j t _ __ J T_ _ 



NOCTUA VESTIGIALIS. 323 



than the ground, the orbicular and reniform with light borders, 

 the former sometimes reduced to a point. * Hind-wings light 

 grey with darker borders. 



Caterpillar 35 mm. long, with 16 legs, of a dull brownish 

 grey ; head with a triangular frontal spot, and another on the 

 vertex, meeting at their apex, their borders forming a X . 



Pupa brown, terminated by two very short points. 



b. Life- his tor y. 



The moth appears from the middle of August till the middle 

 of September. 



The eggs are laid on the ground amongst the grass and 

 herbage. 



The caterpillars hatch in September, and hibernate in the 



$ 



Fig. 164. Noctua vestigialis, Rott. (Natural size.} 



soil when half-grown ; as they are earth-coloured it requires 

 an accustomed eye to detect them. 



Pupation takes place from the end of June till August, either 

 in the ground, in a cocoon, or exceptionally among the needles 

 of young Scots pine. 



Generation annual. 



The caterpillar dislikes the light, and during the day remains 

 in the ground or concealed under the leaves of the plants on 

 which it feeds. 



c. Relations to the Forest. 



The caterpillars of most species of Noctua are termed 

 " surface caterpillars," and those of the present species chiefly 

 feed on agricultural crops, young shoots of grasses, potatoes, 

 turnips, etc., towards harvest time. It also attacks the Scots 

 pine and the larch as seedlings, in their first and second years, 



Y2 



