skep should he well anointed on the exterior
with honey (the refiise will answer perfectly well),
and should he supported on a forked stake ahout four
feet from the ground, or so that, the insects can he
easily got at and enclosed in the flappers as they
alight and settle upon it. In this way they may he
taken in as fine and perfect condition as if they
had heen hred from the larvaa within doors. I
generally select a sheltered situation and near to
wood; of late I have had it near a service tree,
whose herries I had previously observed attracted
the moths.
" The following are a few of the species taken : —
Agrotis suflusa, Pyrophila Tragopogonis, Pyrophila
tetra, Glsea Yaccinii, Gla3a spadicea, Apamea nic-
titans, Polia occulta, Polia Chi, Xanthia fulvago,
Xanthia gilvago, Phlogophora meticulosa, several
species of Hadena, Caradrina glareosa," &c. &c.
HESPERID7E.
ALTHOUGH the HESPERID^E are usually classed with
the diurnal lepidoptera, they recede in many im-
portant characters from that group, and become
considerably assimilated, both in structure and
habits, to the crepuscular and nocturnal kinds, and
are therefore not improperly regarded as forming
the connecting link between these two tribes. Like
butterflies, they have the antennae strongly clubbed
at the summit (where they are generally furnished
with a hook), and the anterior wings are directed
upwards in repose but diverge from each other,
while the under pair are horizontal, and the hinder
tibiae furnished with two pair of spurs ; attributes
which are common to them with moths and hawk-
moths. The season of their flight is most commonly
towards the evening, which led Fabricius to dis-
tinguish them by a generic name bearing reference
to that circumstance. But they are likewise ob-
served on the wing during the whole day, and their
mode of flight, which is only for a short distance at
a time, and performed with frequent and sudden
jerks, has caused them to be well known in this
country by the name of Skippers. They are insects
HESPERID.E. 109
below the middle size, and no way distinguished
for beauty of colouring or variety of markings.
In these respects, indeed, such a general similarity
prevails, that in several instances the greatest diffi-
culty is experienced in determining the species, and
much complexity and confusion is consequently to
be found in their synonymy. They formed a part
of the fifth great section into which Linne divided
the diurnal lepidoptera, and were distinguished in
his system by the appellation of Plebeii Urbicolce.
The head and thorax are very large and robust, and
the wings are thick and strong. The caterpillars
of many of the species are imperfectly known.
Some of them protect themselves by rolling together
the leaves on which they feed, in a manner similar
to that practised by the leaf-rolling caterpillars of
certain moths. The chrysalides are without any
eminence except at the head, which is notched or
acuminated, and they are enclosed in a web of loose
texture.
110
GRIZZLED SKIPPER.
Thymele Alveolus.
PLATE I. Fig. 1.
Pap. Alveolus, Hubner. — Pap. Malvse, Letvin^ PI. 46, figs. 8, 9.
— Hesperia Malvse, Jermyn. Id Edition, 154. — The Grizzled
Butterfly, Wilkes The Grizzle Butterfly, Harris"1 Aurcl.
PI. 32 — Thymele Alveolus, Fabr. Steph.
THYMELE is known by having antennae slightly
elongate, the joints upwards of thirty in number,
with the club curved, but not terminating in ai
hook. The palpi are rather longer than the head,
and thickly clothed with hair; the anterior wings
rather short, and rounded on the hinder edge.
The Grizzled Skipper is a small species, seldom \
much exceeding an inch in the expansion of the
wings. The ground colour of the surface is brownish-
black, the anterior wings from before the middle to i
the apex marked with straw-coloured spots, most of i
them of a quadrangular shape ; the fringe the same
colour as the spots, and barred with brownish-black.
The under wings have some straw-coloured spots
towards the middle anteriorly, and an irregular
macular band not far from the hinder margin ; th*
GRIZZLED SKIPPER. Ill
latter having the whitish fringe interrupted with
narrow dusky spots. The under side is grey tinged
with green, with spots nearly corresponding to those
on the surface, but many of them somewhat en
larged.
The Pap. Fritillum of Lewin and some other
writers, according to the opinion of Mr. Stephens,
is merely a variety of the above. It has an oblong
whitish mark towards the middle of the upper
wings not far from the anterior margin, and the
other light-coloured spots are larger and of a more
oblong shape than in the form already described.
It has been occasionally regarded as a distinct
species, and is thought to be synonymous with
Hesperia Lavateras of Fabricius.
This insect is found in some plenty in many
parts of England, and occasionally in the south of
Scotland. It appears about the end of May. Woods
and meadows in the neighbourhood of London.
" Hartley Wood, Essex," Miss Jermyn. " Fre-
quent near Newcastle," G. Wailes. Esq. " Occa-
sionally noticed near Durham/' A'jr. Andrews.
THE DINGY SKIPPER.
Thymde Tages.
PLATE I. Fig. 2.
Pap. Tages, Linn. ; Letuin, PL 54, figs. 3 and 4 Hesperia
Tages, Leach, Jermyn — The Dingy Skipper, Harris'' Auret,
PI. 34 — Thymele Tagee, Siepk.
THIS species is generally a good deal larger than
the preceding ; the colour of the surface rather dark
brown faintly clouded with ash-grey, with a few
scattered white points, and a continuous series along
the margin of all the wings. The fringe is greyish-
brown, indistinctly denticulated ; the under side
tawny-grey, with ill-defined white spots, especially
towards the hinder side of the inferior wings. The
antenna? are black, ringed with grey.
The caterpillar is bright green, with a yellow
stripe dotted with black along the back, and others
of a similar description on the sides ; the head
brown. It is said to feed on the Eryngium cam-
pestre and birds'-foot trefoil (Lotus comiculatus),
the latter being probably its most ordinary food, as
the insect is frequently found in districts where the
THE DINGY SKIPPER. 113
former plant does not grow. The butterfly first
appears in May, and occurs not unfrequently on
dry heaths, commons, &c. Near London, at Dart-
moor in Devonshire, in Suffolk, and Norfolk, it has
been observed in plenty ; as well as in more north-
ern localities, particularly heaths in the vicinity of
Newcastle and YorK. We have likewise seen ex-
amples which were taken in the south of Scotland ;
and it occurred near Tain and Cromarty, in June
1 834, in considerable abundance : so that its range
in Britain, from north to soutn, is widely extended.
114
CHEQUERED SKIPPER
PampW.a, Panisctts.
PLATE I. Pi? 3.
Hesperia Paniscus, Fair Pap. Paniscus, Don. viii. PI. 254,
fig. 1 — Pap. Brontes, Hubner Chequered Skipper, Ha~
worth, Jermyn. — Pamphila Paniscus, Steph.
IN PAMPHILA the palpi are short and compressed,
covered with scales and hairs ; the antennae rather
short, the joints not amounting to thirty ; the club
straight, abrupt, and spindle-shaped, without a hook
at the extremity in P. Paniscus and Linea, but
having an acute hook in P. Sylvanus and Comma.
The anterior wings are somewhat longer than in the
preceding genus, and the hinder pair have a slight
projection at the anal angle, like a rudimentary
tail. The head and thorax are equally robust as in
Thymele, or rather more so ; and the males of some
of the species are distinguished by having an oblique
abbreviated black line on the disk of the anterior
wings.
The Chequered Skipper expands about an inch
and two or three lines. The surface is brownish-
black, marked with numerous bright fulvous spots.
CHEQUERED SKIPPER. 115
those on the anterior wings consisting of a large
patch before the middle, then an irregular curved
band intersected by the black nervures, and lastly,
a faint row of tawny dots parallel with the hinder
margin. On each of the secondary wings are three
discoidal spots, one of them larger than the others,
and a posterior band of small dots. The fringe of
all the wings is tawny at the tip. The under side
is yellow, inclining to grey, the upper wings with
several marks, and the extremity of the nervures
black ; the under pair with seven rounded yellowish-
white spots, and a posterior macular band of the
same colour. Antennae pale beneath, the tip of
the club reddish yellow.
The caterpillar, which feeds on the Greater Plan-
tain, is described as being dark-brown on the back,
with the sides lighter, and ornamented with two
longitudinal yellow stripes; the head black, and
the segment behind it with an orange-coloured
band.
This prettily marked insect is regarded as very
local, but its localities are pretty widely scattered,
and many of them afford it in tolerable plenty. It
frequents meadows and damp woods, usually ap-
pearing in the end of May and June. It is found
in Devonshire, near Bedford, in Northamptonshire,
Oxford, &c.
116
SMALL SKIPPER.
Pampnita Linea*
PLATE I. Fig. 4.
Heeperia Linea, Fair. — Pap. Linea, Don. vii. 236, fig. 2, (?.—
Pap. Thaumas, Lewin, PI. 45, figs. 5, 7 The Small Skip-
per, Harris* Aurel. PI. 42. — Pamphila Linea, Stepli*
RATHER of smaller size than the following, to which
in general appearance it bears a good deal of resem-
blance. The surface of the wings is fulvous, rather
glossy, without spots; the hinder margin and the
nervures black. The under side of the primary
wings is paler than the surface, shading into grey
at the tip and brown at the base ; of the secondary
wings, tawny ash-grey, the anal angle with a fulvous
patch. The fringe is pale, and the antennas blackish,
ringed with pale yellow. The male is distinguished
by having a conspicuous black oblique line on the
disk of each of the anterior wings.
The caterpillar, according to Hubner, is deep
green with a dark line along the back, and two
whitish lines on the sides margined with black. It
feeds on the mountain hair-grass (Aira montana)
SMALL SKIPPER. J 1 7
and other graminwe. The chrysalis is of a yel-
lowish-green colour. The fly appears in July, and
is frequent in many parts of the country, both in
England and Scotland.
LARGE SKIPPER.
Pampliila SyivaniAS.
PLATE II. Fig. 1.
Hesperia Sylvanus, Fabr. — Pap. Sylvanus, Lewin, PI. 46,
figs. 1—3 ; Don. viii. PI. 254, fig. 2 <J — The Large Skipper,
Harris'1 Aurel. PI. 42, f. h — Pamphila Sylvanus, Steph.
EXPANSION of the wings from fourteen to sixteen
lines ; the colour fulvous, with the nervures and the
hinder extremity of the wings brown, the latter
colour deepening into a blackish line round the
outer edge. The anterior wings have a few small
quadrate fulvous spots in the dusky ground towards
the tip, and the hinder pair very indistinct fulvous
spots or clouds posteriorly, the colour sometimes
diffused over a considerable portion of the disk.
On the under side the upper wings are yellow,
inclining to green at the tip, and dusky black at the
base ; the superficial spots towards the apex some-
times appearing, but very faintly marked. The
hinder wings are greenish-yellow, with a curved
series of pale quadrate spots, emarginate posteriorly,
1 18 LARGE SKIPPER.
varying in size and colour, and even at times in
their relative situation. The fringe is fulvous, the
antennas with the club thick and terminating in an
acute curved point. As in P. linea, the male has
an oblique black streak on each of the upper wings,
but it is larger than in that species.
The most common of the Skippers, occurring in
tolerable plenty apparently throughout Britain on
the borders of woods, moorlands. &c., from May to
August.
110
PEARL SKIPPER.
Pimvhila Ckvima.
PLATE II. F-ff. 2.
Pap. Comma, Linn.; Lewin, PL 45, fig. 1,2; Don.'ix. PI. 295?.
—Hesperia Comma, Fabr — The Pearl Skipper, Harris —
Silver-spotted Skipper, Jermyn — Pamphila Comma, Steph.
ABOUT the size of the preceding, sometimes rather
less : the male fulvous above, more or less suffused
with brown towards the hinder margin of the wings,
the disk of the primary pair with a linear black
mark, having silvery scales in the centre, and be-
yond this, towards the apex, a series of quadrate
whitish spots forming an irregular semicircle : the
hinder wings with irregular fulvous spots posteriorly,
and the disk more or less suffused with fulvous.
Beneath, the anterior wings are greenish-grey, the
centre pale yellow, the apex with a series of white
spots, corresponding in their position to those on
the surface; the hinder wings greenish-grey, with
nine white quadrangular spots, three of them
grouped towards the base, the others forming ,a
curved transverse band. The fringe of all the
wings is pale, spotted with brown at the base on
120 PEARL SKIPPER.
the under side. The female is usually larger than
the male, and destitute of the discoidal black line
which is invariably a sexual distinction. In this
sex also the spots are whiter, and in the anterior
wings they form an irregular band extending across
the surface ; while in the hinder pair they are edged
with black and somewhat notched behind.
The caterpillar is obscure green mixed with rust
red, and having a series of black dots on the back
and sides. The head and neck are black, the latter
with a white ring. On the continent it is said to
feed on the Coronilla varia, but in this country
probably has recourse to diadelphous plants or
By no means so generally distributed as the pre-
ceding, but found in some plenty in certain places.
Miss Jermyn mentions chalky soils near Lewes in
Sussex, as having afforded it plentifully; it like-
wise occurs near Dover, in the neighbourhood of
London, in Wiltshire, in Roxburgh and Dumfries-
shire, &c.
Besides the above species of Hesperidae, it is now
ascertained that the Pamphila Actceon has occa-
sionally been found in the south of England. Not
having seen examples of this insect, we subjoin
Godart's account of it ; from the localities he cites
for it in France, it seems no way improbable that
it should inhabit some parts of Britain.
v IVEESITY
£A' '
PAMPHILA ACTION.
Cwtif B. E. x. PI. 442.
Is nearly intermediate between P. Linea and P.
Sylvanus ; the surface fulvous-brown, with a longi-
tudinal ray, and a transverse arch of seven small
spots of a lighter yellow towards the anterior edge
of the upper wings. In the middle each of these
wings is marked with a black oblique line in the
male ; and on each of the inferior wings of the
female there is a mark similar to that just men-
tioned. The primary wings are fulvous beneath in
both sexes, with the apex greyish-green, and pre-
ceded by an arch of small pale spots, which are
merely the repetition of those on the surface. The
body is reddish on the back, and whitish beneath ;
the antennaa blackish and ringed with yellow, hav-
ing the club ferruginous at the tip.
" Found in plenty at Lulworth; and I have
heard that it has been found also at the Burning
Cliff, near Weymouth." J. C. Dale, Esq. in Lou-
don's Mag.
We now come to the second great primary
division of the Lepidopterous order, the CREPUSCU-
LARIA of Latreille, characterised by the prismatic
1 22 CREPUSCULA III A.
form of the antennae, and other distinctive marks
already described in our introductory observations
It contains species of very dissimilar aspect and
economy, all of which, however, were included by
Linnaeus and his followers in the genus Sphinx.
Fabricius distributed them in three genera, Sphinx,
Sesia, and Zygsena ; names which have since been
employed to designate family groups. The indige-
nous species have recently been divided into four
families, which may easily be determined by the
following brief external characters: — SPHINGID^,
with the palpi short, and the abdomen without a
terminal tuft ; SESIID.E, with the palpi short, and
the abdomen furnished with a tuft at the extremity ;
^GERIID^E, with the palpi elongate, and the wings
most frequently hyaline ; ZYGJENID^E, having the
palpi likewise elongated, and the wings clothed
with scales*. The latter family contains only two
British genera, Ino and Anthrocera. The former
of these corresponds to the Fabrician genus Procris :
it has antennae very slightly curved, and thickening
gradually from the base nearly to the apex ; those
of the male with two rows of pectinations on the
inner side, but they are merely serrated in the
female; the apex without a tuft of hairs. The
palpi do not extend beyond the head, and are rather
thickly clothed with hairs. The species are not
numerous, and only one of them inhabits this
country ; it is named
* Stephens' Illus. Haustettaia, i. p. 104.
123
THE GREEN FORESTER.
Ino Statices.
PLATE II. Fig. 3.
Sphinx Statices, Linn. ; Don. vi. PI. 204, fig. 2 — Procria
Statices, Fair. — Atychia Statices, Ochsen. — La Turquoise,
Geofroy Green Forester, Harris"1 Aurel. PI. 34. — Ino
Statices, Leach; StepTi. ; Curtis' B. E. ix. PI. 396.
THE extent of the wings is from twelve to sixteen
lines ; the upper pair, as well as the head, thorax,
and stalk of the antennae, of a beautiful golden- >
green with a silky gloss, inclining in certain places
to blue. Both sides of the under wings, and the
under side of the superior pair are brown, which is
likewise the colour of the fringe. The body beneath
is glossy green, rather deeply tinged with blue ; the
trunk and pectinations of the antennas black.
The caterpillar tapers at both ends, and the body
is somewhat depressed : the colour green, with the
head and anterior legs black, the other legs whitish ;
two rows of black spots run along the back, and on
each side there is a series of red dots. It feeds on
the Cardamine prat&nsis, common dock, &c. The
insect appears in June, and is of frequent occurrence
124 THE GREEN FORESTER.
in England, although it seems to be somewhat local.
Neighbourhood of London, Coombe and Darenth
woods : " Neighbourhood of Durham, plentiful in
some places," Mr. Andrews. Near Newcastle,
York, &c. It probably does not extend much
further northwards than the places last mentioned.
SIX-SPOTTED BURNET-MOTH.
Anthrocera Filipendulce.
PLATE II. Fig. 4.
Sphinx Filipendulse, Linn. ; Don. i. PI. 6 Zygaena Filipen-
dulae, Fdbr. ; Haworth Burnet Moth, Wilkes ; Harris*
Aurd. PI. 1.— Anthrocera Filipendulae, Scopoli ; Stepk.
IN the present genus the antennas are simple in the
two sexes, of great length, slender at the base, and
thickening at the top into a spindle-shaped club
which is considerably curved. The palpi are longer
than in Ino, projecting a little from the head, and
terminating in a point, the joints thickly clothed
with hair. The species are pretty numerous, even
although it be admitted as probable that several
kinds regarded as distinct are mere varieties. All
of them are remarkable for the brilliancy of their
colours, chiefly consisting of bluish black and bright
red, the latter generally occupying nearly the whole
of the inferior wings and forming spots on the
SIX-SPOTTED BUR>-ET-MOTII. 125
upper pair. They are gregarious in their habits
and sluggish and inactive in. their movements, and
may sometimes he found in dull weather clinging
to plants in considerable numbers, and remaining
quite motionless for a length of time. The most
common species to be met with in this country is
that mentioned above. It measures from fifteen
to eighteen lines across the wings ; the upper pair
are of a fine greenish-black with a high degree of
lustre, each of them with six red spots, arranged
in pairs, two at the base (sometimes united or
separated merely by the intersecting nervure), two
in the middle placed obliquely, and two towards
the apex nearly parallel with the last. The under
wings are carmine-red on both sides, the hinder
margin with a narrow blue-black border. The body
is velvet-black with a blue or greenish gloss ; the
antennae of a similar hue.
The caterpillar is yellow, with three rows of
black spots along the back, and others on the sides ;
the head very small and black. It feeds on grasses
and a variety of common plants, such as Speed-
well, (Veronica), Mouse-ear hawkweed, Dandelion,
Spirasa filipendula, &c. ; from the latter it has ob-
tained its specific name.
The perfect insect appears about the end of June
and continues till the end of August. It is plenti-
ful in most parts of England, and likewise occurs
abundantly in certain parts of Scotland, but in that
country it is somewhat local. In the vicinity of
Edinburgh, it is found on the shores at Cramond,
126 SIX-SPOTTED BURIfET-MOTH.
and in profusion on the northern shores of the Firth
of Forth, between Pettycur and Burntisland. " In
profusion on Guillon Links — equally plentiful on
Southerness Point on the coast of Galway, where
the caterpillar feeds on the Ononis arvensis or Rest-
harrow." — Sir W. Jardine. Bart.
FIVE-SPOTTED BURNET-MOTH.
Anthrocera Lotl.
PLATE IL Fig. 5.
Zygaena Loti, Fabr — Sphinx Lonicerae, Esper and Hvbner —
Zygene du Chevrefeuille, Godart.
LESS than the preceding ; the anterior wings blue-
black, with less of the green reflection, each of them
with five red spots, which are as distinctly marked
on the under side as on the upper : the two basal
spots oblong, the others rounded. The hinder wings
bright red, with a rather wide black-blue border
somewhat sinuated on its inner edge; in other
respects not differing from Anth. Filipendulce.
The caterpillar is green, with two longitudinal
macular bands on each side, the lower one nar-
rowest; and a yellow dot on each segment be-
tween these bands. It feeds on the honeysuckle,
bird's-foot, trefoil, and many other plants. The
perfect insect is found occasionally in many parts of
Britain.
Of THE
tjK.IV-EB8.IJ?
127
EYED HAWK-MOTH.
Smerinthus Ocellatus.
PLATE III. Fitf. 1.
Smer. Ocellatus, Latreille ; Stephens. — Sphinx Ocellata, Linn. ;
Don. viii. PI. 269. — Sphinx Semipavo, De Geer Sphinx
Salicis, Hubner — Eyed Hawk-moth, Harris1 Aurel. PI. 5.
Curtis' B. E. xi. PI. 482.
THE Smerinthi have frequently been confounded
with the Sphinges, but they present a sufficient
number of distinctive marks to entitle them to be
regarded as a separate generic group. Of these
the most important are the shortness of the pro-
boscis, which is scarcely perceptible, the angulated
or dentated margin of the anterior wings, and the
serrated antennae. The species are not numerous ;
most of them are of sombre colours ; and they are
dull inactive insects, seldom appearing on the wing,
and when they do so, displaying none of the
vivacity and rapid movements of the kinds >to
which, in other respects, they bear a close affinity.
The shortness of their trunk renders them incapable
of feeding while on the wing like the Humming-
bird Hawk-moth; the little food which they re-
quire during their brief existence, is therefore
1*28 EYED HAWK-MOTH.
obtained by settling on flowers. The body of the
larva is granulated or covered with small prominent
points, and the anal segment bears a pointed horn
which is almost straight. The contour of the head
forms a curvilinear triangle, and is not rounded as
in the true Sphinx. Perhaps the most beautiful
of the three species inhabiting Britain is that
named the Eyed Hawk-moth. The male expands
about two inches and a-half, and the female often
exceeds these dimensions by an inch. The anterior
wings, which are very acute at the apex, are grey,
tinged with rose-colour, and variegated with brown
and dusky clouds and waved streaks ; the centre with
a pale curved transverse streak. The posterior wings
are carmine-red, with the anterior margin entirely
grey, and the hinder one tinged with that colour ;
the anal angle bearing a large ocellus with a blue
iris, and large bluish-brown pupil, placed in a patch
of deep black, which emits a stripe in the direction
of the anal angle. The head and thorax are nearly
of the same shade of colour as the surface of the
upper wings, the latter with a deep brown mark on
the back ; the abdomen brownish-grey.
