266 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



either side a dorsal broad stripe of mottled 

 grayish-ochreous, followed by a pale ochreous 

 stripe, and a grayish-ochreous darker stripe. 

 The sub-dorsal line is whitish, very finely 

 edged above and below with dusky grayish- 

 brown, followed by a broad stripe- of mottled 

 ochreous, and then by a lateral whitish line, 

 finely edged with dark grayish-brown; below 

 this is a broad grayish-.brown stripe, the 

 spiracles being situated along its lower edge, 

 the belly and legs pale ochreous. The ordi- 

 nary spots and spiracles are black. The 

 shining plate on the second segment is dusky 

 between the lines. 



The MOTH appeal's on the wing in July, and 

 occurs in great abundance on the Devonshire 

 coast. (The scientific name is Leucania 

 putrescems. ) 



449. The Southern Wainscct (Leucania straminea). 



449. THE SOUTHERN WAINSCOT. The an- 

 tennae are very slightly ciliated in the male, 

 perfectly simple in the female : the fore wings 

 are pointed at the tip ; their colour is a very 

 delicate wainscot-brown with a slightly darker 

 dash from the base along the middle of the 

 wing ; the wing-rays are rather paler than 

 the interstices ; in the very centre of the 

 wing is a black dot, and half way between 

 this and the hind margin is an oblique trans- 

 verse series of black dots, some of them very 

 inconspicuous, but two are distinct, and these 

 form a triangle with the central dot ; there is 

 also a series of seven or eight small circular 

 black dots on the very margin ; the hind 

 wings are white, b\it have an obscure trans- 

 verse median series of small black dots, and a 

 marginal series of still smaller ones; some of 

 the interstices between the wing-rays are 

 indistinctly clouded with smoky brown ; the 

 head and thorax are delicate wainscot-brown; 

 the body white. 



Guene"e says that although the perfect 

 insect has been well described by Treitschke, 

 it is not so with the CATERPILLAR, which varies 

 greatly, if we may judge by the published de- 

 scriptions. This great lepidopterist thus gives 

 the result of his own observations : its body 

 is very long, and the ventral surface rather 

 flattened ; the legs are very long ; the head is 

 lenticular and of a yellowish-red colour; there 

 is a very slender medio-dorsal stripe placed 

 between two series of black dots ; there is 

 a lateral stripe like the medio-dorsal, but less 

 distinct ; and a broad and clearly defined 

 spiracular line on both sides, and having its 

 margins rather lighter ; in the area between 

 the lateral and spiracular stripes there is a 

 series of small slender lines alternately 

 blackisih and of the ground colour, or even 

 lighter; the spiracles are above the spiracular 

 stripe, whitish and encircled by black: the 

 first spiracle situated in the neck of the 

 caterpillar is unusually large : the head is 

 very pale, with indistinct markings. It is 

 found in February in damp meadows and on 

 the banks of streams ; and when at rest 

 stretches itself out in a straight position and 

 remains motionless. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, 

 and was formerly taken in great abundance 

 among the reeds at Hammersmith ; but this 

 once favourite locality seems likely to be 

 destroyed, and I know of no other. (The 

 scientific name is Leucania straminea.) 



450. The Smoky Wainscot (Leucania, impwra). 



450. THE SMOKY WAINSCOT. The antennae 

 are evidently stouter in the male than in the 

 female : the fore wings are scarcely pointed at 

 the tip ; their colour is wainscot-browu, the 

 wing-rays being paler ; they have a central 

 black dot, and between this and the hind 



