278 LEPIDOPTERA. 



wings long, narrow, usually somewhat blunt, in repose laid flat 

 on the body and rather overlapping ; hind wings rather ample, 

 of thin texture, deeply folded in repose and with vein 5 very 

 weak, originating from the middle of the cross-bar. 



Lakv^ not hairy, thick-skinned and shining, of dirty 

 colours, but with glossy raised spots, and with horny dorsal 

 and anal plates. Hiding by day under the surface of the 

 ground, feeding at night on grass and low growing plants. 



PuPiE of ordinary form, but with two diverging anal spikes ; 

 subterranean. 



The transition to this group of comparatively plain-looking 

 species of more typical Nocture appears somewhat abrupt, 

 but the connection of this with the genus Acronycta through 

 exotic species is very close. Variation in some of the species 

 is so extremely wide that a satisfactory table seems to be 

 impracticable. 



1. A. valligera, Hvli. ; vestigialis, Stand. Cat. Ex- 

 panse, 1 1 inch. Antennae of male pectinated; fore wings 

 pale brown ; stigmata all conspicuous, dark, divided by an 

 oblique pale stripe ; hind margin dark brown, preceded by 

 black wedges ; hind wings whitish. 



Antennae of the male pectinated with solid teeth in nearly 

 opposite rows, the teeth ciliated, tapering off shorter beyond 

 the middle of the shaft, so as quite to disappear and leave the 

 apex threadlike ; olive-brown, the shaft paler. Head and 

 palpi strongly tufted, olive-brown, blotched with white ; collar 

 very broad, pale olive-brown or reddish-brown, barred with 

 darker brown, and edged with white ; shoulder lappets con- 

 spicuously whitish, edged with brown ; remainder of thorax 

 covered with very long pale olive-brown scales, tinged with 

 deeper brown or reddish, and partially erected so as to form 

 small top and back crests, the tips of which are whitish ; 

 fascicles long, white ; base of abdomen covered with long 