The caterpillar is of a fine green on the back,
the sides and belly tinged with blue. Most of the
segments are ornamented with a white oblique
stripe on the sides ; the stigmata are white, circum-
scribed by a brown line; the membraneous legs
rose-colour, and the head bordered with yellow. It
feeds on various trees, such as the willow, poplar
ajid apple.
EYED HAWK-MOTH. J 29
The perfect insect is not rare in England, but it
becomes scarce further to the north. Some places
have afforded it in great abundance — such as Ep
ping Forest, several places in Devonshire, and the
vicinity of York — and it seems to be found occa-
sionally in all the English counties. It is very rare
in Scotland.
POPLAR HAWKMOTH.
Smerinihus Popidi.
rLAlK 111. Fig. 2.
Sphinx Populi, Linn. ; Donovan, viii. PI. 241. — Poplar Hawk-
moth, Wilkes, PI. 25 ; Harris'1 Aurel. PI. 63.
LARGER than the preceding, and differing consider-
ably from the other species in having the external
border of all the wings pretty regularly dentated.
The colour is generally greyish-brown, occasionally
inclining to obscure rusty-red, and sometimes grey-
ish-white, with bands and transverse rays of a
deeper hue than the ground colour ; each of the
upper wings having a white crescent near the
middle. At the base of the hinder wings there is
a ferruginous patch, and near the middle a pale
whitish lunule, always indistinct and sometimes not
observable. The body is nearly of the same colour
J30 POPLAR HAWK-MOTH.
as the wings ; the antennae reddish internally, and
yellowish- white on the outer side.
The caterpillar bears much resemblance to that
already described, being usually green, with oblique
yellow or white stripes. The stigmata are yellow
or rose-colour, with a white centre ; the membran-
ous legs often ornamented with a curved orange
spot externally. The head is bordered with yellow,
and the anal horn is of that colour, with the base
blue. It eats the leaves of poplars and willows.
(PI. in. fig. 3).
This plainly coloured insect is by far the most
common of the Sphingidae, being frequent in all
parts of England, and generally distributed over the
southern division of Scotland. It is found about
midsummer and in autumn.
1 . Lime //,/«•/•-//,„/// . - . />7/r/ ffa*k-motfi
• >.< aterpitlar of 'PrivctflaAk moth .
J31
LIME HAWK-MOTH.
Smerinthns Tilue.
PLATE IV. Fig. 1.
Sphinx Tiliae, Linn. ; Donovan, x. PI. 325 — Olive Shades, or
Lime Hawk-moth, Wilkes, PI. 23 Lime Hawk-moth,
Harris* Aurd. PI. 20.
A VERY variable insect both in colour and the form
of the markings: the anterior wings are usually
greyish, with an interrupted band of olive -green or
olive-brown in the middle, formed by two spots, of
which the anterior one is the largest; the outer
margin has a broad band of the same colour, edged
externally with ferruginous, and having a white
mark at the tip of the wing. The hinder wings
are grey, with an ill-defined brown band running
obliquely from the anterior edge to the anal angle,
where the colour deepens and sometimes becomes
greenish. The thorax is marked with three longi-
tudinal bands of olive green which unite in front,
and the abdomen generally has a green tinge. — The
colour of the surface is occasionally obscure red,
with the outer extremity of the anterior wings and
the central spots deep rust-red : at other times the
132 LIME HAWK-MOTH.
two central spots are united, and sometimes one of
them is wanting.
The caterpillar feeds on the lime, elm, birch, &c.
It is pale-green, with seven oblique whitish stripes
on each side bordered anteriorly with red or yellow.
The head is smaller than in others of the genus, the
body more attenuated in front, and there is a granu-
lar protuberance over the anus*.
The rarest of the three, being found only occa-
sionally ; but it seems to be pretty generally distri-
buted throughout England. It occurs near London
more frequently than in most other places; also
near Exeter, York, &c. It does not seem to be a
Scotch insect.
* Godart'i Potions <l* Frwux. iii, 67.
133
DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH.
Acherontia Atropos.
PLATE V.
Sphinx Atropos, Linn. ; Donovan, ix. PI. 289, 290. — Jasmine
Hawk-moth, WUkes, PI. 19. — Death's Head, Harris.—
Acherontia Atropos, Ochsen. — Bee- Tiger Moth, Curtis, iv.
PI. 147 ; Stephens.
THE shortness of the proboscis and antennae, the
latter terminating in a kind of hook supporting a
long hairy seta, and the entire margin of the wings
without indentation or sinuosity, suffice to distin-
guish ACHEBONTIA from the genera with which it
has long been associated. Other subordinate dis-
tinctions are to be found in several peculiarities
of structure, and the caterpillar, besides presenting
some other differences in character and aspect, has
the caudal horn thickly tuberculated. The only
British species is the striking and well known
insect above referred to. The expansion of the
wings varies from four to five inches, and females
have occasionally been found not much short of six
inches in extent: it must therefore be considered
not only as the largest of our indigenous lepidoptera,
but with one exception, the Peacock-moth ( Sa-
turnia Pavonia major}, the largest insect inhabiting
Europe. The surface of the primary wings is dark-
134 DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH.
brown, or blackish, powdered with white, and
marked with several waved transverse stripes of
deep black, and others of rust-red, the latter colour
forming a series of dashes on the nervures at the
hinder margin of the wings. Near the centre of
each wing there is a small round whitish spot.
The secondary wings are deep yellow or ochreous,
with two dark bands nearly parallel with the hinder
margin and at some distance from it. The head
and thorax are nearly of the same colour as the
dark portion of the upper wings ; the thorax bearing
on its surface a large grey or yellowish spot, not
unaptly representing a front view of a human skull
or " Death's Head/* The abdomen is blackish,
bluish-ash down the back, with yellow transverse
spots on the sides of the segments. The antenna
are whitish at the tip, and the tarsi ringed with
white.
The caterpillar, which is sometimes five inches
in length, is of a fine yellow, with seven oblique
green bands on each side and a longitudinal series
of blue spots on the back, which besides is spotted
with black and granulated. It is generally found
on the potato and common jasmine, but likewise
leeds on a variety of other plants of very dissimilar
qualities. The insect was formerly very scarce in
this country, but since the cultivation of the potato
became general, it has increased considerably. The
caterpillar, however, occurs much more frequently
than the moth, and as it very often dies before
completing its transformations, indigenous speci-
DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH. 135
mens of the perfect insect are still regarded by
collectors as a desirable acquisition. The cater-
pillars are usually full grown about the middle of
August, when they bury themselves in the earth
and form an oval cell in which they undergo
their destined changes. The moth seldom appears
before the end of September ; it conceals itself in
some obscure place during the day, and appears
on the wing only in the morning and evening
twilight. In the southern parts of England, a
considerable number of specimens are found annu-
ally ; and although it becomes rarer in the north, it
has been observed not unfrequently both in the
north of England and in Scotland. In the latter
country we have seen examples from Ayrshire,
Perthshire, the vicinity of Jedburgh, and Mid-
lothian, and have heard of their occurrence in
many other places.
Over foreign lands the Death's-head Hawk-moth
has a wide range of distribution. It occurs in con-
siderable abundance in all the southern countries of
Europe, in the two extremities of Africa, and in
the Isle of France. In the latter country, according
to St. Pierre, a belief prevails that the dust cast from
its wings, in flying through an apartment, produces
blindness if it happen to fall upon the eyes.
The great size of this creature, its remarkable
appearance, the " grim feature" stamped upon its
thorax, together with the power it possesses of
emitting a plaintive and mournful cry, have con-
spired to render it an object of alarm to the
136 DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH.
ignorant and superstitious. We are told by Reau-
mur that they once appeared in great abundance
in some districts of Bretagne, and produced great
trepidation among the inhabitants, who considered
them to be the forerunners and even the cause
of epidemic diseases and other calamities. " A
letter is now before me/' says Mr. Knapp, " from
a correspondent in German Poland, where this
insect is a common creature, and so abounded
in 1824, that my informant collected fifty of them
in the potato-fields of his village, where they call
them the " Death's-head Phantom," the " Wan-
dering Death -bird," &c. The markings on its back
represent to these fertile imaginations the head of
a perfect skeleton, with the limb-bones crossed
beneath; its cry becomes the voice of anguish,
the moaning of a child, the signal of grief ; it is
regarded not as the creation of a benevolent being,
but the device of evil spirits — spirits enemies to
man, conceived and fabricated in the dark ; the
very shining of its eyes is thought to represent the
fiery element, whence it is supposed to have pro-
ceeded. Flying into their apartments in the evening,
it at times extinguishes the light, foretelling war,
pestilence, hunger, death, to man and beast*."
The sound alluded to, which seems to be peculiar
to this species among lepidopterous insects, has
often attracted the notice of observers, but they
have hitherto been unable to determine satisfactorily
in what manner it is produced. As it is impoa-
* Journal of a Naturalist, page 327.
DEATn'S-HEAD HAWK -MOTH. 137
Bible, from the nature of their organization, that
any insect can be possessed of a genuine voice, it
has been conjectured that the noise is occasioned by
the friction of one organ against another, as is well
known to be the case with many beetles, grass-
hoppers, &c. Reaumur and others accordingly
ascribe it to the reciprocal action of the trunk and
palpi ; but the sound having been found to continue
after these organs were cut off, it must evidently
have some other origin. Under the idea that it
was connected with the motion of the wings,
another observer was led to conceive that its source
was two concave scales placed at the base of these
appendages, against which the air is forcibly pro-
pelled by their rapid motion. M. Lorey, a French
physician, maintains that the stridulation in question
is produced by the escape of air from a trachea
placed on each side of the base of the abdomen,
which, when the animal is in a state of repose, are
closed by a fascicle of fine hairs. A more recent
writer, M. Duponchel, controverts all these state-
ments, and gives it as his opinion that the noise is
emitted from the interior of the head, in which there
is a cavity communicating with the trunk, and near
which are placed the muscles by which the latter is
put in motion. As M. Lorey, however, affirms that
he has heard the sound after the head was ampu-
tated, and M. Duponchel makes the same assertion
in relation to the abdomen, these various opinions
must be considered as irreconcilable, and the matter
left to be decided by future investigation.
138 DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH.
The celebrated M. Hiiber, and some other na-
turalists, affirm that this insect is in the habit of
entering the hives of the common domestic bee,
where it takes up its abode for a time, and regales
itself on the honey. That it should be attracted by
the smell of the honey, and even enter the hive in
search of it, might have been expected from the
predilection which most lepidopterous insects show
for that kind of food ; but it is not easy to under-
stand how a creature without offensive weapons,
and unprotected by any hard covering, can either
resist or survive the attacks of so many armed
assailants. This difficulty is increased when we
consider the result of one of M. Hiiber's experi-
ments : on introducing a Death's-head moth into a
box where a colony of humble bees (Bombus Mus-
corum) had established themselves, it was imme-
diately attacked, and so severely stung that it died
shortly after ; yet the sting of this insect is by no
means so formidable as that of the honey bee.
There is very little probability in M. Hiiber's con-
jecture, that the hostility of this irritable race may
be disarmed by the stridulous sound emitted by the
moth, which he supposes may possibly have an
effect similar to that produced by the queen. In
this country the moth is never likely to become so
plentiful as to occasion much damage ; at any rate,
an effectual remedy may be easily applied, by cover-
ing the opening into the hive with a wire grating,
having the apertures of such a size as to admit no
larger object than the proper inmates.
139
GENUS SPHINX.
THE above term, as has been already noticed, was
long employed as the generic designation of all the
Hawk-moths properly so called, but is now restricted
to such as present the following characters : — An-
tennae rather long, slightly increasing in thickness
from before the middle nearly to the apex, but scarcely
or not at all clavate ; the apex slender, hooked, and
tenninatiag in a long scaly seta; proboscis very
long, slender, and convoluted; abdomen elongate-
conic, without any tuft at the apex. The palpi are
three-jointed, very obtuse, the second joint being
large and oval, and the third minute and depressed.
The caterpillars are generally green or brownish,
with oblique or longitudinal lateral stripes of yellow,
and having the caudal horn long, acute, and curved.
The pupa is subterranean ; the abdomen of the
perfect insect ornamented with transverse bands. — •
The first species we have to describe is that named
PRIVET HAWK-MOTH.
Spldnx Liyitstri.
PLATE IV. Fig. 2.
5pliinx Ligustri, Linn. ; Donovan, viii. PI. 84. — Privet Hawk'
moth, Wilkes, Harris.
THE Privet Hawk-moth generally measures from
three and a half to four and a half inches across
the wings ; the upper pair ash-grey, slightly tinged
with rose-colour, and marked with irregular black
veins; the hinder portion of the wings obscure
brown, and the hinder margin bearing two whitish,
flexuous lines, on a greyish ground, which unite
near the apex. The surface of the hinder wings
is of a fine rose-colour, traversed by three black
bands, that next the base being short and placed
nearly at right angle with the others, which are
parallel with the hinder margin ; the latter tinged
with brown. The fringe surrounding the wings is
greyish, inclining to red. The thorax is dark brown,
greyish posteriorly, and white with a rosy tinge on
the sides ; the abdomen purple or deep rose-colour,
with black bands, interrupted in the middle by a
PRIVET HAWK-MOTH. 141
broad longitudinal brown stripe, haying a narrow
black line down the middle.
The caterpillar is one of the most beautiful be-
longing to this tribe. It is of large size, and of a
fine apple-green colour, ornamented with seven
oblique stripes on each side of the body, purple
anteriorly, and white behind. The stigmata are
orange-yellow, and the caudal horn yellow on the
under side and black above. Its ordinary food is
the leaves of the common privet, but it likewise
consumes the different kinds of lilac ( ' Syringce),
the ash, the elder, and laurel (Daphne laureola).
It generally changes into a chrysalis in the month
of August, but occasionally at a much earlier period,
as the moth has been sometimes observed on the
wing in July. It constructs no cocoon properly so
called, but merely forms an oval chamber in the
earth, the sides of which it consolidates by the
pressure of its body, and by uniting the particles by
means of a glutinous secretion discharged from the
moutji.
It is of not unfrequent occurrence in many parts
of the south of England, especially in Cambridge-
shire and the counties adjoining, but becomes rarer
in the north, and is seldom noticed in Scotland
although it occurs occasionally. It abounds in
many parts of the continent.
142
UNICORN HAWK-MOTH.
Sphinx Convolvuli.
PLATE VI.
Sphinx Convolvuli, Linn. ; Donovan, vii. PI. 228 and 229.—.
Unicorn or Bindweed Hawk-moth, Wilkes.— Unicorn or
Convolvulus Hawk-moth, Harris — Sphinx a comes de
Boeuf, Geoff., Godart.
THE surface of the primary wings in this fine species
is greyish- ash colour, clouded with brown and
black, and marked with a few narrow lines or
streaks of deep black. The secondary wings are
also greyish, and traversed by three dark-coloured
bands, the anterior one bent towards the body, the
second oblique and somewhat double, the third
widened externally and nearly parallel with the
hinder margins. The fringe surrounding the wings
is white interrupted with brown. The thorax is
nearly of the same colour as the upper wings,
marked with two dark indistinct lines, somewhat in
the shape of a horse-shoe, and having a bluish spot
behind, with a red one adjoining. The abdomen
is ringed alternately with black and red, inclining
UNICORN HAWK-MOTH. 143
to rose-colour, the red bands margined with white
anteriorly, and there is a broad greyish stripe down
the back divided in the middle by a black line.
The antennae are whitish, as well as the under side
of the body, the latter having two black spots in
the middle of the belly. The expansion of the
wings is about four inches and a half.
The caterpillar is very variable in colour and
markings. It is most commonly of a bright green,
(as represented on PL vi. fig. 2.), with black or
brown spots on the back, and oblique yellow stripes
on the sides; the latter, however, are sometimes
black, and examples are occasionally found in which
the whole body is brown. The stigmata are usually
of some colour contrasting with the rest of the
body ; most commonly they are black or pink. It
feeds on the indigenous species of convolvulus,
particularly C. Sepium. It generally assumes the
pupa state about the end of July, the moth appear-
ing in September ; but if the larva be not full
grown till a later period, the perfect insect is not
disclosed till the ensuing May or June.
The Unicorn or Bindweed Hawk-moth, termed
by a French naturalist the Ox-horned Sphinx, on
account of the thickness and rigidity of its antennae,
is by no means an insect of common occurrence in
Britain, but it seems to be distributed over the
whole island. It has been found *in the northern
extremity of Scotland, as well as in several of the
southern counties, and numerous localities have
been cited for it in most parts of England. Godart
144 TTNtCORN HAWK-MOTH.
states that it diffuses an odour like that of amber,
and that its eyes, on account of their uncommon
size, shine in the dark much more brilliantly than
those of any other crepuscular or nocturnal insect.
PINE HAWK-MOTH.
Sphinx Pinastri.
PLATE VII. Fig. 1. -
Sphinx Pinastri, Linn. ; Donovan^ ix. 296 ; Steph. Illus. Hau*.
i. 122.
IN this species the wings expand about three inches.
The upper side of the primary wings is ash-grey,
clouded with hrown in the middle of the interior
border and near the apex: on the disk of each
there are three diverging black streaks, and another
somewhat hent at the extremity of the wing. The
secondary wings are brownish, inclining to ash-
colour, especially at the base. All the wings have
the fringe on the posterior border white, spotted at
regular intervals with hrown. The thorax is grey
on the back, with two dark bands down each side,
beyond which the colour is white. The abdomen
is ringed alternately with white and black, and has
a dorsal stripe of grey, with a black line down the
middle. The upper side of the antenna? and most
of the under part" are white.
UNICORN HAWK-MOTH. 145
The caterpillar is at first yellowish-brown, but
afterwards becomes green, with two longitudinal
stripes of lemon-yellow on each side, a brown dorsal
band and numerous fine black lines across the back.
The anterior legs are yellow, the membranous ones
of a whitish colour, and the stigmata yellow sur-
rounded by a black ring. The caudal horn is like-
wise black. On the continent, in several parts of
which it is a common insect, it feeds chiefly on the
pineaster (Pinus pinaster). In this country it is
said to frequent the spruce and Scotch fir. The
moth is very rare in Britain, Colney Hatch Wood
and the neighbourhood of Esher being probably
the only localities in which it has been observed.
It certainly was never taken in Kavelstoii Wood,
near Edinburgh, by Mr. Wilson of the College, ;i*s
intimated by Dr. Leach, and it is probably through
some inadvertence that he states it to have been
taken there by himself.
GENUS DEILEPHILA.
THE species included under this appellation, wh}ch
is derived from the Greek, and means Lovers of
Evening, were first dissevered from their associates
by Hubner, chiefly on account of the form of the
antennae, which are rather short, thickening at the
apex so as to form a distinct club, and having the
terminal hook ending in a naked tubulated seta.
The proboscis is long and spiral, but in general it is
shorter than in the preceding genus. The abdomen
is comparatively short and of a conical shape. The
anterior wings are not very acute at the apex, the
hinder margin slightly and regularly rounded, with-
out any sinuosity. The caterpillars are similar in
shape to those of the genus Sphinx, but their
colours are distributed in spots ; the anterior seg-
ments are not retractile. The pupa is always more
or less covered with soil. The abdomen of the
perfect insects is banded transversely at the base,
the other bands interrupted on the back and forming
only lateral spots.
THE MADDER HAWK-MOTH.
Deilephila Galii.
PLATE VII. Fig. 2.
Stephens' Ittus. i. 125, PI. 12, fig. 2 Sphinx Galii, Hubner,
Godart. — Spotted Elephant Caterpillar, Harris"* Aurel.
NEARLY the same size as D. Euphorbia, to which it
bears so much resemblance in other respects, that
Linnaeus supposed it to be a mere variety ot tnat
species. The upper wings are olive-brown or
greenish, with the posterior border cinereous, and a
yellowish band, irregular anteriorly and somewhat
slnuated behind, extending from near the base to
the apex. The hinder wings are dull red, with the
base and a posterior band black, and there is a
white spot on the anal angle. The colour of the
thorax and the markings on the abdomen resemble
those of D. Euphorbias, with this difference that the
breast and belly are tinged with green, and the
abdomen has a series of small white spots down the
back.
The caterpillar is described as of a bronzed green,
colour, with a yellow line along the back, and a row
] 48 THE MADDER HAWK -MOTH.
of oval yellow spots, bordered with black on each
side. The anterior legs are black, and the mem-
branous legs of a delicate rose-colour. Its food
consists of different kinds of Galium, particularly
Galium verum (yellow lady's-bedstraw), and G.
mollugo (wild madder).
This insect is found in most parts of Europe, but
it seems to prefer a southern climate, as it is scarce
in most northern countries, and becomes rare even
in the latitude of Paris. In Britain it has been
occasionally observed in the vicinity of London ;
also in Kent, Devonshire, and Cornwall. " Isle of
Wight, and the neighbourhood of Warwick," Entom.
Mag. Two specimens were taken in the garden at
Twizel by Mr, Selby in the autumn of 1834 ; and
it has likewise occurred at (Jramond near Edin-
burgh.
149
SPOTTED ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.
Deikphila Euphorbia.
PLATE VIII.
Sphinx Euphorbia, Linn. ; Donovan, iii. PI. 91, 92 Deile-
phila Euphorbiae, Curtis' B. E. i. PI. 3.— Spotted Elephant
Hawk-moth, Harris' Aurelian, PI. 44.
THE primary wings, which expand from two and a
half to nearly three inches, are of a dusky-green
colour, with a broad irregular rosy fascia running
obliquely from the hinder margin near the base to
the apex ; the posterior margin of a similar colour,
but somewhat dusky; the inner margin narrowly
edged with white. The under wings are red, in-
clining to rose-colour, with a white mark on the anal
angle, the base and a transverse band being black.
The head and antennae are white, the thorax dusky
or olive-green on the surface ; the abdomen likewise
of the latter colour, with the sides of the three first
segments white, the two next the base with deep
black spots, the remaining segments narrowly edged
with white anteriorly at the sides. The whole of
the under side is rose-colour, somewhat clouded
J50 SPOTTED ELEPHANT HAWK MOTH.
and obscured with dusky, and having a large dark-
coloured spot near the middle of the upper wings.
The caterpillar varies considerably in appearance,
according to its age. In its mature state, when
nearly ready to be transformed into a chrysalis, it is
black, with numerous slightly elevated white or
yellowish points disposed in -transverse lines placed
close to each other, and three longitudinal rows of
rounded spots on each side, the spots in the central
row, which are much smaller than the others, and
those of the upper row, being cream-coloured, and
the lower one bright red: the head, a line along
the back, and the legs, are of the latter colour.
