PLATE IV.--Fig. 11.
In colour a dull grey moth. The fore-wings are ash-coloured,
variegated with whitish on the upper side. The
reniform spot is rust-coloured in the male and whitish
in the female. The transverse lines are black and
dentated, the submarginal line maculated. The hind-wings
are grey, with a slight lunule in the middle; the
underside uniform grey. The body is less stout than
the D. Fascelina (Linn.). The abdomen is long in the
male and longer in the female. The antennæ are pectinated
in the male, simple in the female. The legs are
thickly clothed with hair, the feet yellowish beneath.
Although the caterpillar has not been described, it presumably
has much the same characteristics as its allies,
and is probably greyish, with tufts of hair on its back;
it feeds on the Pinus Canariensis.
This moth is allied to the English, and European
species Dasychira Fascelina (Dark Tussock), but is
probably peculiar to the Islands. It has been described
as being found in the Islands of Palma and Hiero by
Rogenhofer in the “Verhandlungen des Kaiserlich-Königlichen
Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in
Wien,” vol. 41 (for 1891), p. 566. The specimen
illustrated was drawn from one of two presented to the
South Kensington Museum by the Rev. O. E. Benthall,
who found the chrysalides on trunks of the Canary pine
near Guimar, Teneriffe, about 2,000 feet above the sea,
and as far as the author can ascertain it has not before
been recorded as occurring in Teneriffe.