Volume 14, Plate XXIII / Entomology (Insects)

April Miselia, Peach-Blossom Moth & Buff Arches

Meselia Aprilina, Thyatira Batis & T. Derasa

1. The April Miselia. Named for its April appearance, the upper wings fine green thickly marked with transverse black streaks and arrow-headed apical spots, the under wings dusky-brown with faint light streaks and the legs ringed with black. The variable ash-grey caterpillar feeds on ash, elm, and beech, the insect procured chiefly by digging the pupae from about oak roots, not plentiful in Scotland but found through the southern counties.
2. Peach-Blossom Moth. When fresh, one of the loveliest British moths, the upper wings brown with dark waved lines and five rose-coloured peach-blossom spots, a large clouded one at the base and others towards the tip and angle, the hinder wings dusky inclining to ochre-yellow. The peculiar caterpillar bears a forked dorsal gibbosity and triangular elevations, its colour rust-brown or blackish, feeding on common bramble, this insect appearing June and July near woods and inhabiting the southern English counties.
3. Buff Arches. About the size of the Peach-blossom or larger, light yellowish-brown, the upper wings with two white oblique bands and a triangular space clouded brown and white crossed by fine zigzag lines, the margin with two rows of small white arches, the hinder wings somewhat dusky. The yellowish-green caterpillar, with dark spots and lines, is a general feeder, much more common than its congener and frequent near woods in England in July and August.