The cypress-leaved spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)
is the favourite plant of this beautiful caterpillar ;
it likewise feeds on Euphorbia esula and E. Para-
tyas (sea spurge), but seems to reject several other
kinds, although the qualities of all may be presumed
to be nearly the same.
This must be regarded as a rare and local insect
in Britain. The locality that has afforded the
largest supply of specimens is in the vicinity of
Barnstaple, in Devonshire, where it was procured
in some plenty by Mr. Raddon. " That gentle-
man," says Mr. Curtis, " visited occasionally the
extensive sand-hills at Appledore and Braunton
Burrows near Barnstaple, where Euphorbia Para-
lias grows in great abundance; and from the size
and beauty of the caterpillar it would be imagined
that it might readily be found ; but in the young
state they are not easily discoverable ; and when
SPOTTED ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH. 151
more advanced, they become so conspicuous that
their numbers are reduced by marine birds that
feed upon them. Sometimes they may be traced
by their soil, at other times they may be seen far
from the spot where they fed, at the extremity of a
tall rush. They are full grown about the middle of
September, when they descend into the sand and
change into chrysalides, forming a loose case of
earth around them, from which they emerge the
beginnijig of the following June. Sometimes, how-
ever, they remain in the pupa state two seasons, as
many other Lepidoptera do ; — a wise provision of
Nature to prevent any accident from destroying the
whole brood. The sand-hills where the larva is
found are of great extent and magnitude, and must
have been collected by the winds and storms to
which they are constantly exposed • during the
winter the whole soil is frequently removed, so as
completely to alter the surface of the country; a
great number of the pupa must consequently be
destroyed or buried at a great depth below the
surface, where probably they lie hid until they are
brought to light and life by the influence of the
elements*."
* Curtis' British Ent. i. p 3.
152
RAYED HAWK-MOTH.
DeUephUa Lineata.
Sieph. Illus. Ham. i. 126, PI. 12, fig. 1.— Sphinx lineata, FaM*
cius. — Sphinx Livornica, Hvbner and Esper.
LARGER than either of the preceding, but not
strikingly dissimilar, the colours being distributed
somewhat after the same manner. The upper wings
are olive-brown, traversed by seven white nervures,
and having an angular patch of the same colour m
the centre of each : the hinder border is cinereous
and somewhat shining, and a yellowish band com-
mences at the origin of the internal border and runs
obliquely along the wing to the apex. The hindei
firings and the thorax are nearly as in D. Galii;
but the thorax bears two white rays in the centre,
which are abbreviated and convergent in front. The
abdomen is olive-brown, each of the segments with
a white border anteriorly, which is spotted with
black. The antennaB are brown, with the tip
white.
The caterpillar, which seems not to have been
hitherto noticed in this country, is described by the
continental naturalists as yellow inclining to olive,
RAYED HAWK-MOTH. 153
with the head, a dorsal line, and two rows of large
points along the side, rose-colour. The caudal horn
is of that colour on the upper side, and black
heneath. The helly is white. It feeds on the
yellow lady's-hedstraw and a common kind of thistle,
the Sonchus arvensis. It undergoes its first trans-
formation towards the end of July, and the moth
is usually disclosed in about thirty days.
" D. lineata is unquestionably rare in England,"
says Mr. Stephens, " and few collectors can boast
the possession of specimens ; it has, however, been
captured in distant parts : the Rev. T. Skrimshire
possesses a specimen which I believe was caught in
Norfolk, and Mr. Dale has one which he obtained
from Dr. Abbott's cabinet, also found eastward ; in
June, 1824, a beautiful and perfect specimen was
taken off the mast of the Ramsgate steam- vessel at
Billingsgate, and last year a wasted one was found
near Bethnal-green ; in addition to the above, three
specimens were formerly taken near Kingsbridge in
Devonshire, one of which I possess through the
kindness of Dr. Leach. The above are the only
indigenous examples I have seen, all the remainder
which are placed in collections for this species
being D. Dattmis, a native of North America*."
* Illustr. of British Ent. (Huust.}9i. 127.
J54
GENUS METOPSILUS*.
THE characters presented by several species hitherto
associated with the preceding group, are sufficiently
distinct to entitle them to he ranked at least as a
separate sub-genus. The antennas are but slightly
clavate, the anterior wings very acute at the apex,
with a slight sinuosity or emargination on the hinder
margin just below the tip, which gives them a some-
what falcate shape ; the inner margin likewise
deeply emarginate behind the middle. The larvae
offer several very distinctive marks, particularly that
of having the anterior segments very much at-
tenuated, and capable of being drawn within each
other ; a peculiarity which has caused them, as was
formerly noticed, to be named Chenilles Cochonnes
by French naturalists, because the head and neck
bear some resemblance to a pig's snout. These
caterpillars are not distinguished by great brilliancy
or variety of colours, being chiefly brown and green,
with a white lateral line extending from the anal
horn to the third or fourth segment, and they have
invariably two or three large eye-like spots on each
side either of the second, third, fourth, or fifth
* From fA<<ruvrov tlie front, and \l>iXog attenuated, slender.
referring to the form of the caterpillar.
METOPSILUS. 155
segments. The caudal horn is short, very slightly
bent, sometimes almost obsolete. The chrysalis is
enclosed in a loose cocoon formed of leaves, and is
never buried beneath the soil. The perfect insects
are very beautifully coloured, and it is observable that
the abdomen is always longitudinally or obliquely
striped, an arrangement different from what ob-
tains in the two preceding genera, which have that
part of the body ornamented with transverse bands
sometimes of different colours. Viewed in relation
to the form of the larvae, as well as to the appearance
of the perfect insects, the species which we have
placed together, under the above name, form a very
natural group.
156
OLEANDER HAWK-MOTH.
Metopsilus Nerii.
PLATE IX.
Sphinx Nerii, Linn.—Rosers Insecten-bdustigung, vol. iii. tab. XV.
larva xvi. imago — Sphinx du Laurier-rose, Godart ; Pap.
de France, vol. iii., Crepuscidaires, p. 12.
THE primary wings of this conspicuous and elegant
species expand upwards of four inches. The surface
is of a fine deep olive- green, variously shaded with
white and rose-colour, distributed in undulating
lines and transverse streaks. At the origin of each
of the upper wings there is a whitish spot with a
dot in the centre and a small transverse streak of
olive-green; heyond this are three whitish waved
lines running somewhat obliquely across the surface,
dilated at the inner margin into a rose-coloured
patch, succeeded by a broad oblique rosy ban4
extending from one side of the wing to the other :
beyond this there is a broad patch of a violet-colour
bounded anteriorly by a white zigzag line, and
surmounted by two whitish curved lines drawn to
the anterior edge; the apex bears a white figure
having some resemblance to the letter Y reversed.
OLEANDER HAWK -MOTH. 157
The under wings are dusky from the base nearly to
the middle, and green on the hinder border, the
two colours separated by a white waved band,
extending from the anal angle to the anterior edge.
The thorax is deep green, with a pale cross line in
front ; the abdomen likewise green, whitish on the
first and second segments, and having oblique olive-
coloured streaks on the sides of the others.
When the caterpillar is full grown, it is green 01
greyish-green, with the four anterior segments pale
yellow ; a white line along each side, extending from
the fourth segment to the anal horn and numerous
white dots scattered over the surface. On each
side of the third segment there is a large blue eye-
shaped spot with a double white pupil and a black
iris. The anal horn, which is short and decumbent,
is ochreous ; the anterior legs blue ; and the mem-
branous ones green with the extremity yellow. The
head is green, the stigmata black bordered with
yellow. When immature the colour of this cater-
pillar is sometimes a pretty uniform ochreous yellow,
and in all cases, a few days before it becomes a
pupa, the four anterior segments and the anal one
assume the colour just mentioned, while the re-
maining parts of the body become dusky black, the
white lateral line, dots, and ocellated spots always,
however, remaining unchanged. Its appropriate
food is the leaves of the shrub named Nerium
oleander^ nor has it recourse to any other when that
can be obtained. As that plant, however, is not a
native of this country, nor of the north of Germany
lb8 OLEANDER HAWK-MOTH.
and some other parts of the continent where the
insect is found, it no doubt feeds on others of more
common occurrence, perhaps, as has been conjec-
tured, the Vinca major, V. minor, or some species
of Cynanchum, all of which belong to the same
natural family of Apocyneas*
This magnificent moth, which we have now the
pleasure to figure for the first time as a British
species, has been taken at least on two different
occasions in this country; once in the yicinity of
Dover, as intimated by Mr. Stephens in the Ento-
mological Magazine for October 1832 ; and a second
time, in the larva state, in a garden at Teignmouth,
Devon, in the autumn of the same year.t As the
insect is occasionally found in the neighbouring
continental countries, extending as far northwards
as the northern regions of Germany, the propriety
of admitting it into our native Fauna cannot be
attended with the same doubts that apply to such
kinds as have their principal seat in the new world.
It is strictly a European species, and from what we
know of its occurrence elsewhere, it might reason-
ably be inferred that the southern parts of England
should fall within the range of its distribution. It is
observed from time to time in the vicinity of Paris,
but its principal resort seems to be the neighbour-
hood of Genoa, Turin, and Nice, where it is said to
be common.
* London's Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. 155.
+ -Ent. Mag. ii. p. 116.
win; !f<l ////;/•/• ////////.
J59
SHARP-WINGED HA^VK-MOTH
Metopsilus
PLATE X.
Sphinx Celerio, Linn. ; Donovan, vi. PI. 190 and 191 __ Peile-
phila Celerio, Stepliens.
EXPANSION of the wings two inches eight lines IP
the male, about three inches in the female; the
upper wings greyish inclining to brown, marked
with black lines and a few whitish streaks, and
having a white band commencing at the inner
margin near the base and terminating in a point at
the apex ; the outer margin is pale grey, and there
is a small black spot on the disk near the centre.
The surface of the hinder wings is deep rose-colour
at the base, the rest greyish slightly tinged with
red, with two oblique black bands, between which
the nervures are black ; the hinder margin pale-
grey. The body is brownish on the back, with two
white streaks from the anterior part of the head
along each side of the thorax ; the latter with two
additional longitudinal stripes of yellow towards the
middle; the abdjmen having a silvery white line
160 SHARP-WINGED HAWK-MOTH.
down the centre, and a row of small spots on each
side of it from the third segment to the apex.
The caterpillar varies in colour, hut is most com-
monly brown, with two yellow lines on each side,
the lower one composed of crescent-shaped spots
and passing over the stigmata, the other com-
mencing on the sixth segment and extending to
the hinder extremity. The fourth and fifth seg-
ments are ornamented with two large ocelli, having
a white pupil and a yellow iris. The ordinary
food of this larva is the common vine ( Vitis Vini-
fera), a circumstance which, taken in connexion
with its rare occurrence in Britain, has occasioned
<jonsiderable doubts as to its being an aboriginal
native of this country. On the continent, however,
it is known likewise to feed on the yellow lady's-
bedstraw (Galium v&rum), and it is not improbable
that it can subsist, like the majority of its tribe, on
seveijal other plants. At the same time it appears
properly to belong to a southern latitude, as it is
not found in any considerable numbers except in
the south of Europe, and its chief residence is the
island of Teneriffe and the Cape of Good Hope. It
has occurred near Oxford, Wisbeach, in the Isle of
Ely, and a few other places.
ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.
Metopsilus Elpenor.
PLATE XI. Fig. 1.
Sphinx Elpenor, Linn.; Donovan, iv. PI. 122. — Deileph Elpe-
nor, Curtis, Stephens. — Elephant, Harris"* Aurel. PI. vil— «
The Lady's-bedstraw or Elephant-moth, Wilfos, 26.
IN this species the wings expand from two inches
to two and three-quarters ; the upper pair olive-
brown inclining to olive-green, with the anterior
edge, two oblique bands (the first abbreviated), and
the hinder margin rose-red tinged with purple and
somewhat shining ; the posterior edge is white, and
there is a minute dot of that colour on the disk of
each. The hinder wings are dusky at the base and
reddish-purple posteriorly, the fringe pure white,
hat of the anterior wings being red. The body is
olivaceous above, with numerous stripes of deep
rose-colour ; one over each eye, four curved ones
on the thorax, and another down the back of
the abdomen ; the sides of the latter and the belly
are likewise rose-red with a series of whitish spots
on each side of the segments. On each side of the
abdomen, towards the origin of the secondary wings
162 ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.
there is a rounded dusky spot, and a mark of the
same colour is ohservahle on the base of the primary
wings. The legs are white, brownish internally.
After the second change of skin the caterpillar is
brown, with six oblique rays and the sides of the
breast greyish. The fourth and fifth segments have
a round black spot on each side, with a lunule in
the centre, the edges of which are white inclining to
violet, and the middle olive-brown. When young,
the whole body is green, a colour which it occa-
sionally retains throughout, and in such cases the
oblique rays are black instead of grey. It frequents
different kinds of willow herb (Epilobium), lady's-
bedstraw, the common vine, &c. (PL xi. fig. 2.)
This is by far the most common species of Hawk-
moth inhabiting Britain, as it occurs in some plenty
in most parts of England, especially in the south,
and we once found numerous specimens at the
base of Salisbury Craigs near Edinburgh, and have
seen others from different quarters of Scotland. It
is likewise a well known insect throughout the con-
tinental parts of Europe.
OF THE
UNI\7EESIT\7
SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH.
Metopsilus Porcellus.
PLATE XI. Fig. 2.
Sphinx Porceilus, Linn.; Donovan* be. PJ. 314 Small Eltv
phant Hawk-moth, Wilkes, PI. 16; Harris — Deilcph. Por-
cellus, Curtis, Stephens.
THE smallest British species of the genus, the ex-
)ansion of the wings heing usually about twenty
es. The upper wings are chiefly ochrey yellow,
variegated with purple, the outer extremity with a
)urple hand dentated on the inner side. The under
wings are hlackish anteriorly and purple behind, the
ntermediate space yellowish ; the fringe of all the
wings is white, with a few irregular purple spots.
The body is entirely deep rose-colour or purplish,
'he back occasionally tinged with greenish-yellow.
The caterpillar resembles that of D. Elper^or^
and feeds on similar plants, the yellow lady's-bed-
straw and narrow-leaved willow herb ( E. Angusti-
folium), being its favourite repast. It is sometimes
greenish, but more commonly brown, with three
ocelliform spots on each side, having a white pupil
and a red iris. The anal horn is very minute. The
moth is not so plentiful as the preceding, but it ha*.
164 SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK- MOTH.
occurred in so many different localities, that it must
be pretty generally distributed over England. The
neighbourhood of Birmingham, Salisbury, and Lon-
don, have at times afforded it in some plenty.
HUMMING-BIRD HAWK-MOTH.
Macroglossa Stettatarum.
PLATE XII. Fig. 1.
Sphinx Stellatarum, Linn. ; Donovan, vii. PI. 155. — Humming-
bird Sphinx, Harris"* Aurel. PI. 24 Macro. Stellataram,
Ochsen., Stephens.
THE present genus and that immediately following,
are at once distinguished from the other Hawk-
moths by having a tuft of scaly hairs at the extre-
mity of the abdomen. Macroglossa is further cha-
racterized by having the short abdomen strongly
tufted on the sides, the wings opaque, and the
suctorial trunk of great length, at least equal to
that of the body, — a circumstance which has sug-
gested the generic name*. The only species found
in Europe is that represented on the adjoining
plate. It measures from twenty to twenty-four
lines between the tips of the anterior wings, which
are of a dusky brown, with several transverse waved
bands, most of them obsolete, except two near the
middle, which are of a deep black, with a dot of
the same colour in the space between. The hinder
* From fAotx^os, long, and yXwrat, the tongue.
•/ //,/«•/• »/,//// i.G&rpOlar ,y /r
»«>&. 1. Narrow bordered Vvffavk rrwti
HUMMING-BIRD HAWK-MOTH. 16o
wings are rust-yellow, slightly suffused with dusky
before and behind. The body is nearly concoloroujs
•with the upper wings, and the abdomen is variegated
with tufts of black and white at the sides of the
segments, the anal tuft being black.
The ground colour of the caterpillar is green,
sprinkled with numerous white points, and having
two white rays along the sides. The anal horn is
rather long and acute, perfectly straight, yellowish
| at the tip and blue at the base ; the membranous
? legs each marked with a shining black lunuje, the
coronet of spines of a rosy tint. (PL xn. fig. 2.)
It feeds on verticillate or stellate plants (whence
!. the specific name), and is most commonly found on
lady's-bedstraw and goosegrass ( Galiwm verum and
G. aparine). It sometimes enters the earth when
about to be transformed, and at other times con-
structs a cocoon on the surface, composed of par-
ticles of earth, pieces of leaves, or portions of the
stems of plants.
This curious insect is of frequent occurrence in
most parts of England, and is found occasionally in
the southern and even the more northern counties
'of Scotland. It frequents gardens and cultivated
grounds, appearing on the wing in the morning and
afternoon, and concealing itself among the foliage
during the heat of the day. It darts about from
flower to flower with amazing rapidity, and poises
itself, like a Humming-bird, over the blossoms, tijj
it extracts their nectareous juices by means of its
) long spiral proboscis. "While thus suspended, the
166 HUMMING-BIRD HAWK MOTH.
ribration of the wings is so rapid as to occasion a
considerable humming noise, whence it has been
termed the Humming-bird Hawk-moth. The fol-
lowing is an agreeable and accurate account of its
manners : — " The Humming-bird Hawk-moth visits
us annually, and occasionally in some numbers,
frisking about all the summer long, and in very
line seasons continues with us as late as the second
week in October. The vigilance and animation of
this creature are surprising, and seem to equal those
of its namesake, the splendid meteoric bird of the
tropics, ' that winged thought,' as some one has
called it; though our plain and dusky insect can
boast none of its glorious hues. Our little sphinx
appears chiefly in the mornings and evenings of the
day, rather avoiding the heat of the mid-day sun,
possibly aroused from its rest by the scent, that
' aromatic soul of flowers,' which is principally
exhaled at these periods ; delighting in the jasmine,
marvel of Peru, phlox, and such tubular flowers ;
and it will even insert its long, flexible tube into
every petal of the carnation, to extract the honey-
like liquor it contains. It will visit our geraniums
and greenhouse plants, and, whisking over part of
them with contemptuous celerity, select some com-
posite flower that takes its fancy, and examine every
tube with rapidity, hovering over its disk with
quivering wings, while its fine hawk-like eyes
survey all surrounding dangers. The least move-
ment alarms it, and it darts away with the speed of
an arrow ; yet returns, and with suspicious vigilance
HUMMING-BIJID HAWK-MOTH. 167
continues its employ, feeding always on the wing.
Nature seems to have given this creature some
essential requisites for its safety ; its activity, when
on the wing, renders its capture difficult ; and when
it rests, it is on a wall, the bark of a tree, or some
dusky body, that assimilates so nearly to its own
colour, as to render it almost invisible, though
watched to its settlement : the larva is seldom
found. We sometimes see it enter our rooms,
attracted by flowers in the open windows ; but it
seems to be immediately aware of its danger, dis-
appears in an instant, and is safe from capture.
Wild and fearful as this creature is by nature, yet
continued gentle treatment will remove much of its
timidity and render it familiar to our presence.
Perfectly free from any annoyance as they are when
ranging from sweet to sweet on my borders, and
accustomed to a close inspection of all their opera-
tions, I have frequently touched their wings with
my fingers, while hovering over a flower, and dip-
ping their long tubes into the corolla of a geranium :
they would retire a little, confused with such free-
doms and interruptions, but, experiencing no harm,
they would return and finish their meal, unmindful
of such petty annoyances. I have known this
creature, like some other insects, counterfeit death
when apprehensive of danger, fall on its back, and
appear in all respects devoid of life when in a box ;
and, as soon as a fit opportunity arrived, dart away
with its usual celerity *."
* Journal of a Naturalist, p. 284.
168
BROAD-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH.
-Siesta Fudformis.
PLATE XII. Fig. 3.
Sphinx Fuciformis, Linn. ; Donovan, iii. PI. 87 Sesia Bom-
byliformis, Stephens' Illus. — Clear-winged Humming-bird
Sphinx, Harris.
To the short and robust body of the preceding
genus, Sesia adds the distinctive character of clear
transparent wings ; and is easily distinguished from
the two following genera, with which it has this
property in common, by the ovate hairy abdomen
and sphinx-like form, as well as by the caudal horn
of the caterpillar. The antennae thicken from the
base nearly to the apex, which terminates in an
oblique two-jointed seta ; and the proboscis is very
long and spiral. The species named fuciformis,
from the resemblance of the body to that of a drone-
bee, expands from eighteen to upwards of twenty
lines. The colour of the body is yellowish or olive-
green, the third and fourth segments of the abdo-
men deep-red, and the two following yellow ; the
tuft at the extremity black at the sides, and yellovr
in the middle. The wings are vitreous and irides-
BROAD-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH. 169
cent, with the nervrires, a band round the outer
margin, and a discoidal streak on the upper pair,
purplish-hrown ; the base more or less tinged with
green. The antennaa are blue-blacki
The caterpillar feeds on the honeysuckle and
yellow bedstraw. It is pale green, with the legs,
under side of the body, and anal horn, reddish
brown; the stigmata black, with a white centre.
The perfect insect is found occasionally in Kent,
Surrey, Essex, and other southern counties, and was
once taken, as mentioned by Mr Stephens, in con-
siderable plenty near York, by W. C. Hewitson,
Esq. This seems to be nearly its northern limit,
as neither it nor the following species, as far as we
know, have hitherto been detected in Scotland.
170
NARROW-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH.
Sesia Bombyliformis.
PLATE XII. Fig. 4.
Sesia Bombyliformis, Fabr. ; Haworth's Lep. Brit. p. 68.—,
Curtis' B. E. i. 40 — Sesia Fuciformis, Stephens' Illus
Sphinx Fuciformis, Ochsen.
IN this species, which is about the same size as
the foregoing, the body is tawny-olive inclining to
green, the second and third segments of the abdo-
men nearly black, and the two following bright
orange, the anal tuft black at the sides and orange
in the middle. The wings are narrowly edged with
dark-brown, the rest of the surface vitreous and
transparent, the anterior pair without any discoi-
dal streak. The antennas are glossed with blue.
