Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/212

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168
ARCTIA HEBE.

sometimes wanting, at other times replaced by a mere point; 2d, one in which the bands and spots of the under wings are bordered with yellow; and, 3dly, one having more black than red in the under wings; but this is of rare occurrence.

The caterpillar is black, with tubercles of the same colour, each of them bearing pretty long hairs, which are grey on the back, greyish-yellow on the sides, and deep red near the belly. It feeds on a great variety of common plants, such as dandelion, millefoil, &c. It passes the winter unchanged, its metamorphoses taking place about the beginning of May in the following year. The cocoon is white and soft, but rather densely woven; the chrysalis black.

The Hebe moth (so called from Ηϐη, youth, on account of its beauty) is not rare in many parts of the continent of Europe, but is most plentiful in the south. In France it is common in the vicinity of the Mediterranean, becomes rarer in the central provinces, and is confined to particular localities in the neighbourhood of Paris.