42 



M. Boisduval states that Drury's figure is " peu exacte." It is true, indeed, that the 

 figure does not agree with the description given by that author, who describes the fourth 

 pale fascia as " bifide dans la cellule discoidale des premieres ailes." The exact uniformity 

 in the shape of this fascia, in both of Drury's figures, renders its correctness evident, and 

 consequently the insect figured by Drury must be regarded as a variety of the species 

 described by Boisduval. 



NOCTUA MELICERTA. 



Plate XXIII. fig. 1. 



Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Familv: Noctuidae. 



Genus. Noctua, Auct. 



NocTUA Melicerta. Alis anticis variegatis, posticis nigris, fascia macnlisque tvibus marginallbus albis. (Expans. 

 Alar. 2 unc. 6 lin.) 



Syn. Phalaena (Noctua) Melicerta, Di-ury, Append, v. 2. Cramer, tab. 62. Jig. C. D. ? 



Noctua mercatoria, Fab. Ent. Syst. 111. 2. p. 62. No. 176.? Gmelin, Linn., S.N. 2544. 1039. 

 Noctua tigrina, Fabr. Ent. Syst. 111. 2. p. 40. No. 106. Oliv. Enc. MHh. ri. 277. 131. 

 Noctua Tulpina, Fabr. Ent. Syst. 111.2. p. 30. No. 102. 

 Phatena Melicene, Cram. tab. 323. Jig. C. D. 



Habitat : India, Bombay (Drury). 



Upper Side. Antennse filiform. Tongue small and spiral. Thorax and abdomen light brown. 

 Anterior wings light greyish brown, and, when held in some particular directions, having a hue like 

 mother-of-pearl. Several irregular bars, of a deeper brown, cross the wings, and the external margin is 

 bordered with pale purple or pearl colour. Posterior wings dark liver-coloured, grey-brown at the base, 

 and hairy. In the middle is a broad bar, of purplish white, running across the wing. On the external 

 edge are three white square spots. The anterior wings are a little dentated ; the inferior ones entire. 



Under Side. Palpi remarkably long and pointed. Anterior wings dark brown ; the external etlge 

 being purplish grey, with a whitish separated bar, running from the middle of the anterior edge to the 

 interior angle. Posterior wings light greyish brown, palest at the base, and grey at the external edge, 

 having a dark spot at the anal angle, and a smaller faint one near the shoulders ; with several indented 

 lines crossing the wings in different places. 



Fabricius appears to have described this insect in his Entomologia Systematica, under 

 three different names. It probably forms the type of a distinct subgenus in the family 

 Noctuidse. 