When young, the caterpillars have a few branched
spines on each segment, but as they increase in
size these disappear. The colour varies much, but
is most commonly green, with a pale line on each
side surmounted by a purple one ; and most of the
segments have an oblique purple stripe over the
stigmata. It feeds on the devil's-bit scabious (Sca-
biosa succisa) and some other plants. It is a rare
;.- |
'
:
•
"-'- T/
•^ ;3>
NARROW-BORDERED BEE HAWK-MOTH. 171
insect in this country, but has been found in some
plenty in one or two places, and occasionally in
others. Mr. Curtis mentions Enborne, near New-
bury, Berkshire, as one of its localities, and it is
said by Mr. Stephens to have been taken in the
New Forest.
BEE CLEAR-WING.
Trochilium Apiforme.
PLATE XIII. Fig. I.
Sphinx Apiformis, Linn. ; Donovan, i. PI. 25 ; Linn. Trans.
iii. PI. 3. figs. 1* — 5. — JEgeria Apiformis, Leach Hofnet-
moth, Harris"1 Expos. PI. 3, fig. 7. — Trochilium Apiforme,
Curtis" B. E. viii. 372.
THE two genera which next present themselves to
our notice constitute the family of the ^Egeridse.
Their affinity to the Sesise will at once be traced in
the transparency and similar neuration of the wings,
while the absence of the anal horn in the caterpillar
evinces a considerable aberration from that group,
as well as from the typical structure of the Sphin-
gidse. They possess a pair of simple eyes, or stem-
mata, placed on the hinder part of the head, similar
to what are observed in many Hymenoptera and
Diptera. Other points of analogy to the insects
just named may be discovered, and this general
resemblance is attempted to be indicated by naming
172 BEE CLEAR-WING.
the ^Egeridse after the kinds to which they are
thought to make the nearest approach. They fly
during the heat of the day, many of them with
great rapidity, and alight upon the flowers from
which they extract their nourishment. All of them
are rather scarce insects in this country, with the
exception of the little IE. Tipuliformis, which is
plentiful in gardens in many parts of England, hut
does not seem to come far north. The larvae, which
are soft, fleshy, and of a pale colour, subsist on the
pith and wood of trees and shrubs, in the interior
of which they also undergo their metamorphosis.
The cell is constructed so near the surface as to
leave only a thin exterior covering, and when the
chrysalis is matured, it pushes itself through this
frail barrier, chiefly by the aid of a series of fine
spines on the abdomen inclining backwards, which
serve, when the body is agitated, as a point of sup-
port for advancing the head, which terminates in a
point to make the perforation more easy. Trochi-
lium is chiefly distinguished by the shortness of the
proboscis and antennae, the latter being slightly
serrated and terminating in a tuft of hair ; by the
transparency of the tip of the anterior wings, and
the comparatively thick and robust body. The
species named Afiform* (from its resemblance to
a bee), is yellow on the head ; the thorax brown,
•with four yellow spots, the two anterior ones large
and triangular, the posterior two smaller and rounded.
The abdomen is yellow, with the first and fourth
segments black and clothed with brown pubescence
BEE CLEAR- WING. 173
the others edged with black, the fifth and the poste-
rior two brown on the back and having a line of
the same colour on the sides. All the wings are
transparent, with the edges, the nervures, and a
transverse stripe on the primary pair rust-brown;
the fringe tawny -brown. The thighs are yellow on
the outer side and dusky internally, the rest of the
leg yellow.
The caterpillar is pubescent and whitish, having
a dusky line along the back and a dark-brown head.
It lives in the stem and roots of willow and poplar
trees. Its perfect insect likewise frequents these
trees, and is riot scarce in certain situations ; such
as Epping Forest, Coombe Wood, &c. It is usually
found in June and July. — Only one other species
besides the above seems to inhabit Britain, viz.
T. crabroniforme, Hornet Clear-wing, which has
the head and thorax brown, the latter with a rust-
brown spot on each side behind, and the abdomen
cinctured with two black bands.
174
BREEZE CLEAR-UNDERWING.
JEgeria Asiliformis.
PLATE XIII. Fig, 2.
Sphinx Asiliformis, Donovan, xi. PL 384 __ Sesia (Estrifonnis,
Kirby and Spencers Intro, i. PI. iii. fig. 2 __ jEgeria Asilifor-
mis, Fabr., Stephens, Curtis.
has rather long antennae, very slender at
the hase, and thickening gradually almost to the
tip, which terminates in a minute joint bearing a
tuft of hair. The suctorial trunk is likewise of
considerable length ; and the palpi, which are tri-
articulate and densely clothed with hairs and scales,
stand out from the head and diverge from each
other. The abdomen is slender and cylindric, and
terminates in a slightly trilobed anal tuft. Nearly
a dozen different kinds are included in our indi-
genous lists, of which one of the most conspicuous
is that of which the synonymy has been given
above. It differs from all the rest, in having the
superior wings opaque or almost entirely clothed
with scales : the body is blue-black, somewhat
shining, the head with two white spots before the
eyes and a yellow belt behind ; the thorax with a
yellow mark on each side, and a point of the same
colour at the origin of the primary wings ; the
BREEZE CLEAR- ITNDERWING. 175
abdomen with three yellow belts at equal distances
from each other. The anal tuft is deep black with
wo yellow longitudinal lines ; the thighs dark blue,
the rest of the leg yellow, the tibias having a black
spot on the outer side. The above description
applies in part only to the female ; the male is dis-
tinguished by having pectinate antennas, and four
yellow belts on the abdomen.
It is a scarce insect in northern countries. It has
been occasionally taken in the vicinity of London,
and several other places in the south of England.
It frequents poplars, both in its winged and reptile
fltato.
BLACK AND WHITE HORNED CLEAR-WING.
JEgeria Spheciformis.
PLATE XIIT. Fig. 3.
Sphinx Spheciformis, Esper ; Hubner. — Sesia Sphegiformis,
Fabr. — jEgeria Spheciformis, Curtis^ Stephens, &c.
EXPANSION of the wings about thirteen or fourteen
lines ; the general colour of the body glossy-black,
the thorax with a yellow longitudinal line on each
side, and a spot of the same colour on the sides of
the breast ; the abdomen with a yellow belt on the
third ring above, and another on the fifth beneath ;
there is likewise a yellow spot on the surface of the
176 BLACK AND WHITE HORNED CLEAR-WING.
basal segment. The wings are transparent ; the
upper pair with the nervures, the margin, the apex,
and a broad transverse stripe not far from it, blue-
black ; the posterior pair having the hinder edge,
the nervures, and a cross mark near the middle of
the anterior edge, likewise blue-black. The fringe
of the wings is brownish-ash. The thighs and
tibiae are blue-black, the former yellow externally
in the fore-pair; the tarsi yellow, sprinkled with
black ; antennae yellowish- white at the apex.
Still rarer than the preceding, both in this country
and on the continent. The few British examples
preserved in cabinets have been found chiefly in the
neighbourhood of London and in the Isle of Wight.
It frequents birch-trees, on the wood of which the
larvae probably feed.
.(UNIVERSITY
RUBY-FLY CLEAR-WING.
JEgeria Chrysidiformis.
PLATE XIII. Fig. 4.
Sphinx Chryeidiformis, Fiery Clear-wing, Haworth, 69 ;
Hvbner.
CONSIDERABLY less than either of the preceding,
the extent of the wings seldom exceeding ten lines.
The colour of the body is bluish-black, the forehead
and collar yellowish-white, the thorax having a
single white point at the insertion of the wings,
and the abdomen two white belts, one on the fifth,
the other on the terminal segment. The anal tuft
is black at the sides and reddish-yellow in the
middle ; the thighs blue-black, whitish externally,
except in the hinder pair, the rest of the leg yellow.
The anterior edge, apex, and nervures of the upper
wings, as well as a cross mark in the centre, are
black ; a triangular area extending from the base to
the central mark, and a rounded space beyond it,
are clear hyaline, the remainder of the surface being
bright yellowish-red ; the hinder wings are also
hyaline, with a minute black spot bordered with
red in the middle of the anterior edge.
1C
178 RUBY-FLY CLFAR-WING.
Although an abundant species in the northern
parts of France and in Germany, only one instance
is recorded of this insect having been taken in
Britain ; it was found by a very indefatigable col-
lector, and is now in the possession of Mr. Haworth.
We now come to the extensive tribe named
LEPIDOPTERA NOCTURNA, or Moths, which form
the third great division of the class. For an account
of their distinctive properties and general history,
which embraces many curious and interesting sub-
jects of inquiry, reference may be made to the
introductory portion of the volume, in which we
nave attempted to present what seems most de-
serving of notice in relation to them.
1. Granite Swift -
(<i/frjii/J,ir nf-' /J".
UNIVERSITY
ORANGE SWIFT.
Hypialus Syhinus,
PLATE XIV. Fig. 1.
C'urtis, iv. PI. 185.— Ph. Noc. Sylvina, Linn — Hep. Crux.
Pabr. — Hep. Lupulinus, Haw. — Orange or Evening Swift,
Harris* Aurel.
THE group to which the above named species be-
longs, distinguished by a term which Aristotle
applied to some nocturnal insect*, may not impro-
perly be regarded as a connecting link between the
Sphingida3 and moths properly so called. In the
structure of the mouth, and of several other parts,
they bear considerable resemblance to some of the
preceding genera, and the manners and economy of
the caterpillar are analogous to those of the jEgeriae
and Zygaenae ; while, on the other hand, the perfect
insects do not differ materially in their habits from
the tribes with which they are associated. About
half a dozen distinct kinds inhabit Britain, of which
the best known is that termed the Ghost-moth
(H. Humuli). The male of this species is of a
* Mo).of «•*£! rev *.v%vot Tircuirtf, Hist. Anim» lib. ft
cap. 27.
180 ORANGE SWIFT.
pure satiny white, having all the wings margined
with yellow ; hut the female is entirely of the latter
colour, with various spots and streaks of deep hrown
on the anterior wings. The female is much less
frequently ohserved on the wing than the opposite
sex, and when the latter has discovered the place
of her retreat, he hovers over it with a peculiar
motion, not ohservahle in any other moth ; it is a
very irregular kind of flight, consisting of alternate
risings and fallings, accompanied with rapid zigzag
movements from side to side, confined to a space
not exceeding a few feet in circumference. This
singular vacillating motion, restricted for a while to a
limited spot, which it seems to haunt, together with
its snow-white vestments and time of appearance,
have no doubt been the cause of some fanciful ob-
server denominating this creature the " Ghost-moth/'
It is found in all parts of the country, the caterpillar
subsisting on the common Burdock, when its more
favourite food the Hop is not to be obtained. All
the species, when caterpillars, feed on the roots of.
plants. Previous to their change, they bury them-
selves in the ground, and construct an oval cell, the
walls of which are composed of particles of earth
?md grains of sand, held together by an interlacement
of silken threads. The female moth lays a great
number of eggs, which are not for security aggluti-
nated to some stable object, as among the greater
number of Lepidoptera, but are ejected in rapid
succession from the oviduct with a kind of elastic
force which throws them to some distance. .They
ORANGE SW;FT. ]81
are dry and unadhesive, and though white when first
discharged, they soon acquire a black colour which
makes them exactly resemble grains of gunpowder.
In some of the species a peculiarity is observable
in the structure of the hinder legs. In the male of
H. Humuli these members are fumished with a
dense tuft of very long hairs which has been con-
jectured with some appearance of probability to be
partly the cause of its peculiar undulating flight.
In the same sex of H. Hectus, the entire tarsus is
wanting in the hinder legs, and the tibia is tufted
in a similar manner. These insects may be distin-
guished generically by the shortness of the antennae,
which are usually granulated (in some cases, how-
ever, they are slightly serrated), and not so long as
the thorax, and by the want of palpi and maxillaa.
The females are usually largest, and dissimilar to
the male in colour and markings. The latter sex,
in the species figured, is of a fulvous colour, the
upper wings variegated with chestnut and marked
with white lines, one of them near the base placed
oUiquely, and forming a right angle with another
at the interior margin which extends nearly to the
apex ; there is a small triangular dusky spot on the
disk. The female is brown, with a whitish patch
at the base of the upper wings.
It is found occasionally in many parts of England,
in the months of August and September.
182
GOAT-MOTH.
Cossus Ligniperda.
PLATE XIV. Fig. 2.
Plial. Bom. Cossus, Linn. ; Donovan, iv. PL 1 1 4 — Cossus Lig-
niperda, Fabr. ; Curtis" B. E. ii. PL 60.— Goat-moth, Witke^,
PL 31. ; Yarns' Aurd. PL 23.
ANTENNA the length of the thorax, pectinated in-
ternally ; two distinct, three jointed palpi ; and the
size of the upper wings, which are much larger than
the under pair, afford marks sufficient to distinguish
this conspicuous genus. The figure referred to re-
presents the only species known to inhabit Europe.
The expansion of the wings is from three inches to
three inches and a half; the colour of the superior
pair ashy-white, clouded with brown, and marked
with numerous narrow black streaks, which are
waved and frequently cross each other, forming irre-
gular meshes ; hinder wings brown, with faint re-
ticular streaks posteriorly. The head and back of
the thorax are brown, the latter ochre-yellow in
front and whitish behind, with a transverse band
of black ; the abdomen brown, each segment bor-
dered behind with greyish- white.
GOAT-MOTH. 183
The caterpillar, which is said sometimes to attain
a, size exceeding that of the Death's-head-moth, is
of a lurid red, slightly tinged with dull yellow, and
having a patch of chestnut-red on the back of each
segment. The head is entirely black, and there are
two triangular spots of the same colour just behind
it. (PL xiv. fig. 3.) It does not consume the foliage
of trees, like so many other caterpillars, but derives
its nutriment from the solid wood, which it readily
comminutes by the action of its jaws. By means of
these powerful organs, it mines its way through the
stem of the most healthy tree, to the material injury
of its vital functions, and, by forming numerous
galleries in all directions which admit air and mois -
ture, often occasions a rapid decay. As this creature
lives for a longer time than is assigned to most other
larvae, these destructive operations are continued for
a lengthened period, three years being the space that
usually elapses before it becomes a chrysalis. Pre-
paratory to undergoing this change, it scoops out a
hollow in the tree, which it lines with a warm fa-
bric composed of the raspings of the wood and layers
of strong silk. In this well protected dormitory the
chrysalis reposes for a longer or shorter time accord-
ing to circumstances, and when the inclosed fly is
fully matured, the difficult task awaits the former
of transporting itself to the surface, as it is impos-
sible for the moth to emerge and develope its wings
either in the narrow cell or the perforations that
lead to it. This is accomplished chiefly by means
of a series of small spinous projections arming the
184 GOAT-MOTH.
hinder edge of the abdominal segments, which, when
one side of the rings is moved forward by the wrig-
gling of the abdomen, prevent their sliding back,
and the opposite side is brought forward by a repe-
tition of the same manoeuvre. The caterpillar dif-
fuses a subtile and very peculiar odour, which is
felt at a considerable distance, and from its sup-
posed resemblance to that of a goat, has caused the
insect to be so named. " The object and seat of
this odour," says Mr. Knapp, " seem not well un-
derstood. Some have conjectured it to proceed
from a fluid evacuated from the mouth, and dis-
charged to soften the wood in which they burrow.
But it seems inconsistent with any probability, that
this creature, which is furnished with such very
powerful mandibles, should be gifted with an auxi-
liary aid to accomplish its object; while, of the
many insects that perforate timber, most of them
with inferior means, no other possesses an equiva-
lent agent to facilitate its labours ; for not one of
them, as far as we know, is so supplied. Besides,
if such were the purpose, the discharge would be
made only when required, and thus this unpleasant
odour not always be perceptible. The microscope,
too, does not manifest the exudation of any fluid*."
This caterpillar attaches itself chiefly to oaks,
ashes, willows, and poplars. It abounds in many
parts of England, but the moth does not occur in
any thing like proportionate numbers. Although
the appearance of the caterpillar is disgusting to
* Journal of a Naturalist, 295.
• ' ' • • • • 1
• ! v,,,::. ... \ \\
1. '\\'nn,l leopardsMoth -' 2 Cateryittar qf I)* r,. ////// /
GOAT-MOTH. 1 85
many from its large size, livid hue, and disagreeable
smell, several authors are of opinion that it is the
Cosws of Pliny, and consequently the worm regarded
by the Romans as a delicious article of food. It
may also be mentioned, that it is remarkable as
having been the subject of a most elaborate and ac-
curate anatomical examination by the celebrated
Lyonet, the results of which were published under
the title of Traite Anatomique de la Chenille du
Saide, a work that lias advanced our acquaintance
mth the internal structure of insects more than any
other that could be named.
WOOD LEOPARD-MOTH.
Zeuzera jEscidi.
PLATE XV. Fig. 1.
Latreille, Stepliens* Illus. — Phal. Noct. TEsculi, Linn. ; Dono-
van, v. PI. 152 Cossus ^scuU, Fabr Wood Leopaxd-
moth, Harris.
THIS genus was first established by Latreille, who
gives as its distinguishing characters the setaceous
form of the antennae, which are not so long as the
thorax, and pectinated at the base in the males,
while in the female they are simple, with the base
tomentose. The palpi are obsolete, the abdomen
long and attenuated, and the tibiao without spurs or
spines. The beautiful species represented on the
186 WOOD LEOPARD-MOTH.
adjoining plate is of a snowy-white : the wings
very sparingly clothed with scales, and the nervures
yellowish; the whole surface rather thickly sprinkled
with dark-blue spots, which are largest in the
female. The posterior wings are white at the inner
angle and very faintly spotted at the hase, hut
there is a distinct row of spots round the hinder
margin. The abdomen is nearly covered with
down, of a dark-hlue colour. The wings of the
male usually expand about two inches, but those of
the female frequently exceed two inches and three-
quarters.
The caterpillar lives in the interior of trees, and
seems to frequent indiscriminately most of the kinds
that grow in this country. It is of a light yellow
colour, with a double series of black spots across
each segment. The head is strong and wedge-
shaped, well fitted to work its way through decom-
posing wood, and the segment immediately suc-
ceeding it is protected by a scaly plate of a black
colour. (PL xv. fig. 2.) Preparatory to its be-
coming a pupa, it encloses itself in a cell composed
of triturated particles of wood, cemented by a kind
of glutinous substance. The moth emerges in
July. It is by no means of frequent occurrence in
this country, although it has been found in many
different places. In some seasons it has been
noticed rather plentifully in the vicinity of London,
also in Cambridge, Norfolk, Surrey, Essex, &c.
187
BUFF-TIP MOTH.
PLATE XV. Fig. 3.
Phal. Bom. Bucephala, Linn. ; Donovan* i. Pi. 3 (?.— Phalaena
Limula, De Geer. — Buff-tip Moth, WUkes, PI. 43 ; Ham?
Aurel. PI. 39.
IN PYG^RA the antennae are rather long, appearing
bipectinated in the male, as each joint emits a
double tuft of ciliae on each side ; the apex, how-
ever, is simple, as is the case with the whole an-
tenna in the female. The palpi are short, consisting
of only two joints ; and the thorax has a crest or
strong ridge of hairs on the back. The hinder
margin of the anterior wings is dentate. The only
British example is named the Buff-tip Moth, on
account of a large patch of that colour on the apex
of the anterior wings. The latter expand about
two inches and a half, and when the insect is at
rest they are almost folded round the body. They
are of a light brown colour, thickly powdered,
especially towards the base, with silvery scales, and
each of them having a large rounded yellow spot on
the tip, slightly clouded with ochre-yellow exter-
188 BUFF-TJP MOTH.
nally, and bounded on the inner side by two parallel
rust-coloured lines, which are continued to the
inner edge of the wing : before the middle there is
likewise a double transverse rusty line, and a single
blackish one near the base. The fringe is yellowish,
variegated with rust-red, and preceded by a con-
tinuous series of small crescent-shaped marks of the
latter colour. The under wings are entirely yel-
lowish-white above, with a faint dusky suffusion on
the disk. The thorax, which is very wide and
strong, is ochrey-yellow, surrounded with two pa-
rallel lines of dark rust-red. The abdomen is
nearly of the same colour as the under wings, and
has a row of dusky marks, one on each segment, on
both sides.
The caterpillars are blackish when young, but
when full grown they are yellow, with numerous
longitudinal black stripes on each segment inter-
rupted at the incisures ; the head is likewise black,
as well as the outer side of the legs. (PL xv. fig. 4.)
It is a gregarious larva, and consumes the leaves of
the elm (particularly the wych elm), the beech, the
oak, the lime, and the willow. By thus feeding in
company, they often strip a tree of a large portion
of its foliage in a very short time. When newly
excluded from the egg, they arrange themselves
side by side, in considerable detachments, and com-
mencing at one end of a leaf, eat their way to the
other, consuming the parenchyma or pulpy sub-
stance only half-way through. Having attained
their full growth, which is usually the case by
BUFF TIP MOTH. J89
September, they permit themselves to drop to the
ground, into which they burrow, and change into a
dark-brown pupa. The insect is an abundant one
in the vicinity of London, and in many other parts
of England, but it appears to be somewhat scarce
in Scotland and other more northern places. " Larva
very common on the chestnut in Dumfries-shire."
Sir W. Jardine, Bart.
PUSS-MOTH.
Cerura VinuLa.
PLATE XVI. Fig. 1.
Plial. Bomb. Vinula, Linn. ; Donovan, iii. PI. 85.— Cerura
Vmula, Shrank ; Stephens, &c — Puss-moth, Wtikes* PI 29 •
Harris'' Aurel. PI. 38.
THIS well-defined genus may be readily recognized
by its somewhat diaphanous wings, its bipectinated
antenna?, and the presence of four minute palpi.
The trunk is short and nearly straight. The anterior
tibia? are furnished with an unusual appendage, in
the form of a long compressed lobe, attached to the
inner side near the base. Nine British species have
been described, of which that which we have figured
s by far the most conspicuous. The expansion of the
wings is about three inches, the male usually some-
1 90 PUSS-MOTH.
what less. The anterior wings are greyish white (the
latter colour predominating in the male), somewhat
naked and diaphanous, especially towards the tip,
the nervures strongly marked and of a yellowish-
hrown. The costa is spotted with black ; near the
base are two transverse approximating rows of
similar spots, beyond this a waved dusky band, fol-
lowed by two other rows of spots, rather indistinctly
marked : near the centre there is a series of arcuate
streaks extending in an oblique line across the
wing, the anterior one being largest and darkest,
and the space beyond is occupied with two dusky
zigzag lines, the hinder margin having a longitudinal
dusky streak between each nervure. The hinder
wings are ashy-brown, whitish round the edge,
especially in the male, having an obscure crescent on
the disk and a few dark spots on the posterior
margin. The thorax and abdomen are ashy- white,
the former with a few scattered black spots, the latter
with black marks at the base of the segments. The
region of the eyes is deep black, and the tarsi are
likewise of that colour and prettily ringed with
white.
