This is certainly one of the most beautiful of all our moths. Its fore wings are dark olive green, with a lovely metallic lustre, and boldly marked with large white and yellow spots. These spots are arranged generally like those in the illustration, but are subject to great variation. The hind wings are crimson, with large black patches, chiefly distributed near the hind margin. The thorax is black, with two white streaks; and the abdomen crimson, with a black line down the back.
This moth is a common one. It may be taken in June and July. I have seen it flying somewhat freely while the sun was still shining brightly.
The caterpillar is very dark lead colour, nearly black; and is covered with little wart-like projections, from each of which protrudes a short black hair. There is a broad yellow broken line down the back, and two others on the sides. It feeds on the hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale) and many other low-growing plants, hybernates through the winter, and is fully grown in May. Like the other members of this family, it spins a light silken cocoon, in which the hairs from its body are interwoven.
Family—Cheloniidæ
The Wood Tiger (Nemeophila Plantaginis)
The Cheloniidæ are popularly known as the Tigers—a title suggested by the tiger-like colouring of some of the prominent species. They differ from the Scarlet Tiger and the other members of the Eucheliidæ in that the males have ciliated or fringed antennæ. The larvæ, too, are more densely covered with hair.
The Wood Tiger (fig. 2, [Plate X]) is a beautiful insect, somewhat
variable in its markings, but so conspicuously coloured that our illustration cannot fail to lead to its identification. It may be found commonly among the undergrowth of our southern woods during May and June.
The caterpillar is dark brown or brownish black, covered with little hair-bearing warts. The hairs are long and black on the foremost and hind segments, but shorter and of a brown colour on the middle of the body. It issues from the egg in September, feeds for a week or two on the leaves of violets (Viola canina and V. odorata), heartsease (V. tricolor), plantain (Plantago), or groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), and then hybernates till the following March. It is fully grown in May, and then spins a light cocoon, with which its hairs are interwoven, among the leaves of its food plant.