This genus contains the smallest insects of the family, many 

 of them not being larger than some of the Tortricidcc : it is 

 closely allied to Acontia of Ochsenheimer, but the palpi are 

 shortei-, the larvae are represented by H'libner with only two 

 abdominal feet, a very remarkable character which at present 

 is only known to occur in one other genus of Noctuadce, viz. 

 Pliisia of the same author. 



The following species are British and have been described 

 by Mr. Haworth, with the exception of the 3rd, in his Lepi- 

 doptoa Britamiica. 



1 Erastria sulphurea Linn. — Don, Brit. Ins. 10. 339. 1. — 



lugubris Fab. — Very rare, found in clover 

 fields &c. from the end of Jmie to the middle 

 of July. 



2 argentula Esp. — Bankiana Fab. — Olivea Hub. — 



Taken the end of June amongst reeds and 

 rushes in bogs in Norfolk by Mr. Haworth. 



3 ostrina Hub. — This beautiful and unique British 



insect was taken June 1825 in a dry lane at 

 Bideford, Devon, by Capt. Charles Blomer, 

 and very handsomely presented by him to the 

 author. 



4 unca Li?m. — Panz. Faun. Germ. 7, 18. — Taken 



in June, Aug. and Sept. in marshy situations 

 at Horning in Norfolk, Whittlesea Meer 

 Huntingdonshire, and the New Forest Hants. 



5 venustula Hilb. — In the cabinet of Mr. Haworth, 



from the late Mr. Honey. 



It is not a little singular that specimens agreeing with E. 

 argentula, unca, and other species of the genus have been re- 

 ceived by Mr. Haworth from Georgia, in which no differences 

 can be traced beyond those that constitute the slightest 

 varieties; it is true that many North American coleoptera 

 also are the same as our own, from which we might imagine 

 that they had been by accident introduced into this country, 

 and from the congeniality of the climate have become natu- 

 ralized; but it is also an undeniable truth that some of the wild 

 plants of that continent are the same as our own, — a curious 

 and interesting fact which it is not within our province to 

 enlarge upon. 



The plant is Circcca lutctiana (Enchanter's Nightshade). 