The caterpillar of this insect is one of the most
remarkable found in this country, and its form and
attitudes are so grotesque that it seldom fails to
attract the notice even of the 'most indifferent ob-
servers. When at rest, it holds its large and
singular looking head somewhat elevated and drawn
back upon the anterior segments of the body, after
the manner of a Sphinx caterpillar, and the double
PUSS-MOTH. ] 9 1
tail is kept erect at the other extremity. Its
threatening aspect has sometimes inspired most
^udicrous notions of its power of doing mischief, as
in the instance quoted by Dr. Shaw from a country
newspaper, where it is described as a monster with
a head like a lion, jaws like a shark, a horn like a
unicorn, and two tremendous stings in its tail. It
is ornamented with very beautiful colours, which,
however, vary considerably according to the age of
the individual. The description of Isaac Walton is
pretty nearly accurate : — " The very colours of ca-
terpillars," says he, " as one has observed, are
elegant and beautiful. I shall, for a taste of the
rest, describe one of them ; which I will, some
time the next month, shew you feeding on a willow
tree ; and you shall find him punctually to answer
this very description : his lips and mouth somewhat
yellow ; his eyes black as jet ; his forehead purple ;
his feet and hinder parts green ; his tail two-forked
and black ; the whole body stained with a kind of
red spots, which run along the neck and shoulder-
blade, not unlike the form of St. Andrew's cross, or
the letter X made thus crosswise, and a white line
drawn down his back to his tail ; all which add
much beauty to his whole body. And if is to me
observable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar gives
over to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered
over with a strange shell or crust, called an aurelia ;
and so lives a kind of dead life without eating all
the winter. And as others of several kinds turn to
be several kinds of flies and vermin the spring
192 PUSS-MOTH.
following, so this caterpillar then turns to be a
painted butterfly*." (PL xvi. fig^.) The two-
forked tail alluded to, which is peculiar to the Puss
caterpillar and two or three others, is thus described
by Kirby and Spence : — " This horn-like appendage
is composed of two distinct cylindrical diverging
branches, each about four lines long, not united at
the base. Each of these is hollow, and includes a
smaller cylindrical piece, which can be protruded at
pleasure, and withdrawn again, as a pencil within
its case ; or, rather, as the horns of a snail. The
two outer horns are tolerably firm, moveable at
their base, and beset with black spines ; the interior
tentacula are fleshy, moveable in every direction,
and in full-grown larvae of a rose-colour. The
animal seldom protrudes them, unless in some way
disturbed ; and frequently it approximates the outer
cases so closely that they resemble a single horn.
It appears to use these inner horns, when protruded,
as a kind of whip to drive away the flies, especially
the Ichneumons, that alight upon its body. When
touched in any place, it will unsheath one of them,
and sometimes both, and with them strike the place
where it is incommoded t." The cocoon constructed
by this caterpillar is remarkable for its strength and
solidity, being composed of particles of wood united
by a very adhesive kind of gum. To enable the
moth to pierce the walls of this indurated case, it
is said to be furnished with a bag of acid, the con-
* Walton's Angler, chap. v.
f Introd. to Entom. iii. page 150.
PUSS-MOTH. J 93
tents of which it pours on the case of the cocoon,
and its solvent ^ wer soon loosens the cohesion or
the particles and renders egress easy. The insect
is not unfrequent, at least in the larva state, both
throughout England and the south of Scotland.
The food of the caterpillar consists of the leaves of
the Willow and Poplar.
THE KENTISH GLORY.
Endromit versicolor.
PLATE XVI. Fig. 3, Female.
Phal. Bom. Versicolor, Linn. ; Don. v. PL 158 ; Entomological
Transactions, i. 323, PL 9_Glory of Kent, Wilkes, Pi'. 89.
—Kentish Glory, Harris.
THE above name was conferred on this genus by
Ochsenheimer, by whom it was first established, in
consequence of the head of the only species it con-
ains being garnished with long hairs somewhat
after the manner of an ancient casque. One of its
most remarkable characters is having the antennae
dpectinated in both sexes as far as the tip, a pecu-
iarity which distinguishes it from all the preceding
;enera. The wings are large, entire at the edges,
and somewhat diaphanous ; the fringe so short as
o be scarcely perceptible. The head is densely
Jothed with long hairs which project forwards ; the
194 THE KENTISH GLORY.
thorax and abdomen are likewise very pilose. The
male of E. versicolor measures about two inches
four lines across the wings, but the female some-
times exceeds three inches. In the former the
colour of the upper wings is rusty-red inclining to
grey, each of them with two transverse black bands,
the anterior one bordered internally with white, and
the other, which is angulated towards the inner
margin, bordered with the same colour on the outer
side. The space between these bands is irregularly
marked with white, and at the extremity of the
discoidal cell there is a black crescent with the
convexity turned towards the body. Towards the
hinder margin there is a series of unequal white
spots, the three upper ones largest and transparent,
and each nervure is marked with a white streak
which is a little dilated at the margin. The hinder
wings are tawny yellow, traversed by a waved dusky
line in the middle, and marked with a small crescent
and a few white spots posteriorly. The body and
base of the wings are very thickly covered with
long yellowish-brown hair ; the anterior part of the
thorax white. The antennae and tarsi are black.
The markings in the female are similar, but the
colour is much lighter, the under wings and abdomen
being almost entirely of a dull white.
The caterpillar bears some resemblance to those
of certain Sphingida?, both in its form and attitudes. •
It is somewhat attenuated in front, and has a py- '
ramidal elevation on that part of the anal segment '
which is occupied by a horn in the kinds just referred
PLATE 17.
THE KENTISH GLORY. J95
to. Before its first change of skin it is entirely green,
but when mature the back is of a pale green, and
the under side minutely sprinkled with black, the
sides ornamented with oblique streaks of a whitish
or yellow colour. It feeds on a variety of our com-
mon forest trees, and generally appears on the wing
in June and July. It must he ranked among the
rarer of our British moths having been found chiefly
in the south of England, and seldom in considerable
numbers. Darenth Wood, Coombe Wood, and
Ashdown Forest, in Sussex, are the localities which
have afforded the greatest numher of specimens.
The male flies during the day, and with such rapi-
dity that he is captured with difficulty.
EMPEROR-MOTH.
Saturnia Pavoma- minor.
PLATE XVII. Fig. 1.
Phalaena Pavonia-minor, Linn. — Phal. Bom. Pavonia, Donovan^
viii. PI. 1, $ PL 254$ Emperor-moth, Wilkes, xvi. PL 32
Larva, 33 Imago ; Htfrris* Aurel. — Saturnia Pavonia-mmor,
Shrank, Steph.
THE genus Saturnia may be briefly characterized
by the absence of palpi and a suctorial trunk, and
by the structure of the antennae, which, in the male,
bear two long ramifications on each side of the
joints, while in the female there is only a simple
1 96 EMPEROR-MOTH.
projecting barb on each side. The head is very
small, and nearly concealed by the dense hairs that
clothe the anterior part of the thorax ; and the wings
are very broad, extended horizontally when in a
state of repose, and furnished with a fringe so short
and imperfect as to be scarcely perceptible. The
genus is not of very great extent, but it comprehends
some of the most magnificent species yet known to
naturalists. Such are S. atlas of China, which
frequently measures eight or ten inches across, and
which the French name Porte-miroir, on account of
a large transparent vitreous mark in the centre of
each wing ; and S. luna, a native of America, re-
markable for its delicate green colour, and the tail-
like elongation of its hinder wings. Another species
is the Peacock (S. Pavonia-majorJ, the wings of
which sometimes expand upwards of six inches, and
is therefore the largest insect indigenous to Europe.
The only species found in this country is the beauti-
ful one represented on the accompanying plate. The
female sometimes attains to upwards of three inches
in the expansion of the wings, but the male seldom
exceeds two and a half. The colour in both sexes
is greyish, with numerous white scales intermixed,
and faintly tinged in several places with purple;
the hinder margin of all the wings with a broad
brownish-white band. Besides this there are two
transverse bands on each wing, one towards the
base, somewhat abbreviated, and consisting of a
white, purplish, and dark-brown stripe, the other
placed behind the middle and very much waved.
EMPEROR -MOTH. 197
The centre of each wing is ornamented with a large
ocellus, placed on a whitish ground, and consisting
of a large black pupil with a whitish streak and a
yellow or grey iris, surrounded with black, and
surmounted by a reddish and light blue crescent.
On the apex of the anterior wings there is a patch df
purple, accompanied with a black and whitish mark.
The body is covered with fulvous or brown hairs, the
hinder margin of the abdominal segments whitish.
The caterpillar feeds on a variety of plants, par-
ticularly the common ling or heath (Calluna vul-
garis), blackthorn bramble, willow, &c. It is at
first black, but ultimately becomes of a lovely green
colour, having each of the segments cinctured by a
black band which is adorned with a series of pink
tubercles, each bearing a whorl of six hairs, diverg-
ing like a star, the central one being longer than th'e
others and capitate. (PL xvn. fig. 2.)
The insect is of frequent occurrence through-
out the greater part of England : the moth is not
abundant in Scotland, but the caterpillar and the
empty cocoon are often observed on heaths. The
female lays between 200 and 300 eggs, which she
attaches by a glutinous liquid to the stem of the
plant which is to afford nourishment to the larvae.
They are deposited in several separate packets,
which are placed at some distance from each other,
probably with a view to increase the chance of some
of them escaping the effects of accidents, as well as
to afford a greater supply of food when the young
are hatched.
Iff 8
OAK EGGER-MOTH.
Lasiocampa Quercus.
PLATE XVII. Fig. 3, Male.
Phal. Bom. Quercus, Linn.; Donovan, iii. PI. 104. — Great
Egger, Wilkes, PI. 46 ; Harris' Aurel. PI. 29 — Lasiocampa
Roboris. Shrank, Steph. $
IN this genus (named from Xatf/oc hairy, and
x#^wr?7 a worm or caterpillar) the antennae are
bipectinated in the males, and merely serrated in
the other sex. There are neither mandibles nor
suctorial trunk, but two short hairy palpi are ob-
servable, composed of three joints, the terminal one
being very minute. The wings are entire, densely
covered with scales, and deflexed when at rest ; the
margin with a distinct fringe. The abdomen of the
male tufted at the apex and somewhat cleft, that of
the female very large and scarcely tufted ; the legs
slender and sparingly clothed with hairs. Four
species are recorded as British, all of which are of
a reddish-brownish colour, with transverse whitish
bands. The species figured to illustrate the genus
is the most common of the whole. The male is of
a deep ferruginous or chestnut-brown, with an
ochreous yellow band running across all the wings
OAK EGGER-MOTH. J99
near the middle ; this band is distinctly defined on
the inner side, but externally it is gradually shaded
off towards the margin, where the brown colour
again deepens. On each of the anterior wings
there is a small central white spot placed in a dusky
ring, and in many instances a yellowish patch at
the base. The fringe of the anterior wings is nar-
row and brown ; that of the hinder pair broad, and
nearly of the same colour as the transverse band,
but occasionally somewhat clouded with brown.
The upper parts of the body are of the same colour
as the dark portion of the wings, the under side
and legs ochreous-yellow. Antennas chestnut-brown.
The female is much larger than the male, with
similar markings, but the whole body and wings
are pale yellow.
The caterpillar is yellowish, covered with greyish-
brown hairs, having the incisures black, and a
white macular band on each side. There is like-
wise an interrupted row of white spots on the back,
and a pale yellow mark on the anterior part of the
head. It feeds on the oak, willow, hawthorn,
broom, and a variety of other trees and shrubs.
Both the caterpillar and the moth are subject to
numerous variations, which has occasioned diffe-
rence of opinion among authors regarding the proper
application of the specific name. Examples are
occasionally found in which the transverse band is
greenish: these Hubner regarded as distinct, and
named Bombyx Sparta. Such as have a yellow
mark at the base of the anterior wings, are alone
200 OAK EGGER-MOTH.
considered by Mr. Stephens as referable to the true
Bom. Quercus of Linnaeus, in whose description that
character is particularly mentioned. The others,
of which the individual figured is an example, he
has described separately under the name of L.
Roboris, adopted from Shrank. The differences
between the two are not, however, very important,
and they obviously do not exceed the limits assigned
to the range of deviation in the majority of variable
species. Neither ought the occasional dissimilarities
observable in the larvae to be assumed as certainly
indicating specific distinction, for these variations
often depend on age, sometimes even on the nature
of the food; and in such a case as the present,
where the sexes of the perfect insect are so unlike, it
is not unreasonable to suppose that they may be re-
spectively produced from caterpillars partaking more
or less of the same character. The observations of
De Geer have proved that in some instances the male
moth originates from a caterpillar of an entirely dif-
ferent colour from that which produces the female.
In the extended sense which we have assigned
to the name, Lasiocampa Quercus is an abundant
moth in most parts of England, particularly in the
south. The woods in the neighbourhood of London,
the New Forest, woods in Cambridge-shire, &c.
produces it in plenty. It appears to become more
scarce as we advance northward, and it is by no
means common in Scotland, although occurring at
times at least throughout the southern division of
that country.
1 \ 2 III nikiT .I/"///, 'null,- A; teiu. ^ ./,<//!/»•/. ////// ]-. C i///-/ /;//////-.//' //"
201
PR1NKER-MOTH-
Odonestis Potatona.
PLATE XVIII. Figs. 1 and 2.
PhaJ. Bomb. Potatoria, Linn. ; Don. v. PI. 148 __ Odonesti*
Potatoria, Germar. Steph. — Drinker Caterpillar, Lister's
Gcedart. Albin, PI. xvii __ Drinker-moth, Wilkes, PI. 58 ;
Harris* Aurel. PL 45.
ODONESTIS may be briefly distinguished from the
allied genera by the length of the palpi, which have
the second joint double the length of the basal one,
and project in front of the head like a small beak,
and by the hinder margin of the anterior wings being
entire. The antennaB are strongly bipectinated, at
least in the male, as far as the apex, and they are a
little curved near the base. The abdomen is elongated
and furnished with an anal tuft in the male, which
is wanting, however, in the other sex. The hinder
margin of the anterior wings is rounded and entire,
but the angle formed by the tip is pretty acute ; in
the hinder pair there is a tendency to become den-
ticulate. The sexes are distinguished by differences
of size and colour similar to those exemplified by
the preceding species. The male is reddish-brown
202 DRINKER-MOTH.
on the surface, somewhat glossy, the anterior wings
with an ochreous yellow patch at the base, and the
disk more or less suffused with the same colour ; a
dark rust-coloured line extends obliquely across
each of them from the tip to the middle of the
inner edge, a faint transverse line is likewise ob-
servable near the base, and another, sometimes faint
and interrupted, towards the hinder margin, to
which it is nearly parallel. On the disk, towards
the anterior margin, are two white spots, the lower
one largest and stained with yellow in the centre.
The hinder wings are unspotted, but there is an
indistinct transverse streak on each darker than the
rest of the surface. The body and antennae are
nearly of the same hue as the wings. The female
is about a third larger than the male, and of a pale
ochre-yellow, sometimes approaching to yellowish-
white. She lays a considerable number of eggs,
which are whitish, surrounded with two green
circles, and marked with a dark spot. The cater-
pillar has rather a singular appearance from being
furnished with two long conical tufts, one of them
placed on the back of the second segment and di-
rected forwards, the other on the eleventh segment
and turned in the opposite direction. On each side
of the back there is a linear series of velvet-black
spots, followed by a line of yellow spots, and beneath
these a number of tufts of white hair. Like so
many others of its tribe, it rolls itself in a ring when
apprehensive of danger. It feeds on a variety of
common grasses, such as Alopecuni-s pratensis, Bro-
DRINKER-MOTH. 203
mus sterilis, the meadow grasses, Sec. It survives
the winter in a kind of torpid condition, and changes
into the pupal state in June or July, the moth
appearing in about three weeks. It is plentiful in
most parts of England, particularly in marshy situa-
tions, to which it seems to he partial. It occurs
much less frequently in Scotland.
LAPPET-MOTH.
Gastropacha Quercifolia.
PLATE XVIII. Fig. 3.
Phal. Bomb. Quercifolia, Linn. ; Don. vii. PI. 332 — Lappit-
moth, Wilkes, PI. 57 ; Harris"1 Aurel. PI. 43. — Gastropacha
Quercifolia, Ochsen. ; Steph. ; Curtis' B. E. i. PI. 24.
THE generic name* refers to the appearance of the
abdomen, which is very large in the females. As
a genus, Gastropacha possesses strongly marked
characters by which it is readily discriminated from
all the other groups included in the family of the
Bombycidae. All the wings are strongly dentated,
and when the insect is in a state of repose, the
anterior edge of the upper pair projects considerably
beyond the upper, giving an oval form to the out-
line, bearing a good deal of resemblance to a withered
* From ryatffrtg the lelh/, and «r«;£vf thick.
204 LAPPET-MOTH.
leaf with a serrated border. Hence one of the
species was named hy Geoflroy lafeuille morte. The
antennas are very short, recurved, and deeply bipec-
tinated nearly in a similar manner in both sexes :
the palpi very hairy and prolonged into a kind of
snout, the second joint longer than the others.
Maxilla3 are observable, but they are very minute.
The genus includes several European insects, but
that figured on the adjoining plate is the only one
satisfactorily ascertained to inhabit Britain. The
surface of the wings is of a rusty-brown colour
varying considerably in shade, the extremity slightly
glossed with violet; the upper pair with three
oblique waved blackish lines, and a black spot in
the centre. The hinder wings are generally un-
spotted ; at times, however, they are marked with
faint transverse streaks similar to those on the
upper pair. The body is of the same colour as the
wings ; the stalk of the antennae, the palpi, and the
tarsi, of a deep bluish-black.
The caterpillar is of large size when full grown,
sometimes measuring nearly four inches in length,
and very variable in colour. The prevailing hue
is dusky-grey, inclining to ash-grey, with two blue
spots on the neck surrounded with black, and
having a black angular mark in the middle. The
membranous legs and the under side of the body
are ferruginous, the latter spotted with black. Each
segment is furnished with a fleshy appendage which
hangs from the side, and there is a dorsal tuber-
cle on the penultimate joint. (PL xviu. fig. 4.)
LAPPET-MOTH. 205
It feeds on a variety of trees and shrubs, such as
the willow, blackthorn, bramble, hawthorn, &c.,
and it is asserted that the colour varies according to
the nature of its food. The cocoon which it spins
for its pupal change is long, and generally tapers
somewhat at one end. The tissue is not very thick
or compact, but all the interstices are closely filled
up with a whitish powder, employed for lining the
interior. The moth is found occasionally in many
parts of England but seldom in great abundance.
It is not rare on the continent.
BLACK ARCHES.
Psilura Monacha.
PLATE XIX. Figs. 1 and 2.
Phal. Bomb. Monacha, Linn. ; Don. vii. PI. 228 Liparis
Monacha, Ocksenheimer. — Laria Monacha, Shrank, Leach.—
Black Arches, Wilkes, PL 39 ; Harris' Vade Mecum, 9
Psilura Monacha, Steph.
THIS genus was established by Mr. Stephens, and
may be recognised by the following characters: —
maxillae obsolete ; palpi with the second joint cla-
vate, and one-half longer than the radical one,
which is likewise somewhat lengthened and club-
shaped; antennae short, deeply bipectinated in the
male, but less so in the female ; wings opaque and
densely covered with scales, the edges entire ; body
206 BLACK ARCHES.
more slender than in the preceding genera, the
male having the apex of the abdomen slightly
tufted, while that of the female is naked and atte-
nuated*. Psilura is very closely related to Hypo-
gymna, a genus including the Gipsey Moth, whose
curious economy renders it an object of much
interest. The principal differences consist in the
relative length of the articulations of the palpi and
the appearance of the abdomen in the respective
females, that of the Gipsey Moth terminating in a
dense tuft of hairs.
The male of the Black Arches Moth generally
expands from fifteen to eighteen lines, the female
about two inches. Both sexes vary considerably,
but the following description will apply to the ma-
jority of specimens. The surface of the primary
wings is greyish- white, with numerous black spots,
and four confused zigzag transverse lines of the
same colour. Several of the spots are placed at the
base of the wing, one before the middle between
the two anterior lines, and a regular series along
the terminal border. The secondary wings are
brownish-grey, sometimes white at the hinder extre-
mity; the fringe always white, spotted at regular
intervals with black. The thorax is white, tinged
with yellow in front, and marked with several
black spots; the abdomen rose-red behind, with
the incisures and series of spots black, that of the
female terminating in a yellow corneous oviduct.
* The generic name refers to this circumstance, being
derived from $i).ot naked, and ovga, the tail.
BLACK ARCHES. 20?
The caterpillar is brown, beset with numerous
tubercles supporting tufts of greyish hairs. On the
second segment there is a heart-shaped black spot
followed by two white ones; the head is large,
marked in a reticulated manner with flesh-coloured
lines, and having a triangular ovai spot in the
middle of the forehead ; the membranous legs and
belly light green. It feeds on the oak, birch,
bramble, &c. ; and is said occasionally to appear in
such numbers in certain districts of Germany, as
entirely to strip the pine forests of their foliage.
The chrysalis, which is enveloped in a slight cocoon,
is of a shining brown, and has tufts of hair on the
segments, a circumstance which is likewise observ-
able in several of the allied genera.
This pretty moth is not generally distributed,
but has been found in some plenty in certain locali-
ties, such as the New Forest, some parts of Kent,
Surrey, &c. It does not seem to extend far to the
north, and we have never heard of its being seen OD
this side of the Tweed*
20H
SCARLET TIGER-MOTH.
Hypercampa Dominida.
PLATE XIX. Fig. 3, Pig. 4 var.
Phal. Noct. Dotninula, Linn. ; Don. iv. PI. 141 Callimorpha
Dominula, Latr. ; Leach — Eyprepia Dominula, Ochsen —
Scarlet Tiger-moth, Wilkes, PI. 38 ; Harris' Aurel. PI. 40.
— Hypercampa Dominula, Hithner^ Steph.
THE length of the proboscis, which considerably
exceeds that of the head, taken in connection with
the opaque scaly wings, is sufficient to distinguish
the present genus from all others belonging to the
extensive family of the Arctiidae. Another peculiar
character is to be found in the structure of the
antenna?, which are simple ; that is, without teeth or
pectinations in both sexes, contrary to what is ob-
served in genera which in other respects have the
greatest affinity to the present. The palpi have the
two lower joints of equal length, the terminal one
much shorter and of an ovate form : wings entire
on the edges. The species named the Scarlet
Tiger-moth is one of the most elegant and orna-
mental that we possess. The primary wings ..are
black and shining, with a fine silken-green gloss,
SCARLET TIGER-MOTH. 209
each of them ornamented with about a dozen cream-
coloured or yellowish spots of various dimensions,
the two largest placed rather beyond the middle.
