45. 



CUCULLIA ASTERIS. 



The Starwoit Shark Moth. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Noctuadae Leachy hat. 



Type of the Genus Noctua umbmtica Linn. 



CucuLLiA Schrank, Och. Noctua Linn., Fab., Haw. Tribonophora 

 Hub. 



AntenncE long, setaceous, composed of numerous short joints, 

 covered with scales above, first joint the largest, with a tuft of 

 hair beneath (1. and 1. a. the basal and a few following joints). 

 Labrum and Mandibles attached to the clypeus. 

 Maxillce nearly twice the length of the antennae. (3.) 

 Labial Palpi curved upward, not so long as the head, thickly 

 covered with loose scales, terminal joint appearing naked, having 

 only short close scales, (4.) first joint long, curved, second long, 

 slightly attenuated, third small, spherical. (4. a. the scales being 

 removed.) 

 Head rather small, obtuse (7. a.) Thorax with an elevated crest. 

 Abdomen long, somewhat deflexed,Jrtqnently with tufts upon the 

 hack, and sometimes with a long pointed or divided apex. Wrings 

 de/iexed, superior lanceolate, inferior rather small. Legs clothed 

 with hair. Tarsi ^-jointed, tvith a row of spines on each side beneath. 

 Claws all bifid. Pulvilli terminated by a horny process. 

 Caterpillars with 6 pectoral, 8 abdominal, and 2 anal membranaceous 

 feet of equal size. 



AsTERis Fab. Ent. Syst. t. 3. pars 2. p. 121. n. 364. Haw. Lep. Brit, 

 p. 1G8. M. 22. 



Cinereous tinged with lilac, head and thorax somewhat rufous. 

 Abdomen fuscous, with tufts down the back, deep brown. Supe- 

 rior wings entire deep chesnut along the costa, with streaks of 

 pale rufous ; two irregular broken spots near the centre : Interior 

 margin deep chesnut with lines of cinereous and black, and a 

 lunulated transverse spot cinereous and chesnut, cilia fuscous. 

 Inferior wings fuscous, cinereous at the base, cilia pale testaceous. 



In the Cabinets of Mr. Blunt and Mr. Thompson. 



This very natural group was first cstablisiied as a Genus by 

 Schrank under its present name Cuadlia, from the strong 

 resemblance which the crest has to a hood ; it also forms the 

 division ^^ La7iceolatce" in Haworth's Lepidoptera Britaunica. 

 The Genus contains 11 British species, 1. C. itmbratica L. ; 



