N0CTUID;E. MAMESTRA. 191 



Genus CXIX. — Mamestra, Ochsenlieimer . 



Palpi short, triarticulate, densely clothed with elongate scales at the base, the 

 terminal joint not very distinctly exposed ; the basal joint the length of the 

 terminal, subconic ; the following as long again, more slender than the basal, 

 subcylindric, a little bent, and slightly attenuated at the tip, which is obliquely 

 truncate; terminal elongate-ovate: ??za.T«7te rather long. Antennw eXowgaie 

 rather slender, simple in both sexes, each joint producing a short bristle on 

 each side, ciliated beneath in the males : head rather small, the forehead with 

 a dense crest: eyes rather large, globose, pubescent: thorax subquadrate, 

 with a bifid dorsal crest : ahdovien moderate, crested on the back, the apex 

 with a small tuft : wings sHghtly deflexed during repose, anterior obscurely 

 denticulate on their hinder margin, posterior simple : legs short, stout : femora 

 and tibia; very pilose interiorly ; tibial spurs moderate. Larva naked, varied. 

 Pupa subterranean. 



The species of this genus are usually of dull and sombre colours, 

 and like the Hadense they are mostly characterized by having a 

 conspicuous W-like mark, formed by the angulations of the pale 

 posterior striga, on their anterior wings. From the genus just men- 

 tioned they may be however known, by the greater simplicity of 

 the antennae in both sexes, the more denticulate posterior margin 

 of the anterior wings, the obscurity of their colours, and by the 

 dissimilarity in the structure of the palpi. Ma. Aliena of Ochsen- 

 lieimer appears rather to belong to the genus Hama, to be hereafter 

 described. 



Sp. 1. furva. Alis anticis Jusco cinereo Jlavidoque variegatis, macula reniforviis 



strigdque externa albicantibus. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 5 — 7 lin.) 

 No. furva. Wien. Ver%. — Ma. furva. Steph. Catal. pt. ii. p. 82. No. 6214. 



A dingy species : head and thorax fuscous, the latter with some paler and darker 

 atoms: antei-ior wings fuscous, with cinereous and yellowish shades, the or- 

 dinary strigae of the last line edged with fuscous, the fourth excepted, which 

 is simple, considerably undulated and bidentate in the middle ; the stigmata 

 are rather paler than the rest of the wing, with the margins dusky or black, 

 sometimes with a whitish inner circle ; the hinder margin has a row of tri- 

 angular black spots, the margin itself having a yellowish line ; ciUa fuscous, 

 interrupted with ochraceous : posterior wings ashy-brown, with the nervures, 

 a central lunule, and the hinder margin darker. 



Occasionally taken at Coombe-wood, and in other places near 

 London ; but much more abundant near Hull, in Yorkshire. I have 

 found it near Dovei-, and I believe it has been captured in the 

 vicinity of Brighton. (It ill associates with this genus.) 



