72 Observations on various Insects 



Europe that these caterpillars have so greatly abounded, yet in 

 this country they are far from uncommon. They are also 

 abundant in Scotland and Ireland. The moths appear in July 

 and August ; they belong to the FAMILY NOCTUID^, and have 

 received the name of 



30. NOCTUA Graminis : Linn. The Antler Moth. 



This species has also the generic names of CharcBas, Episema, 

 and Ceraj)teryx* The horns ai'e bipectinate in the male, slightly 

 pubescent in the female. The palpi or feelers in front of the 

 face conceal a slender spiral proboscis, which is as long as the 

 horns. The males are smaller than the females. It is reddish or 

 fuscous brown : wings slightly deflected when at rest : superior 

 wings with pale nervures, the central one ochreous, an oblong 

 spot at the base of the same colour, an oblong conic spot towards 

 the middle, and an oval or ovate one above it duller ; beyond 

 tlie middle is an ear-shaped spot, resting on a trifid character, 

 both ochreous ; these are relieved by a dark-brown or black tint, 

 with a line of spots of the same colour between the nervures 

 near the posterior margin : under wings and body blackish or 

 smoky, sometimes palest at the base, the former with a dark spot 

 in the centre : the tip of the body in the males is ochreous, with 

 a smoky line along the middle in the upper wings : expanse oi 

 wings 1 inch 6-8 lines. 



The caterpillars are an inch long, with 6 pectoral, 8 abdo- 

 minal, and 2 anal feet, smooth, and of a dull grey-brov^n or 

 blackish colour, with 3 yellow lines down the back and sides, 

 Avhich meet at the apex ; the first and last segments are protected 

 by a horny, smooth scale. They are full-grown about mid- 

 summer, when they often leave their subterranean abodes in 

 search of some eligible spot wherein to change to chrysalides, 

 which they do in slight webs, in moss, under stones, &c. The 

 food of the caterpillars consists of all kinds of tender grass, but, 

 according to Linna?us, they will not touch the Alo]>ecurus pra- 

 tensis nor the TrifoUum pratense. They live on the roots and eat 

 away all shoots. This insect has been particularly observed in 

 Sweden, in Norway, in Northern Germany, and even in Green- 

 land, and does great mischief to grass-plots and meadows. It is 

 also recorded to have done very great injury in the eastern moun- 

 tains of Georgenthal, as well as at Toplitz in Bohemia, where 

 caterpillars were in such large numbers that in four days and a half 

 200 men found 23 bushels of caterpillars, or 4,500,000, in the 

 (30 bushels of mould which they examined. In Germany it 

 seems to be confined to high and dry districts, and it never 



* Curt. Brit. Ent., fol. and pi. 451. 



