6 HAUSTELLATA. — LEPIDOPTERA. 



This variable insect appears in profusion in grassy meadows to- 

 wards the end of May. 



Sp. 3. Humuli. AUs Jlavis, anticisfulvo-striutis, maris omnibus niveis. (Exp. 

 alar. $ 1 iinc. 8 lin. — 2 unc. 1 lin. : $ 1 unc. 10 lin. — 3 unc.) 



Ph. No. Humuli. Linnt: — Don. \iu. pi. 274'. f. 1. $-f-2 $. — He. Humuli. 

 Stepk. Catal. No. 5946. 



Male with all the wings above pure ^nowy immaculate white, with a slender 

 lutescent margin, beneath fuscous, with the margins broadly fulvous: the 

 head, thorax, and abdomen very pale fulvous. Female very dissimilar, the 

 anterior wings above yellow, with various spots or streaks, sometimes united 

 into two or three oblique fasciae; posterior wings fuscescent, gradually changing 

 to a bright fulvous on the hinder margins; beneath aU the wings dusky: eyes 

 in both sexes black. 



The fulvous spots on the anterior wings of the female vary exceedingly in size, 

 form, and disposition : they are sometimes nearly obhterated. 



Caterpillar rather glossy cream-colour, with the head brown, and a scaly patch 

 on the neck : it feeds on the roots of the hop {Humulus Lupulus), and bur- 

 dock (^Arctium Lappw) : it changes in May to a dark brown pupa. 



Very common in grassy places in the middle of June, and not 

 imfrequently met with in church-yards, whence its name of Ghost 

 Moth. 



Sp. 4. velleda. Alisfusco, livido alboque variis, strigd posticd punctorum niveorum 

 cosidcfiefiisco mactdatft. (Exp. alar. $ 1 unc. 8 — 10 hn. : ^ 2 unc. 2 — 6 lin.) 



Bo. velleda. Esper. — He. velleda. Steph. Catal. No. 5947. — Ph. No. Mappa. 

 Don. x. pi. 36. f. 3. 



Brown : anterior wings above fuscous, with a bifid angulated, strongly waved 

 irregular whitish vitta, arising at the base, and passing somewhat parallel with 

 the thinner margin nearly to the anal angle, where it is suddenly angulated, 

 and passes obhquely to the anterior apex ; the disc is variegated with patches 

 of a similar hue, pure white and Uvid ; behind the oblique fascia is usually a 

 striga of whitish subtriangular spots : costa with a few brown spots : posterior 

 wings immaculate fulvous-brown : cilia of all the wings flavescent, spotted 

 with brown. Female larger, less varied, and without the livid hue. 



The markings of this species vary so greatly, that it is difficult to obtain two 

 specimens perfectly similar; in some the Hvid hue predominates, in others the 

 brown ; the sinuated fascia is sometimes interrupted, at others much branched, 

 and the posterior streak of white spots occasionally extends across the apex of 

 the wing, and is sometimes totally obliterated. 



Caterpillar is said to feed on the fern {Pteris aquilina). 



Before the year 1814, few specimens only of this insect were in 

 collections; but, in the middle of June in that year, a locality was 

 detected at Darcuth-wood, where the insect abounds : it also in- 



