NOCTUID.*:. MYTHIMNA. 149 



Not very common ; I have found several examples near Hert- 

 ford and at Coombe Wood, and have received the insect from the 

 New Forest. " Bottisham." — Rev. L. Jenyns. 



Sp. 17. Upsilon. Alis anticis cinereo-fuscis lineold bad alterdque dupUci in 

 ?nedio nigris, stigmatibus palUdis. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 3 — 6 lin.) 



No. Upsilon. Wien. T.— Or. Upsilon. Steph. Catal part \i. p. 73. No. 6145. 



Ashy-brown ; anterior wings a little clouded with a deeper tinge ; the costa with 

 some dusky points towards the base, and some whitish ones towards the apex : 

 the usual strigse are obsolete, except the fourth or posterior one, which is pale 

 and considerably undulated, with a few trigonate dusky spots in the middle of 

 its inner margin ; at the base of the wing is a black streak, sometimes rather 

 obscure ; the stigmata are rather pale with blackish margins, and in the space 

 between is a black mark resembling a Y or V ; towards the inner margin is a 

 sort of third stigma, formed by two black lineolae, which, after uniting, become 

 again detached towards the posterior edge of the wing ; the posterior wings are 

 rather paler, with a central lunule and the margin of a deeper colour. 



This insect varies considerably ; in some examples all the markings are obliterated, 

 except the pale posterior striga : in others the stigmata are of a hoary ash. 



Caterpillar dirty brown, with three pale stripes on the back, and some dusky 

 spots on the sides : it feeds on the willow and poplar. 



The general appearance of this species, and the habits of the larva, which reside 

 beneath the bark of old wiUows and poplars, seem to require its separation as 

 a genus. 



Not very uncommon in several places near the metropolis ; in 

 the marshes near Hertford, and in Battersea and Kentisii Town 

 Fields I have frequently captured specimens : it also occurs in 

 Cambridgeshire . 



Genus XCV. — Mythimna, Ochsenheimer. 



Palpi short, ascending, densely enveloped in scales, the apical joint not exposed ; 

 triarticulate, the basal joint scarcely one-third as long as the second, bent; the 

 second very long, slightly attenuated towards the apex, not so stout as the 

 first, a Uttle curved ; terminal small, elongate ovate, subacuminate, conic : 

 maxillae as long as the antennae. Antennw rather moderate, shortest in the 

 females ; finely ciliated in both sexes, stoutest and somewhat pubescent be- 

 neath in the males: head small, with a tuft of scales; eyes large, pubescent ; 

 thorax slightly crested anteriorly: bodn elongate, densely tufted at the apex, 

 and laterally in the male ; somewhat obtuse in the females : wings slightly 

 deflexed during repose; the anterior entire, acute at the apex, with the stigmata 

 nearly or quite obliterated; posterior obsoletely emarginate on the hinder 

 margin ; legs moderate, femora and tibia- stout and densely pilose in the males. 

 Larva naked, with longitudinal btreaks : pupa subterranean. 