The secondary wings are of a. fine carmine-red,
with three large and irregular black spots; the
fringe of all the wings black. The thorax is black
glossed with green, and marked with two yellow
longitudinal spots : abdomen the colour of the un-
der wings on the surface, the under side, basal
segment, and a dorsal line, black ; the under side
highly glossed with green. Several varieties occur,
of which the most remarkable are those in which
the red colour is replaced by pale yellow, and such
as have the abdomen entirely black, and the under
wings dull brown, without any vestige of the gay
colouring of ordinary specimens. This latter variety
is represented on Plate xix. fig. 4.
On issuing from the egg, the caterpillar is of a
dirty yellow, with the head and numerous small
spots over the body black. After its first moult
it becomes black, with three yellow longitudinal
lines, one on the back and another on each side ;
the black portion with many small blue tubercles,
from which issue diverging greyish hairs. The
moth appears in June ; but is not of frequent oc-
currence in this country. It has been found in
some plenty in the vicinity of Cambridge and in
Darenth Wood ; also, but much more sparingly, at
Blackheath, Oxford, near Reading, &c.
210
THE CLOUDED BUFF.
Eutliemonia Russula.
PLATE XX. Fig. 1.
Phal. Bomb. Russula, Linn. ; Don. vi. PI. 214. — Eyprepia
Russula, Ochsen ; Curtis* B. E. i. PI. 21 Clouded Buff,
PJial. quadra, Harris. — Phal. Bomb. Sannio^, Linn Arctia
Russula, Latr — Euthemoma Russula, Stepk.
THE above insect has generally been associated with
A/he typical Tiger moths (Arctice), but the discre-
pancies are too great for this union to be continued
propriety. The genus Euthemonia (from
handsome ) has therefore been constituted,
and may be recognized by having the middle joint
of the palpi a good deal longer than the two others,
the terminal one rather slender ; proboscis not
longer than the head ; antennae short and slender,
bipectinated in the males and serrated in the fe-
males ; abdomen annulated, and having a small tuft
at .the apex; wings deflexed and trigonate.
This species named the Clouded Buff, differs
from the generality of moths in the female being
considerably less than the male ; the latter being
about eighteen or twenty lines between the tips of
THE CLOUDED BCTFF. 211
the wings, and the former seldom exceeding sixteen
or eighteen lines. The sexes are likewise very
dissimilar in colour: the male has the surface of
the upper wings pale yellow, with the anterior and
inner edge as well as the fringe, rose-red ; the disk
of each with a large somewhat crescent-shaped
brown spot edged with red. The under wings are
pale yellowish- white, with a dusky crescent in the
middle anteriorly, and a broad dusky band near the
hinder margin, the fringe rose-red. The thorax and
abdomen are of the same colour as the adjoining
wings ; the legs and stalk of the antennae reddish.
In the female the portion of the upper wings just
described as light yellow, is of a reddish-yellow
inclining to brown ; the hinder wings dusky at the
base, and having a marginal band, varying in shape
and size in different individuals.
The caterpillar is thickly covered with fascicles
of short hair, sometimes reddish, at other times in-
clining to orange-yellow. The body is dusky-brown,
with a pale yellow dorsal line, and a series of yellow
spots on each side. It feeds on a variety of plants,
among which are the hound's tongue (Cynoglossum
officmale), field scabious, and narrow-leaved plantain.
The moth is not generally distributed, but is found
in some plenty in Coombe Wood, the New Forest,
near York, &c. : likewise in the vicinity of Edin-
burgh, but not plentifully, and in Dumfries-shire
near Raehills.
212
CREAM-SPOT TIGER-MOTH.
A rcfia Villica.
PLATE XX. Fig. 2.
Fhal. Bomb. Villica, Linn. ; Donovan^ ii. PI. 71 Bombyx
Villicus, Haworth.— Eyprepia Villica, Ochsen ,• Curtis.—
Cream Spot Tyger-moth, Wilkes, PI . 37 ; Harris* Aurel.
PI. 4 Arctia Villica, Steph.
THIS genus comprehends some of the most striking
and richly coloured moths with which we are ac-
quainted. Deep black, crimson, and yellow are the
prevailing colours ; and these are combined in
strongly contrasted spots and bars in such a man-
ner as to produce a most agreeable effect. The
most common species is the beautiful Great Tiger-
moth (Arctia caja), found occasionally in all parts
of Britain, produced from a larva of much more
frequent occurrence, well known throughout the
country as the hairy worm, and in the south of
Scotland by the name of hairy oubit. The generic
name likewise bears allusion to the hairy caterpillar,
being derived from afxrof a bear. The distinctive
characters are to be found in the palpi, which have
the basal joint longer than the second ; in the an-
tennae being rather long, bipectinated in the males,
and serrated in the females, each of the radii and
CREAM-SPOT TIGER-MOTH. 2i3
serratures terminating in a bristle ; in the proboscis
being short, scarcely longer than the head ; and the
wings being densely clothed with scales. The
thorax is without a crest, and, as well as the abdo-
men, is thick and strong. The species figured as
an example of the genus is by no means so gene-
rally distributed as the Great Tiger-moth, but it is
not very rare in some parts of England. It measures
from two inches to two inches and a half across the
anterior wings, which have the ground colour deep
black ; each of them with about eight yellowish or
cream-coloured spots of various sizes, the basal one
triangular or heart-shaped, the others in pairs
placed transversely, and an insulated one on the
hinder margin. The under wings are rather deep
yellow, with a few scattered small black spots, and
a large black patch on the outer angle, enclosing a
few irregular spots of the ground colour. The
thorax is deep black, with a cream-coloured mark
on each shoulder ; the abdomen yellow at the base,
bright red posteriorly, with three longitudinal rows
of black spots. On the under side the anterior
edge of all the wings is tinged with bright red, and
the breast and sides are thickly garnished with
hairs of the same colour.
The caterpillar is black after its last moult, and
covered with aigrettes of greyish-brown hairs : the
head and legs reddish-brown, the former having a
black heart-shaped spot in the middle. It feeds on
most of our common field plants. The chrysalis
has short tufts of reddish hairs on the segments.
214
RUBY TIGER-MOTH.
Phragmatobia fuliginosa.
PLATE XX. Fig. 3.
Phal. Noc. fuliginosa, Linn. ; Don. iii. PI. 80 Ruby Tiger,
Harris* Aurd. PL 27 Chelonia fuliginosa, Godart
Arctia fulig. Latr — Phragmatobia fulig. Steph.
THIS genus, like several others in the same family,
has the scales so thinly placed on the wings that
these memhers appear more or less diaphanous.
This circumstance, taken in connexion with the
structure of the antennae, which are short and almost
simple in hoth sexes, and the very rohust hody,
suffices to distinguish it from any other with which
it has any chance of being confounded. The palpi
are short and hairy, having the two lower joints of
equal length ; the head very small. The only
British species referable to it is the pretty little
moth named the Ruby Tiger. It varies much in
colour, but the upper wings are most commonly
reddish brown, with two black points near the
middle of each, and the fringe bright red ; the hinder
pair bright red, becoming black posteriorly, with a
streak of that colour at the extremity of the discoidal
RUBY TIGER-MOTH. 215
cell ; or the surface nearly all black, having the
inner edge only tinged with red ; fringe as in the
anterior wings. The thorax is reddish-brown, the
abdomen bright carmine-red, with a row of black
spots on the back and another on each side.
The caterpillar is very thickly covered with hairs,
which vary in colour in different individuals, but
are commonly brown or reddish ; the head and legs
of a corresponding hue. Scarcely any of our or-
dinary plants are rejected by it as food. Fabricius
has remarked of this caterpillar, that when it is
seen to run over the snow in the winter, it may be
taken as a sign that the ensuing summer will be
cold and ungenial; " Hieme in nive obambulans,
aestates frigidiores et annonae caritatem pnenun-
ciat;" a prognostication which the French natu-
ralist Godart proves not to be infallible, by gravely
stating the result of his observations to the contrary ;
and he has actually known a beautiful summer and
plentiful harvest follow the phenomenon alluded to.
Of occasional occurrence during the months of
July and August, in many parts of the country.
We once found it at Duddingston, near Edinburgh ,
and have seen several specimens which were taken
in Roxburghshire. The neighbourhood of New-
castle, York, Darenth Wood, &c. are mentioned
among its English localities. It has likewise been
found in Caithness and Sutherland.
216
WOOD TIGER-MOTH.
NemeophUa Plantaginis.
PLATE XXI. Fig. 1.
Phal. Bomb. Plantaginis, Linn.; Don. iv. PL 134 Wood
Tyger-moth, Wilkes, PI. 50. — Nemeoph. Plantaginis, Steph.
THIS pretty insect was formerly associated with the
ArctiaB, but has lately been referred to a separate
genus, under the name of Nemeophila*. The an-
tennae are bipectinated in the male and serrated in
the female ; the palpi short, all the joints of nearly
equal length, and almost globose, the terminal one
rather smallest. The proboscis is short, scarcely
the length of the head ; the thorax not crested, and
the wings completely opaque with scales. The
thorax and abdomen are somewhat slender, the
extremity slightly tufted in the male. The latter
sex usually measures about an inch and a half
across the wings, the female being somewhat larger.
The anterior wings are deep black above, with a
yellowish or cream-coloured stripe running from
the base towards the apex, where it becomes very
irregular and forms a kind of cross ; there are like*
* Derived from np»t a grove, and f <A.«* a Cover.
2. f 'inntilnirMith ,
5. Crimson, Speckled Pootmar.
4 . ( ujer/n/lur <if ' /I'.'
,.
fl UNIVERSITY: )]
VV
WOOD TIGER-MOTH. 21?
wise two spots of the same colour on the anterior
margin, varying much in size, and sometimes con-
fluent. The hinder wings are ochreous-yellow
(sometimes reddish) with two black stripes at the
base, and a nearly continuous series of black spots
along the hinder margin, in the male; the whole
base black in the other sex. The head, thorax, and
back of the abdomen are black ; the former with a
yellow tuft on each side, and the thorax with lateral
streaks of light-coloured hair, which, however, are
wanting in the female. In the latter sex the abdo-
men is reddish, with a black dorsal line.
The caterpillar, which feeds on the broad and
narrow leaved plantain, chickweed, &c. is black
and hairy, the six middle segments reddish on the
back and sides. It is well figured by Rosel, vol. iv.
t. 24.
The moth is found in June and July, and is not
unfrequent in certain localities, although it does not
seem to be generally distributed. We have seen
several examples from Roxburghshire and some
other of the border counties of Scotland, and it has
been taken in Darenth "Wood, as well as in seve-
ral places in the north of England. It has also
been found plentifully in Shetland and the Orkney
Islands.
218
•THE CINNABAR MOTH,
Callimorpha Jacob aece,
PLATE XXI. Fig. 2.
Phal. Noc. Jacobaese, Linn. ; Don. PI. 45. — Pink Underwing,
Harris1 Aurel. PI. 4.— Callimorpha Jacobseae, Latr., Steph*
THIS genus, originally constituted by Latreille under
the above name (derived from xaXd£ beautiful, and
oogpa/orm or appearance), properly contains in its
present restricted acceptation only one species, for
the Red Arches of Harris (Thai, rosea, Don.) which
has been sometimes referred to it, obviously pertains
to a different group. The trunk is rather long, at
least longer than the head, and the palpi, which are
covered only with small scales, have the basal joint
as long as the two following, which are of equal
length and rather obtuse. The antennae are slender
and setaceous, somewhat ciliated in the males ; the
extremity of the abdomen slightly tufted in that
sex ; the anterior wings long and narrow, with the
hinder margin a little rounded. The thorax is not
crested ; and the posterior tibiae are furnished with
two pair of spurs. The colouring of the Cinnabar,
or Pink Underwing Moth, as it is sometimes called,
THE CINNABAR MOTH. 219
is very peculiar, and it presents this additional
singularity that the upper and under surfaces are
precisely alike. The anterior wings are greyish
black, with a stripe of carmine extending from the
base nearly to the apex, parallel with the anterior
margin and at a little distance from it; on the
hinder border there are two remote rounded spots,
and a dash on the inner edge, of the same brilliant
red. The under wings are entirely bright red,
except the fringe and a stripe on the anterior edge,
which are greyish-black. The body, antennae, and
legs are deep black.
The caterpillar is likewise prettily marked, being
yellow ringed with black. (PL xxi. fig. 3.) It
feeds on the flowers of the ragwort ( Senecio Jaco-
Icea), and probably also on the other species of the
genus, several of which are well known to be com-
mon weeds. The moth is of occasional occurrence
apparently throughout Britain, and in some places
it is abundant. It seems to be nowhere plentiftil
in Scotland, but specimens have been obtained from
numerous and widely scattered localities. " Abun-
dant on the Northumbrian coast." Sir Wm. Jar-
e^ Bart,
CRIMSON SPECKLED FOOTMAN.
Deiopeia pulchella*
PLATE XXI. Fig. 4.
Phal. Tinea pulchella, Linn. — Lithosia pulchella, Hawortli.—.
Bombyx pulchra, Hubner. — Deiopeia pulchra, Curtis^ iv.
PI. 169.
DEIOPEIA has been separated from the allied genera
in consequence of haying the labial palpi three-
jointed, with the second joint longest, the third
shortest and ovate; antennas alike in both sexes,
simple ; and the proboscis as long as the antennae.
The anterior wings are narrow and elongate, the
hinder pair ample, somewhat diaphanous, and much
folded. Besides the labial palpi, a maxillary pair
likewise exist, but they are exceedingly minute and
consist of only two joints. The species are nu-
merous on the continent, but that which we have
figured is the only one that inhabits this country.
The head, thorax, and upper wings are pale straw-
colour, the thorax marked with yellow and rounded
black spots; the wings with five curved and irre-
gular transverse rows of quadrate black spots, the
spaces between these rows occupied with several
CRIMSON SPECKLED FOOTMAN. 221
bright scarlet spots varying in shape and size. The
abdomen and under wings are white, slightly tinged
with blue, the latter with a broad dusky marginal
band, sinuated on the inner side, and becoming
narrow towards the body, the transverse nervure
closing the basal areolet dilated and blackish ; the
fringe of all the wings pale yellow.
The caterpillar is hairy, of a bluish-grey colour,
spotted with black and red, and having a white
dorsal line. (PL xxi. fig. 5.) It feeds on Helio-
tropium Europeum, Solanum tomentosum, and field
mouse- ear (Myosotis arvensis)^ only the latter of
which is indigenous to this country.
This very beautiful moth is frequent in the
southern European countries, and is said likewise
to be found in Asia and America. It is one of our
rarest native species, the following, we believe, being
the only places where it has occurred, and only a
single example except in one instance having been
found in each : near Christchurch, Hants ; Hove,
near Brighton ; Yorkshire.
222
BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWINQ.
Tripho&na Fiinbria.
PLATE XXII. Fig. 1.
Phol. Noctua Fimbria, Linn.; Don. vi. PI. 208 Noctua
Solani, Fabr. — Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Harris9
Aurel. PI. v. fig. 2 — Triphaena Firabria, Ochsen, Stepk.
THE genus Triphaena (an ancient classical name
applied to a female) is included in the great family
of the NOCTUID^E, and is readily distinguished from
all the groups to which our attention has been
hitherto directed, by having the proboscis long
and spiral, like that of the diurnal lepidoptera.
The palpi rise upwards in front of the head and are
somewhat compressed, the radical joint shorter than
the two others, the second long, the third short
and attenuated, with the tip obtuse. The antennae
are simple in both sexes, those of the male ciliated
on the under side ; the thorax without a crest, but
furnished with a large flap or tippet in front. All
the species are of middle size, and rather gaily
coloured, especially on the underwings, which are
bright yellow with a black posterior margin. When
they fly it is only for a short distance at a time, and
chiefly in the afternoon and evening. In the earlier
BROAD -BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING. 223
part of the day they may be found lurking at the
«ides of stones and among grass, and when an
rttempt is made to seize them, they do not take
wing, but attempt to escape by gliding rapidly
among the herbage. The most abundant species
is that named the Great Yellow Underwing (T.
pronuba)) which occurs plentifully in all parts of
Britain. That which we have figured is much less
frequently met with, but it inhabits numerous and
widely scattered localities, having been found in
Northumberland, Yorkshire, Devonshire, Suffolk,
&c. It is nearly of the same size as the common
species ; the head, thorax, and anterior wings grey-
ish, dark liver-coloured, or some shade intermediate
between these two, each with four transverse pale
lines, and two pale rings on the disk ; the line next
the base abbreviated, the second and third angulated,
and enclosing a space darker than the rest of the
wing in which the two annular marks are placed ;
the hinder one undulated, having one or two black
dots at its anterior extremity, surmounted by a few
white ones. The underwings are light orange
yellow, with a very broad posterior band of deep
black, which, however, does not cover the hinder
edge : the abdomen likewise yellow ; the antennas
brown, whitish at the base.
The caterpillar is large, rough, and ochrey-yellow,
with a pale line along the back, and white stigmata
surrounded with a black ring. It feeds on the
potato, violet, hound's tongue, primrose, &c. The
moth is found in June and July.
224
LARGE SWORD-GRASS MOTH
Cilocampa Exoleta.
PLATE XXII. Fig. 2.
Phal. Noct. Exoleta, Linn. ; Don. vi. PI. 187, larva. — Noctua
Exoleta, Hubner. — Sword- grass Moth, Wilkes, PI. 18, Harris.
Xylina Exoleta, Curtis' B. E. vi. PI. 256 — Calocampa Ex-
oleta, Steph.
ANTENNAE setaceous, rather stout in the males, eac
joint ciliated heneath with hairs ; the proboscis
long as the antennae ; palpi entirely covered wit
long trigonate scales, the joints robust, the seconc
double the length of the first, the terminal on
short and ovate, with the apex truncate ; head wit
a frontal crest; anterior wings long and narrow
scarcely wider at the hinder margin (which
dentate) than towards the base; thorax quadrate,
slightly crested, and three-lobed behind ; the abdo
men depressed, in the male with the apex triangu
lar ; such are the principal attributes of the presen
genus, and which serve to distinguish it from Xylina,
with which it has generally been associated. Only
two species are found in this country, and one ol
them, C. Vetusta* is very rare. They bear con-
LARGE SWORD-GRASS MOTH. 225
Biderable affinity to the group named Cucullia ; an
besides other properties common to both, have this
peculiarity, that when they are made to fall down
they roll their wings closely round them and draw
in their legs and antennae ; a position in which they
not a little resemble a piece of dead wood. The
species figured is rather the largest of the two,
the expansion of the wings being frequently up-
wards of two inches. The prevailing colour is
pale ochreous, inclining to reddish-brown in many
places. The upper wings are striated with dusky
lines towards the base, and the inner side is more
or less clouded with the same colour ; each of them
with two approximating ear-shaped spots near the
middle, the hinder one largest, and relieved with
black, which emits one or two salient points directed
backwards; the fringe brown spotted with black.
The hinder wings are dusky-grey, with a darker
lunulated spot towards the base ; the fringe ochre-
yellow. The thorax is dark-brown on the back, and
the abdomen light reddish-ochre, obscurely banded
with dark brown.
The caterpillar is remarkably beautiful*, the
ground colour being a rich green, the back adorned
with two rows of white spots, connected in pairs,
below this a yellow line, succeeded by a series of
small round spots, and then a red line just over the
legs. (PI. xxn. fig. 3.) It feeds on almost every
* The beauty of the larvse has suggested a name for the genus,
Calocampa being derived from *«/.«; beautiful, and x«/uir* a
226 LARGE SWORD-GRASS MOTH.
kind of plant but prefers spinach, lettuce, and aspa-
ragus. The moth is found in summer and autumn,
and although far from being common, occurs now
and then in marshy places in many parts of the
country. "We have found it near Jedburgh, at
Dudclingston in the vicinity of Edinburgh, and have
seen examples from Perthshire. In England it has
been taken at Darenth Wood, near Oxford, and
in several other stations. " Several specimens
were taken at Jardine Hall on the skep during the
month of January of the present year." Sir W.
Jardine, Bart.
THE APRIL MISELIA.
Miselia Aprilina.
PLATE XXIII. Fig. 1.
Phal. Noct. Aprilina, Linn. — Noctua Runica, Fair. — Plial.
Runica, Don. x. PI. 354. — Marvel du Jour, Flan-is — Mi-
selia Aprilina, Oclisen^ Stepli.
THE beautiful little group distinguished by the name
of Miselia (from /jufciv to hate and ij>./o£ the mn)^
is recognised by the antennae being long, robust
in the males and sometimes slightly serrated : thr
maxillae about the length of the antennae; the
palpi with the radical joint rather robust, the second
long and not so thick, the third shortest and ovate,
all of them thickly clothed with scales except the
THE APRIL MISELIA. 227
terminal one which is nearly naked ; the head tufted
on the crown ; the thorax robust and quadrate, and
the abdomen tufted on the back towards the base.
All the wings are rather narrow, the anterior pair
roundish on the hinder margin. The larva? have
the head and pectoral segments a little depressed,
and the head is considerably retracted in repose.
They have two protuberances on the back of the
penultimate segment ; their abode is usually between
the bark and on the trunk of trees. The species
named Aprilina, from the usual period of its first
appearance, has the upper wings of a fine green,
thickly marked with transverse black streaks and
spots, the apex with two rows of spots shaped like
the head of an arrow, one of the rows placed upon
the hinder margin. The under wings are dusky
brown, with a faint light-coloured streak on the
inner side rather behind the middle, and another
along the hinder edge ; the fringe of the wings
whitish spotted with brown. The head and thorax
are the colour of the upper wings, the latter with
some black marks on the back and a line of the
same colour on each side ; abdomen grey ; legs
ringed with black, the posterior wings having a black
spot in the middle on the under side.
The caterpillar varies in appearance according to
its age, and even full grown individuals are often
very dissimilar. It is commonly ash-grey, with dark
spots and lines on the back and sides ; sometimes
the back is spotted with white, and the sides more
or less striped with that colour. It feeds on dif-
228 THE APRIL MISELTA.
ferent kinds of forest trees, such as the ash, ^elm,
beech, &c. The moth first appears in the middle
of April, and there is another hatch in Octoher.
