THE NOCTUINA. 315 



margin folding down a little^ and the anterior wings 

 lie flat upon the back of the insect^ crossing one 

 another partially towards the apex. 



This fine moth, the larva of which feeds at night 

 upon a variety of plants both in onr gardens and in 

 the open fields, is one of the most abundant species 

 of the third Tribe of the Heterocerous Lepidoptera, 

 that of the Noctuina, the insects composing which 

 are generally to be distinguished with ease from those 

 of the preceding tribe by their slender, bristle-like, 

 simple antennae, usually considerably longer than the 

 head and thorax, and their well-developed oral organs, 

 of which a long spiral trunk is as conspicuous here as 

 in the Butterflies. In their form they are usually far 

 less robust than the Bombycina, but more so than the 

 insects of the following tribe ; their posterior legs are 

 longer than the intermediate, and their wings, of which 

 the hinder pair are broader but shorter than the an- 

 terior, are usually deflexed in the form of a roof during 

 repose, although in some cases, as in the example 

 above referred to, they are laid horizontally upon the 

 back. A character of coloration, which generally 

 serves at once to distinguish an insect of this tribe, 

 consists in the presence of tliree more or less distinct, 

 ring-like spots on the disc of the wing, of which the 

 middle one is the largest and usually of a kidney 

 shape. This character is not always easily recog- 

 nizable ; but whenever it occurs distinctly, there can be 

 no doubt that the insect belongs to the present tribe. 



The larvse of these insects are for the most part 

 naked, and furnished with sixteen feet, although, in a 

 good many cases, the first, or first and second pairs 

 of prolegs are deficient, and the caterpillar then 

 possesses only twelve or fourteen feet. They feed 



