368 Mr. Children's Abstract of the Characters of 



Genus 50. NOCTUA, Trcitsch. 



GiiAPHiPHORA, Ochsen. (Steph.) Graphiphor^, Hiibn. 



Obs. If instead of merely changing Ochsenheimer's name for 

 this genus from Graphiphora to Noctua, out of compli- 

 ment, as it seems to Schrank, and " a highly esteemed 

 entomological writer in the Allgemchicn Litcraturzcitung" 

 — M. Treitschke had favom-ed us with good generic cha- 

 racters for the group of insects he has placed in it, he 

 would have performed an acceptable service to Entomo- 

 logy : but all that he tells us is, literally, that these Moths 

 have a tuft on the back [Ruckcnschopf), that their an- 

 terior wings are deflexed and somewhat overlap each 

 other when at rest, and are decorated with reniform spots, 

 and markings resembling Oriental characters: that the 

 larvae are variegated, and have strongly marked lateral 

 stripes, and live chiefly on the leaves of low plants, but 

 not on their roots; and that the metamorphosis is sub- 

 terranean ! — Thirteen of the nineteen species enumerated 

 by Treitschke, as constituting his genus Noctua, are com- 

 prehended in Stephens's genus Graphiphora, the charac- 

 ters of which we have already given in the note to the 

 19th species, crassa, of the preceding genus, Agrotis; to 

 which we shall add, in this place, a \evf extracts from his 

 observations on the Graphiphorse. Like Agrotis, this 

 genus, Stephens remarks, is chiefly composed of dingy and 

 similarly marked species, though amongst them may be 

 noticed a few of delicate and somewhat vivid colours : 

 , these two genera are evidently closely allied, and several 

 of the species are included in the former by Ochsenheimer 

 and Treitschke, while Schrank and Boisduval agree in 

 uniting the whole under the incorrect appellation Noctua 

 (a name which has also been employed by Treitschke in 

 lieu of Graphiphora, as just stated, although justly re- 

 stored by Savigny to a genus of Owls) ; they may, how- 

 ever, be distinguished by the superior width and glossi- 

 ness of the wings, which have usually but two stigmata, 

 and by the general simplicity of the antennae. — Stcjj/i. I. c. 



Species. Icon. 



1. N. Ravida, Hiibn. ... Ernst, VII. PI. CCLXVI. f. 421. 



2. — Augur, Fab Ernst, VI. PI. CCLV. f.388. 



3. — Sigma, Hiibn Ernst, VIII. PI. CCCXI. f. 542. 



4. — Baja, Fab Ernst, VIII. PI. CCCXI. f. 540. 



5. N. Can- 