" This," says Mr. Haworth, "is at once a plentiful,
well known, and beautiful insect ; but it is remark-
able that none of our collectors ever take it in the
winged state, and very rarely in that of a larva.
The usual mode of procuring it being by digging
about the roots of oaks an inch deep for the pupae,
which are annually found in that manner in con-
siderable numbers." The insect is not plentiful in
Scotland, but is found occasionally throughout the
southern counties.
PEACH-BLOSSOM MOTH.
Tliyatira Batis.m
PLATE XXIII. Fig. 2.
Curtis, Steph.
THYATIRA has the antennae simple in both sexes ;
maxilla as long as the antennae ; palpi placed
siderably apart, the radical and terminal joints
equal length, both of them short, the intermediate
one very long and thick, the apical one with sucl
small scales that it appears nearly naked ; the head
transverse ; the superior wings moderately wide,
PEACH-BLOSSOM MOTH. 9
with the tip acute ; the body rather robust, and the
thorax furnished with a transverse crest, which is
forked posteriorly. When obtained in perfection,
the species above referred to, named the Peach-blos-
som from the colour of the spots on its upper wings,
is one of the most lovely found in this country.
The upper wings are brown with dark transvers
waved lines rather darkest towards the base, each
of them with five rose-coloured spots, a large one
at the base, clouded with brown, two towards the
tip (sometimes united), a third on the posterior
angle having a brown spot in the middle, and a
smaller one on the inner margin ; there is likewise
a minute rosy spot on the hinder margin adjoining
that on the posterior angle. The hinder wings are
dusky inclining to ochre-yellow, and having a pale
waved line near the middle ; the abdomen of a
similar colour.
The caterpillar is of a very peculiar form, having
a large gibbosity on the back a little behind the
head cleft at the summit into two branches, and
triangular elevations along the back marked with a
pale zigzag line ; the colour rust-brown or blackish.
It feeds on the common bramble. The moth ap-
pears in June and July, and is usually found in the
evening in the "vicinity of woods ; it is not however
of very frequent occurrence, although it seems to
inhabit all the southern counties of England, and
has occasionally occurred pretty far north. " Five
or six specimens have been taken at Jardine Hall.*1
Sir W. Jardine, Bart.
230
BUFF ARCHES.
Thyatira Derasa.
PLATE XXIII. Fig. 3.
Phal. Noctua Derasa, Linn. ,• Don. vii. PI. 223, fig. 1 Noctua
derasina, Haworth. — Buff Arches, WUkes^ Hani* Thya-
tira Deraea, Ochsen, Steph.
ABOUT the size of the preceding, or a little larger;
the prevailing colour light yellowish-brown ; the
upper wings with two white oblique bands, one of
them extending from the tip to the inner margin,
the other continued from the inner margin to the
anterior one, and terminating not far from the base,
the space between it and the base generally more
or less denuded of scales. The triangular space
between the two bands is clouded with brown and
white, and there is a transverse series of several
parallel fine brown zigzag lines, forming very acute
angles on a whitish ground ; the hinder margin of
the wing brown, with two rows of small white
arches, surmounted by a white ill defined line ; the
fringe likewise whitish. The hinder wings are some-
what dusky with a slight ochreous tinge, the fringe
white.
PLATE 24.
1 1. ///•/ •///// Mt.ll, '1. .I/,////,-,/ Or.mii,' J//////. .3 . . /////// ^ •///////-. »-. ;////// .
BUFF ARCHES. 231
Tlie caterpillar, which seems to be a general
feeder, is yellowish-green, with dark -brown spots
and lines on various parts of the body. The moth,
which is prized for its beauty as well as its congener
T. batis, is much more common than that species*
being frequently found in most parts of England,
near woods and in shady lanes. It becomes scarce
in the north, but has been taken near York and in
Northumberland. July and August are the periods
of its flight.
THE HERALD-MOTH,
SooUopteryx Ltftatrix.
PLATE XXIV. Fig. 1.
Phal. Bomb. Libatrix, Linn. ; Don. vi. PI. 216. — Bomb. Li-
batrus, Furbelow-moth, Haivorth. — Herald-moth, //arm.—
Calyptra Libatrix, Ochsen, Steph.
THIS beautiful moth occurs in great profusion in
the more southern parts of England, but becomes
rarer as we advance northwards, and cannot be said
to be common in any quarter of Scotland. It fre-
quents places where willows and poplars grow, it
being upon these trees that the larvae feed. It
first appears in July, and is likewise found plenti-
fully in October, whence Aurelians have culled it
232 - THE HERALD-MOTH.
the Herald, from an idea that its appearance gave
indication of the approach of winter. The expan-
sion of the wings is from an inch and a half to an
inch and a quarter ; the thorax and anterior wings
reddish-grey, with an irregular red patch at the
base, a round white spot on the disk of each, and
two oblique transverse white bands, one a little
below the middle, the other a little behind it : from
the outer band to the apex the colour is grey with
minute dusky points, the space traversed by a very
faint waved whitish streak. The rufous patch is
sprinkled with minute yellow dots, and there is a
distinct row of small white marks along the central
nervure. The underwings are brownish, becoming
darker towards the hinder margin; the abdomen
inclining to red with a few faint dorsal marks ; the
thorax with a dusky line on the back and a trans-
verse streak of the same colour. Legs greyish ; the
tarsi white, spotted with rust-red. The caterpillar,
which is slender and naked, is green with a white
line on each side, and red stigmata. — The principal
generic distinctions of Scoliopteryx are the lengthened
palpi clothed with long capitate scales, the radical
joint shortest, the other two rather long and stout
and nearly of equal length ; antennae short and
strong, bipectinated to the apex in the males, slightly
serrated in the females ; proboscis rather short, kead
and thorax each with a crest anteriorly ; anterior
wings deeply emarginate on the hinder edge and
somewhat dentate ; the hinder pair very slightly
dentate.
233
MOTTLED ORANGE-MOTH.
Gortyna flavago.
PLATE XXIV. Fig. 2.
Plial. Noct. Lappae, Don. x. PI. 340 — Noctua Flavago,
ner. — Noct. Ochraceago, Haworth, 234 __ Noct. rutilago,
Fabr __ Mottled Orange, Harris* Aurel. PI. 35 __ Gortyna
flavago, Ochsen, Curtis, StepA*
GORTYNA has antennas of moderate length, setace-
ous, clothed with scales above, and pubescent be-
neath; the proboscis slender and not so long as
the antennae ; palpi with the basal joint short and
curved upwards, the second long and attenuated,
the terminal one distinct, somewhat oval and com-
pressed at the apex; thorax broad, with a conical
tuft anteriorly, and trilobed behind; all the wings
entire, the upper pair sublanceolate, with the tip
acute. The larva is fleshy, furnished only with a
few short and scattered hairs. It feeds on the pith
and internal parts of vegetables, and bears a good
deal of resemblance to those of Zeuzera, Cucullm,
and others of similar economy. Only two British
species have been hitherto detected, of which that
named G. flavago is by far the most handsome. It
234 MOTTLED ORANGE-MOTH.
expands from an inch and a quarter to nearly an
inch and a half; the upper wings are rich yellow,
variegated with reddish-brown, the latter colour
enclosing several spots of a lighter yellow than the
rest, each wing with two broad transverse bands of
reddish-brown, one near the base the other near
the hinder margin, from which it is separated by a
yellow band undulated on the inner side; fringe
long and thick, the colour reddish-brown. The
hinder wings are dirty white, glossy, with a dusky
crescent-shaped mark on the disk, and an obscure
band posteriorly ; the fringe ash-brown. The thorax
and abdomen are reddish-brown, the former slightly
tinged in certain places with yellow. The cater-
pillar feeds on the pith of the common burdock
(Arctium Lappet)^ and likewise attacks other thick
stemmed plants, such as Verlascum Thapsus, Scro-
phularia aquatica, the spear thistle, &c. It under-
goes its metamorphosis in the interior, where the
pupa likewise remains till the moth is ready to
emerge, which usually takes place towards the end
of autumn. The insect is not rare in many parts
of England, bat seems to become very scarce as we
advance northwards. The only Scotch specimen
we have seen was taken near Ttosslyn.
235
THE ANGLE SHADES.
PJiioyophora Meticulosa.
PLATE XXIV. Fig. 3.
Phal. Noct. meticulosa, Linn. ; Don. iv. PL 139 — Angl*-
Shades-Moth, Wilkes, PI. 3, Harris' Aurel. PI. 41 Phlogo-
phora meticulosa, Treitschke, Ochsen, Steph,
IN Phlogophora (from pXog flame, and $tpn to
carry, in allusion to the shape of the markings on
the anterior wings) the antennas are long, slender,
and ciliated ; the abdomen tufted at the hase ; the
anterior wings rather narrow, with a sinuosity on
the hinder margin and several ragged teeth ; the
hinder wings very slightly dentate on the edge.
The only British species is that figured. The upper
wings, which usually measure nearly two inches
across, are pale rosy-white, more or less clouded
with olive-brown, each of them with a large tri-
angular purplish mark in the centre, beyond which
there is a white band, the margin more or less
marbled with olive-brown. The hinder wings are
whitish, sometimes with a faint rosy tinge pos-
teriorly, having a dusky central crescent, and two
or three faint transverse waved dusky lines.
236 THE ANCIX SHADES.
The caterpillar is usually green, with a row of
oblong white spots on the back, and a continuous
white line on each side just over the legs. It feeds
on culinary vegetables and many of our common
field plants. The moth may be said to be common
in most parts of the country, but is much scarcer in
Scotland than further south. April, June, and
September are the months in which it appears most
plentifully, there being apparently three broods in
the season.
PEASE-BLOSSOM MOTH.
Chariclea Delphinii.
PLATE XXV. Fig. 1.
Phal. Noct. Delphinii, Linn.; Don. x. PI. 331. — Pease-Blo&-
som Moth, Wilkes, (PI. 3.) Harris Chariclea Delphinii,
Steph. ; Curtis, vol. ii. 76.
THE beautiful insect for the reception of which the
genus Chariclea has been established, fcears con-
siderable affinity to Cucullia both in the state of
moth and caterpillar. The antennas are covered
with scales above, and are hairy beneath ; the pro-
boscis nearly as long as the body ; the palpi entirely
covered with long thick-set hair, upon the removal
of which the radical joint appears longest, the ter-
minal one small and ovate. The upper wings are
pillar of £?
PEASE-BLOSSOM MOTH. 237
narrow, veiy slightly notched on the hinder margin,
and furnished, as well as the under wings, with a
yery long fringe : the anterior tibiae very short, and
hearing two naked horny spines at the extremity.
The Larkspur or Pease-blossom Moth expands
about an inch and a quarter ; the upper wings with
a broad three-lobed band at the base, and a narrow
one behind the middle, of a purple colour ; the
space between these bands, which is bounded on
each side by a pale sinuated line, variegated with
pale rose-colour and purple; the hinder margin
likewise pale rosy, with a black line next the
fringe ; the latter yellowish- white. The under
wings are whitish, tinged with rose-colour behind,
and having a transverse dusky spot near the middle
yellowish-white.
The caterpillar is yellow, tinged with lilac on the
back and belly, where it is likewise marked with
numerous rows of black spots ; each side with a line
of rather bright yellow. It feeds on the wild Lark-
spur (Delphinium Consolida), a plant which grows
pretty abundantly in some of the southern counties
of England, but which is not found in a wild state
in Scotland.
" This charming moth," says Mr. Curtis, " is no
less esteemed for its rarity than for its lovely
colours ; the specimens in Mr Stephen's cabinet, as
well as those in the British Museum, are from
Windsor ; and it has once been taken by the late
Mr. Jones in his garden at Chelsea. Its favourite
food is the larkspur ; it therefore ought to be met
238 PEASE-BLOSSOM MOTH.
with in Cambridgeshire, and districts where that
plant abounds in a natural state. It is, however,
probable that this is one of those insects, which, if
not periodical, appears in very small numbers ;
which opinion is strengthened by the fact, that it is
very rare upon the Continent, where it fetches very
high prices ; and we are informed by Mr. Haworth,
that the great patroness of Natural History, the late
Dui chess of Portland, possessed only a wing of the
moth, found in a spider's web at Bubtrode. In
Wilkes' days (1773), it was bred, he says, by the
Honourable Mrs. Walters, and by Nathaniel Old-
ham, Esq."*
THE GAMMA-MOTH.
Plusia Gamma.
PLATE XXV. Fig. 2.
Phal. Noct. Gamma, Linn. ; Don. viii. PI: 265. fig. 2.— Noc-
tua Gamma, Hvbner. — Silver Y Moth, Wilkes. — Plusia
Gamma, OcJisen, Steph.
ANTENNA simple in both sexes, of moderate length ;
palpi longer than the head, the radical joint nearly
of the same length as the terminal one, the latter
linear and obtuse at the apex, the intermediate
joint double the length of the others and tapering
* Brit Entoin. vol. ii. fol. 76.
THE GAMMA-MOTH. 239
towards the tip ; proboscis long ; head and thorax
both crested; the abdomen, which is rather long
and thick, likewise bearing tufts at the base and
along the back ; fringe of the anterior wings slightly
emarginate, that of the posterior entire : caterpillars
half loopers, possessing only four ventral legs and
the usual posterior pair. Such are the distinguish-
ing characters of this handsome genus, which con-
tains about a dozen indigenous species. All of
them are remarkable for the rich metallic marks
on the anterior wings, which sometimes assume
the appearance of written characters. They fly
during the day, skipping about from one plant
to another in a restless manner, and with much
rapidity, keeping their wings, while feeding, in con-
stant vibration, somewhat like the Humming-bird
Hawk-moth. The most common and best known
of these insects is represented on the adjoining plate.
It measures from an inch and one-third, to upwards
of an inch and a half; the upper wings grey, varie-
gated with dusky brown, having a pale blotch ante-
riorly towards the apex, and a few transverse slightly
waved dark lines ; the disk of each inscribed with a
silvery character, resembling the letter Y, or rather
the Greek y ; fringe somewhat dentate, greyish,
spotted with dusky brown. Hinder wings ash-
brown, the nervures and hinder margin deep brown;
the fringe light-coloured with dark spots. The head
and thorax are ash-grey ; the abdomen rather of a
lighter hue.
The colour varies considerably in intensity, and
240 THE GAMMA-MOTH.
the character on the anterior wings is sometimes of
a golden hue.
The caterpillar is green, with a faint yellow streak
along the sides, and white ones along the back ; it
feeds on almost any of our common field plants,
and is well known for the extensive depredations it
sometimes commits/ (PL xxv. fig. 3.) The moth
is found from April to September, and, even so late
as the beginning of November it may sometimes be
seen in fine weather hovering about the few flowers
that retain their blossoms till that season. It seems
to inhabit all parts of Britain : we have seen speci-
mens from the most northern quarters of Scotland
BURNISHED-BRASS MOTH.
Plusia Chrysitis.
PLATE XXV. Fig. 4.
Phal. Noct. Chrysitis, Linn. ; Don. iv. PI. 137 — Phytometra
Chrysitis, Haworth. — Burnished-Moth, TT^y&es..— Burnished-
Brass Moth, Harris' Aurel. PI. 22 Plusia Chrysitis, Och-
sen, StepJi.
THIS elegant species is about the size of the pre-
ceding, but differs from many others belonging to the
same genus in the shape of the wings. The ante-
rior pair are pale fuscous, ornamented with a broad
band near the base, generally of a golden-green
BURNISHED-BRASS MOTH. 241
colour, but variable in the tint; the green sometimes
predominating, at other times the yellow ; and a
second of a similar colour behind the middle, placed
obliquely, and frequently united to the other by an
oblong patch on the inner margin. Near the apex
there is a transverse line of deep brown, and the
nervures are likewise of that colour. Posterior
wings dusky-brown, the fringe of both pairs red-
dish-brown. Head and thorax yellowish, the latter
brownish-grey on the sides ; abdomen brown, tinged
with yellow, the hairs on the sides and hinder
extremity inclining to rust -red.
The caterpillar, which feeds on a variety of com-
mon plants, is green, with a longitudinal white line
on the sides, and oblique streaks of the same colour
on the back. The moth frequents lanes, the rank
vegetation found among rubbish, &c. and is very
common in the vicinity of London and other places
in the south of England. It becomes scarce in the
north, and is not frequently observed in Scotland,
although occurring at times in the southern counties,
as we have seen examples from Roxburghshire,
Dumfries-shire% Peebles. &c.
242
THE CL1PDEN NONPAREIL.
Catocala Fraxini.
PLATE XXVI. Fig. 1
Viial. Noct. Fraxini, Linn. ; Don. v. PI. 171 and 172.— Clifden
Nonpareil, Wilkes (PI. 90), Harris* Aurd. PI. 31.— Catocaia
Fraxini, Shrank, Steph. Curtis' B. E. fol. 217.
THE genus Catocala of Shrank contains several of
the largest and handsomest moths indigenous to
this country. The wings are large, and extended
by means of very strong nervures, the upper pair
some shade of grey on the surfece, finely mottled
and waved with dark brown spots and streaks,
forming a striking contrast with the under wings,
which (except in the species named above) are
bright red, with transverse black bars. The cater-
pillars are what are called half-loopers, because in
walking they partially assume the attitude of the
kinds which are without abdominal legs ; and con-
formably with this circumstance, the first pair of
legs are found to be smaller than the others, snowing
a tendency to become obsolete, and thus indicating
a certain degree of affinity with the geometers
properly so called. They are densely ciliated on the
•\xi
. Ctifilm X,, ii/nii: ,7
TIIE CLIFDEN NONPAREIL. . 248
sides, attenuated before and behind, and furnished
with a caudal prominence. These insects may be
distinguished as a genus by the length of the trunk,
which is equal to that of the antennae ; by the palpi,
which have the middle joint nearly one half longer
than the two others, and so densely clothed with
scait^ as to appear double the thickness of the
terminal one, the latter being short and slender ;
by the abdomen being attenuated posteriorly, and
the fringe of the wings, especially in the hinder
pair, being long and rather deeply indented : the
thorax slightly crested, large, and strong ; the head
small, and the antennae long and setaceous, covered
with scales externally, and short hairs on the inner
side.
The species named C. Traxini is the largest
moth found in this country, the expansion of the
wings sometimes reaching four inches. The thorax
and upper wings are light grey on the surface, the
latter variegated with transverse undulating lines of
brown. The under wings are brownish-black, with
a broad curved band of light blue across the middle.
The fringe of all the wings is pure white, deeply
indented, and preceded by a row of dusky triangular
marks, having the point turned outwards, which is
most distinct in the hinder wings. The under side
of the body and legs are white, the tarsi of the
anterior pair spotted with brown above.
The caterpillar lives on the ash, poplar, oak, elm,
birch, &c. It is ash-coloured, more or less yellow-
ish, and sprinkled with minute black dots, Tha
244 THE CLIFDEN NONPAREIL.
head is greenish, with two frontal black crescents ;
the eighth segment having a dorsal protuberance of
a bluish-black colour, and marked with a few yellow
spots. On the ninth segment there is an oblique
black line extending to the hinder stigmata; the
latter are all surrounded with a black ring. It
spins a very loose cocoon among a few leaves, and
changes into a reddish-brown chrysalis, powdered
with pale blue, and having two small blue tubercler
on each side of the fourth and fifth segments.
It is a rare insect in this country, and indigenous
specimens in good condition may still be regarded
as a valuable addition to a cabinet. It was first
figured by Wilkes as a British insect, and is said by
him to have been found at Cleifden, in Bucking-
hamshire; whence the English name he has as-
signed to it. It has since been observed in Suffolk,
Kent, Surrey, and a few other places ; the vicinity
of York is the most northern locality that has been
cited. In France, Germany, and other continental
countries, it occurs much more plentifully.
BED UNDERWING.
Catocala Nupta.
PLATE XXVI. Fig. 2.
Phal. Noct. Nupta, Linn. ; Don. vii. PL 224 Red Under-
wing, Harris'' Aurel. PI. 18 Hemigeometra Nupta, //in-
worth, 268.
EXTENT of the wings about three inches or up-
wards; the surface of the upper pair dark grey,
with transverse waved streaks and spots of brown
and obscure yellow, the hinder border with a series
of transverse lunulated spots, and two waved dusky
lines on the fringe. The underwings are of a deep
and beautiful blood-red inclining to carmine, with
a curved sinuated band of deep black near the
middle, which tapers and disappears before reaching
the inner edge of the wing, and a broad marginal
band sinuated internally; the fringe pure white,
with vestiges of ferruginous spots at the base. The
thorax and abdomen are brownish-grey above, but
white beneath ; the legs brown, ringed with white
on the tarsi. The under side of the upper wings is
black, with a faint bluish play of colour, and three
white transverse bands, the central one abbreviated,
246 RED TJNDERWING,
and the outer one attenuated and forming an acute
V-shaped angle towards the inner margin; the
apex and the fringe greyish-white, each tooth of
the latter bearing a- transverse dusky arc.
The caterpillar is attenuated at both extremities ;
the colour grey, inclining to white, and variegated
with brawn; having two rows of small tubercles
along the back, and a callous protuberance on the
eighth segment. The belly is greenish, with a lon-
gitudinal series of black spots in the middle; the
head bordered with black. The chrysalis is reddish-
brown, and covered with a kind of bloom of a blue
colour. The caterpillar feeds on the poplar and
willow ; and the moth continues to frequent these
trees,, and may often be seen reposing on their
stems, particularly of the willow. It occurs very
frequently in the southern parts of England, and
is not rare even in the more northern counties,
although we are not aware that it extends to
Scotland.
We now come to that section of the nocturnal
lepidoptera which includes the extensive family of
Geometrine moths, the peculiar characters of which
have already been alluded to. They constitute the
Phalamce geometrce of Linne, and the Lepidoptera
semidiurna^ Phalcenites, or Arpenteuses, of more
recent writers. The caterpillars are remarkable for
their mode of progression and long narrow bodies,
which are generally free from hair, but not unfre-
quently furnished with knobs and protuberances.
RED UNDERWING. 247
The majority have ten feet, six of which, placed
upon the pectoral segments, are scaly and conical ;
the other four are memhranous, a pair of them
situate near the hinder part o£ the abdomen, the
other at the extremity. The abdominal legs are
sometimes wholly wanting, hut the anal pair is
indispensably requisite to enable the animal to
execute its peculiar movements. Many of these
caterpillars feed only in the night, and may be
observed during the day, if the eye happen to dis-
tinguish them from the surrounding twigs which
they often strikingly resemble, with their bodies
suspended in the air perfectly motionless, forming
an angle with the branch to which they cling by
their hinder prolegs. The moths, however, are by
no means exclusively nocturnal, and several of
them may occasionally be noticed on the wing even
in the heat of the day. Their bodies are generally
slender, the abdomen of the male terminating in a
small tuft : the antennae in that sex frequently pec-
tinated, at other times simple ; the palpi short and
somewhat cylindrical ; the proboscis occasionally ob-
solete,— when developed, not very long and nearly
membranous; the wings ample, and extended almost
horizontally during repose. The first species selected
to illustrate this division is named
248
THE BRIMSTONE-MOTH
Rumia Cratcegata,
PLATE XXVII. Fig. 1.
Phal. Geom. Crataegata, Linn. — Geom. Crataegaria, Haivortk.
Brimstone-moth, Wttkes, PI. 80 Yellow or Brimstone,
Harris. — Rumia Crataegata, Duponchel, Steph.
IT expands from an inch to an inch and two-thirds ;
the colour deep sulphur yellow, the anterior edge of
the upper wings with two narrow reddish-brown
spots towards the base, a third near the middle
produced internally and having a white mark in the
centre, and a pretty large one on the apex ; behind
the middle there is a transverse row of faint dusky
marks, and two or three others near the base. The
hinder wings hare a small dusky spot on the disk,
sometimes with a white centre, and several evanes-
cent dusky marks, some of them forming a kind
of band posteriorly. The fringe is nearly the same
colour as the wings, and marked in certain places
with reddish-brown spots.
The caterpillar, which is elongate and cylindrical,
is pale brown, with a bluish spot on each side of
the neck, and the spiracles on the sixth segment
I .///•////. N-A//// Mull, '2. ,\ u ,///,/ti •-///// Mnih.
THE BRIMSTONE- MOTH. 249
tinged with red ; the back with two horn-like pro-
tuberances. Its favourite food is the hawthorn, but
it likewise frequents the sloe, apple-tree, bramble,
&c. The moth is one of our more common species,
and is distributed over the whole island. It is
found from ^pril to October or November, there
being several broods in the year.
SWALLOW-TAIL MOTH.
Ourapteryx Sambucaria.
PLATE XXVII. Fig. 2.
Phal. Geom. Sambucaria, Linn.; Don. v. PL 170 Swallow-
tail Moth, Wilkes, PI. 7 8 ; Harris. — Ourapteryx Sambucaria,
Leach, Zool. Mag. i. PI. 35, fig. 2.
THE most characteristic feature in the present genus
is that to which both the generic and English names
refer, namely, the prolongation of the hinder wings
into a pretty lengthened acute tail. The anterior
wings are likewise very acute at the tip, and some-
what falcate, the margin entire. The antenna are
of moderate length and simple in both sexes ; the
palpi short, the proboscis nearly as long as the
antennae. The caterpillar has six pectoral legs, and
four prolegs at the hinder extremity. The Swallow-
tail is one of the largest of our native geometrine
moths? the extent of the wings frequently measuring
250 SWALLOW-TATL MOTH.
two inches and a half. The colour is delicate sul-
phur-yellow, shaded at the base of the wings into
satiny-white, and deepening towards the hinder
extremity ; the surface marked with numerous dark
evanescent streaks, placed transversely ; two lines
of deep yellow run across the anterior wings, and a
single one across the under pair, the latter forming
a continuation, when the wings are expanded, of
the innermost of the two anterior lines. At the
base of the tail there are two small blackish spots,
the larger one with a reddish centre, and the fringe
is ochrey-yellow, inclining in some places to reddish-
brown.
The colour of the caterpillar is reddish-brown,
with darker longitudinal lines ; the head flat and
oval. It feeds on the leaves of various shrubs and
trees, but prefers the elder, willow, and lime. It
changes to a long narrow pupa of a brown colour,
with darker spots and streaks, which is inclosed in
a thin spinning among leaves. The moth appears
on the wing in June and July, and is not scarce in
many parts of England, especially in the south ; but
it appears to be somewhat rare in Scotland.
251
LARGE EMERALD-MOTH.
Hipparchus Papilionarius.
PLATE XXVII. Fig. 3.
Phal. Geom. Papilionaria, Linn. ; Don. viii. PL 287. — Geo-
metra Papilionaria, Hubner^ Haworth. — The Large Emerald,
Harris. — Hipparchus Papilionarius, Leach, Steph.
THIS genus was first characterized by Dr. Leach,
and has been adopted with some modifications by
most succeeding writers. The species which it
formerly embraced are noted for their beautiful tints
of green, which caused them to be known by the
appellation of Emerald-moths. These, however, are
now distributed in other genera, and the only one
left under the old designation is the fine insect
represented on the adjoining plate. The wings
generally exceed two inches in extent, and some-
times are two inches and a half in the female ; the
surface deep grass- green, with two rows of whitish
spots extending across both wings, rather behind the
middle ; on the disk of each there is an obscure
crescent-shaped spot of a deeper green than the
rest ; the fringe is gree'nish -yellow, and the antennas
reddish-brown, particularly in the male.
252 LARGE EMERALD-MOTH
The caterpillar has six pectoral, two abdominal,
and two anal feet. It is green, with a yellow line
on each side and reddish warts on the back ; and
feeds on the elm, lime, alder, birch, &c. The moth
appears in the end of July, frequenting woods and
meadows, but is not very frequently met with in
any part of Britain. It has, however, been found
in Askam Bogs Yorkshire, in Kent, Surrey, near
Reading, in Warwickshire, and many other parts of
England, and on two or three occasions near Rae-
hills in Dumfries-shire, as well as at Cramond near
Edinburgh. As a genus, Hipparchus is distinguished
by the following characters : antennae pectinated in
the males almost to the apex, the pectinations
ciliated ; antennae of the female simple ; proboscis
spiral, much shorter than the antennae ; palpi pro-
jecting nearly in a horizontal direction, and approxi-
mating at the tip ; the radical joint very short, the
second very long, the terminal one lanceolate, free
from hairs, and somewhat pointed; upper wings
covering the under pair when at rest, the latter
with the hinder margin dentate.
rr* ofD*
tied Beauty.
263
MAGPIE OR GOOSEBERRY-MOTH,
Alrcutas Grossulariatot.
PLATE XXVIII. Fig. 1.
Phal. Geom. Grossulariata, Linn. ; Don. i. PI. 4. — The Mag-
pie, Haworth — Large Magpie or Moth, Wilkes, PI. 85.—
Currant Moth, Harris"1 Aurel PI. 12. — Abraxas Grossula-
riata, Leach, Steph.
THE establishment of this genus is due to Dr. Leach,
who assigns as its distinctive characters the shape
of the wings, which are broad and rounded at the
tip, the outer edge entire ; expanded during repose.
The antennae are of moderate length, and simple in
both sexes. The palpi are very short, the radical
joint short and robust, second longer, third globose
and concealed by scales. The maxillae are long, the
thorax and abdomen slender, especially in the male.
It contains three British species, all of which are
somewhat scarce, except that which we have figured,
which may be regarded as one of the most abundant
of our native moths. The upper wings, which
measure from an inch and one-third to nearly two
inches, are white with two bright yellow bands, one
at the base, the other a little beyond the middle,
254 MAGPIE OR GOOSEBERRY-MOTH.
and six transverse rows of rounded black spots ; the
first consisting of a single spot or two at the base,
the third irregular and interrupted, the fourth and
fifth enclosing the outermost of the yellow bands
formerly mentioned, and the sixth on the hinder
margin : these spots vary much in size and position,
and some of them are generally more or less con-
fluent. The under wings have a few scattered
spots on the disk, and a continuous series of larger
size round the posterior border. The body is yel-
low, with rows of black spots; the head and an-
tennae of the latter colour. Varies greatly in the
marks, being sometimes nearly all black.
The caterpillar is very similar in its markings to
the perfect insect, the prevailing colour being white,
slightly tinged with blue, the back with numerous
black spots of various dimensions, and the lower
parts of the sides, and the belly, yellow, sprinkled
with black dots. (PL xxvm. fig. 2.) The chrysalis
is pitchy-black, with yellow bands on the segments.
The moth appears pretty early in the summer, and
abounds wherever the appropriate food of the cater-
pillar (the common currant and gooseberry-bushes)
is to be obtained.
255
THE MOTTLED BEAUTY.
Melanippe Hastata.
PLATE XXVIII. Fig. 3.
Phal. Geom. Hastata, Linn. ; Don. iv. PI. 129 — Phal. Hastata,
Hatvorth The Mottled Beauty, a Moth, Wilkes. — Argent
and Sable, Harris* Aurel. PI. 15.— Xerene Hastata, Treitschke,
Steph.
BEARS considerable affinity to the preceding genus
but the anterior wings, instead of being much
rounded off at the tip, are but slightly so and
almost come to an obtuse point. The proboscis is
rather long, the antennas slender, simple in both
sexes, and the palpi short, slender, and acute, the
terminal joint small and pointed. The species above
named differs slightly from the species with which
it has usually been associated, and forms the type of
Duponchel's genus Melanippe. It measures from an
inch to nearly an inch and a half across the wings ;
the ground colour white, with a broad irregular
black band round the hinder margin of all the
wings, continuous externally, but spotted and inter-
rupted on the inner side : across the middle of the
upper wings is another black band very irregular,
being nearly divided in the middle, and interrupted
256 THE MOTTLED BEAUTY.
behind the middle by the ground colour ; the base
occupied by another band, similarly interrupted, and
nearly divided by a white crescent. The under
wings have a cross band of black angular spcts,
rather before the middle, in continuation, when the
wings are expanded, of the central one on the upper
pair. The fringe is rather long and thick, and
consists of regularly alternating tufts of black and
white plumelets ; body and antennae black, spotted
with white.
The caterpillar, which feeds on the birch, is dusky-
brown, with undulating yellow lines on the sides.
The moth is found in June and July, but is by no
means of frequent occurrence. It is met with oc-
casionally, however, in most of the southern counties
of England.
CLIFDEN BEAUTY.
Zerene Albicitlata.
PLATE XXVIII. Fig. 4.
Phal. Geom. Albicillata, Linn. ; Don. iv. PI. 202 The Beau-
tiful Carpet, Haworth. — Clifden Beauty, Harris Xerene
Albicillata, Ochsen, Steph.
ABOUT the same size as the preceding ; the ground
colour milk-white ; all the wings with a small
dusky-black spot in the centre : the anterior pair
with the base brown, variegated with transverse
CLIFDEN BEAUTY. 25?
waved streaks of pearl white or leaden colour ; a
large dark-brown three-cornered patch on the an-
terior edge near the tip ; and the whole of the
hinder margin tinged with dusky-brown and varie-
gated with faint waved lines of white or lead
colour ; this dusky border bounded internally by a
pretty distinct geminated undulating brown line.
Hinder wings likewise dusky on the hinder margin,
that colour more or less interrupted with white,
and bounded internally by a faint waved brown
streak. Head, thorax, and base of the abdomen
pitch-brown, the rest of the abdomen whitish.
The caterpillar is green, with a series of brown
crescent-shaped spots on the back, and a streak of
that colour on the sides of the first and last seg-
ments. It fe'eds on the raspberry and probably
other species of Rubi. The moth, which is prized
by collectors on account of the delicacy of its mark-
ings, is very scarce ; but has been found neai1
London, at Reading, in Kent, at Tunbridge Wells,
and a few other places. The present genus differs
from Melanippe chiefly in the proportions of the
joints of the palpi, the two first joints both robust, the
radical one especially, the terminal joint minute and
ovate ; the whole organ very short, and not visible •
from above. The proboscis is long, the forehead
prominent. The wings entire and rounded, but not
so broad as in Melanippe. As at present const*,
tuted, the genus contains five British species.
258
THE BEAUTIFUL CHINA MARK.
Hydrocampa NympTueata.
PLATE XXIX. Fig. 1.
Phal. Geom. Nymphaeata, Linn Phal. Stagnata, Don. Ji.
PI. 363, fig. 2.— Pyrausta Nymphealis, The Beautiful China
Mark, Haworth. — Hydrocampa Nymphaeata, Latr.^ Steph.
THE genus Hydrocampa ( Water-caterpillar ) w«
have given as an example of the pretty numerous
family of the PYRALIMJ. It belongs to a section
of that group, the species of which are somewhat
remarkable for possessing four distinct palpi, the
maxillary pair being likewise developed, contrary to
what is observed in the generality of moths. The
labial palpi are, as usual, tri-articulate ; the two
lowest joints densely clothed with scales, the ter-
minal one acute. The proboscis is rather long, the
antennae moderate, and simple in both sexes. All
the wings have the hinder margin entire, the ante-
rior pair elongate, the posterior ovate-triangular ;
the surface reticulated with dark lines upon a white
ground. The legs are long and slender, the hinder
tibiae with two pair of long spurs. The larva, which
has six scaly and ten membranous legs, feeds upon
PLATE 29 .
/
TJNIVERS1T
T
THE BEAUTIFUL CHINA MARK. 259
aquatic plants, from which it cuts out a portion in
order to form its cocoon. The species figured on
the adjoining plate measures from ten lines to an
inch across the wings ; the latter white and shining,
the anterior pair with two hrown stripes extending
from the hase to beyond the middle, the remainder
of the surface reticulated with hands, formed by two
brown approximating lines ; the hinder margin with
a continuous band, the fringe pure white, brown at
the base. The posterior wings are likewise white,
with two brown transverse bands. The arrange-
ment of the bands varies much in different indivi-
duals, and, in some instances, they are almost wholly
obliterated.
The caterpillar, of which we have seen no de-
scription, feeds on the common duckweed, and the
moth frequents the borders of ponds and marsh)
places. It occurs not umfrequently both in England
and Scotland.
260
GREEN SILVER-LINES.
Hylophila Prasinana.
PLATE XXIX. Fig. 2.
Phal. Tortrix Prasinana, Linn Phal. Fagana,Z)o». viii. PL281.
— Green Silver-lines, Harris'' Aurel PI. 10,/ t. m — Chloe-
phora Fagana, Steph. Cat. — Hylophila Prasinana, Hubner,
Steph. Him.
THE present genus is usually placed at the head of
the great family of the TORTRICID^:, so called from
the larva being in the habit of twisting or rolling
leaves in order to form an abode for itself. The
aspect of these insects, when at rest, is somewhat
peculiar, the anterior wings being very broad near
the base, the humeral angle forming a wide curve ;
towards the middle they are somewhat contracted,
and again dilated at the hinder extremity ; the whole
figure of the outline, as Mr Stephens remarks, thus
bearing some resemblance to that of a bell. This
peculiarity of form has caused them to be frequently
termed 'Broad-shouldered Moths. With a few ex-
ceptions, they are small insects considerably below
the middle size, very agreeably coloured, and fre-
-juentlv marked with metallic spots. The cater-
GREEN SILVER-LIN Ed. 261
pillars are usually naked, and much attenuated
behind, which gives them some resemblance to a
fish ; whence some of them are described by Reau-
mur as Chenilles en forme de Poisson. They have
sixteen legs, and run with great activity, seemingly
with equal ease either backwards or forwards. The
species above referred to expands from somewhat
more than an inch to an inch and a half, the colour
light-green ; each of the anterior wings with three
oblique stripes of silvery-white, the costa likewise
of that colour. The abdomen and hinder wings are
yellowish-white; antennaa reddish-brown; the an-
terior margin of the upper wings, the hinder margin
and the fringe, as well as the legs, tinged more or
less with bright red in the male.
The caterpillar is light-green, with a yellow line
on each side, and two red streaks behind. (PL xxix.
Fig. 3.) It feeds on a variety of common trees,
and changes into a reddish-brown pupa, which it
encloses in a closely woven cocoon, nearly boat-
, shaped. The moth is not rare in England, and is
likewise found not unfrequently in the south of
Scotland.
MS*
SCARCE SILVER-LINES.
Hylophila Quercana.
PLATE XXIX. Fig. 4.
Phal. Tort. Prasinana, Linn. ; Don. ii. PI. 40 Scarce Silver-
Lines, Harris* Aurel. PI. 30. — Hylophila Quercana, Hubner.
Steph. Illus.
THE largest insect belonging to this group, the wings
sometimes extending to two inches : the colour of
the thorax and anterior wings deep grass-green, the
latter traversed by two oblique white lines ; poste-
rior wings and abdomen glossy-white; palpi, an-
tenna?, and legs tinged with red.
The caterpillar is very like that last described,
but is larger and has a dorsal tubercle on the
second segment. It frequents various trees, but
seems most partial to the oak. The moth appears
about the middle of June. It is a rare insect in
this country ; most of the specimens in collections
have been obtained from the vicinity of London.
PLATE 30.
1 . 7///' Hurl.- pun v////// .//«///. i>. /.wtmrr/.f ' A'///// ////;//•/ y v .
3 . II 7//A- iilnmnl Mutli . 4 . Many pliunr',1 Mntli .
THE DARK PORCELAIN.
Argyromiges Sylvella.
PLATE XXX. Fig. 1.
Tinea Sylvella, Haworth Phal. Blancardella, Don. xi. PI. 392.
fig. 2. — Argyromiges Sylvella, Curtis, Steph.
THE family YPONOMEUTID^J, to which the present
genus belongs, is constituted by a numerous assem-
blage of small moths, the largest not exceeding an
inch in the expansion of the wings, while several do
not equal the tenth part of these dimensions. The
palpi are in general long and slender, and usually
only two in number, a character which distinguishes
them from the allied group, TINEID^, which possess
two pair of these organs.
The name of the present genus bears reference
to the metallic markings which are conspicuous in
many of the species. It is known by having the
palpi very short and drooping, nearly filiform, with
the terminal joint compressed and obtuse, and
longer than the two others taken together. The
antennae are about the length of the wings, the
basal joint robust. "Wings rolled round the body
264 THE DARK PORCELAIN.
when at rest, the anterior pair nearly linear, the
hinder pair of a similar shape and very slender, all
of them with a very long fringe. Twenty-five
British species have heen described, one of which
is represented on the adjoining plate. It expands
ahout three lines and a half; the anterior wings
white, having a short ash-coloured hand at the base,
a rectangular one near the middle, hoth of them
edged with dusky and glossed with golden-yellow ;
and towards the apex there is a cruciform mark of
a similar colour, and a minute eye-like spot, with a
black oblique pupil at the tip. The hinder wings
are white, inclining to cinereous.
Apparently not generally distributed : it has oo»
tarred near London and elsewhere.
263
LINNAEUS1 GLYPHIPTERYX.
PLATE XXX. Fig. 2.
Phal. Linea Linneella, Linn. — ^Ecophera Linneella, Zofr.— .
Glyphipteryx Linneella, Hub?ier9 Curtis, iv. PL 152.
PALPI longer than the head, somewhat curved, the
radical joint short, second long, the third nearly 01
equal length to the second, but more slender ; pro-
boscis short ; antennae as long as the wings ; thorax
without a crest ; the wings nearly lanceolate, with
very long fringes, the anterior pair adorned with
elevated tufts of metallic scales ; are the principal
distinctive marks of Glyphipteryx. It includes about
ten British species, of which the 'beautiful example
figured may be regarded as the type. It sometimes
expands nearly half an inch, the anterior wings
tawny-orange, with three round silvery spots on the
disk of each, rising considerably above the surface,
and placed in the form of a triangle ; the base and
apex of the wing are black with a metallic gloss,
and there is likewise a metallic line anteriorly and
a small spot at the base. The fringes and hinder
266 LINNJEUS* GLYPHIPTERYX.
wings are dusky, the latter glossed with steel-blue ;
antennae black, whitish at the apex.
Occasionally found in some plenty," but by no
means general. It has been most frequently found
near London, probably because that neighbourhood
has been more carefully examined than most other
places.
WHITE-PLUMED MOTH.
Pterophoms Pentadactylus.
PLATE XXX. Fig. 3.
Phal. Alucita. Pentadactyla, Linn. ; Don. iv. PI. 110 — The
Large White Plume, Haworth Plumed Moth, Harris*
Aurel. PI. 15 fig. o — q Pterophorus Pentadactylus, Latr.,
Steph.
THE last section of the Nocturnal Lepidoptera is
chiefly composed of such moths as present the very
remarkable peculiarity of having their wings divided
from near the base to the apex into separate plume-
lets or feathers; thus bearing much resemblance
to the wings of birds. Their bodies are long and
slender, the legs likewise of great length and deli-
cacy, whence they are not unlike some kinds of
crane-flies, and were in fact from that circumstance
designated by De Geer, phalcenoB- tipulce. In Pte-
rophorus the anterior wings are variously divided
in different species into from two to six branches,
but the posterior pair are always trifid. The larvae,
WHITE-PLUMED MOTH. 267
which are described by Reaumur, have sixteen legs,
and are furnished with hairs sometimes of consider-
able length placed on rows of tubercles. The pupas,
which are likewise hairy, at least in some species,
are occasionally suspended by a band round the
middle. The White-plume Moth is the largest of
the British kinds, the wings sometimes measures
rather more than an inch across ; the anterior pair
rather ample, deeply cleft, with the apex somewhat
acute, the whole snow-white with a silky gloss;
the eyes alone being black. The caterpillar, which
feeds principally on nettles, is white tinged with
green, marked with dusky spots, and having a yellow
line on the sides.
The moth is common throughout England on
hedge banks, weedy lanes, &c., and appears to be
by no means rare in Scotland.
MANY-PLUMED MOTH.
Aludta Hexadactyla.
PLATE XXX. Fig. 4.
Phal. Alucita Hexadactyla, Linn. ; Don. iv. PI. 136 — Twenty-
Plumed Moth, Harris. — Pteroph. Hexadactylus ; The Six-
cleft Plume, Haworth.
AT once distinguished from all its associates by the
beautiful structure of the wings, which are regularly
divided into equal plumes, composed after the maa-
268 MANY-PLUMED MOTH.
ner of a feather, of a central shaft, and fine diverg-
ing cilia on two of its sides. Each of the anterior
wings contains eight of these fringed rays, and each
of the hinder ones four only. The palpi are long,
slender, and recurved ; the terminal joint very long
and acute, and turned upwards. The antennae are
rather short, the thorax not crested, and the bodj
scarcely extends beyond the hinder edge of the
wings. The species figured usually expands ahoul
half an inch or upwards, and is of an ashy gre^
colour, with an irregular hrown hand near the
middle of the anterior wings and another on the
hinder margin, both of them with a whitish line
adjoining. The posterior wings are variegated with
brown and white, and a small black spot is visible
on the tip of all the plumes.
The moth is found not unfrequently in houses,
towards the close of autumn, most "commonly on
the inside of windows creeping on the glass.
2-&6BZ
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