NOCTUAS. 



26? 



margin are two other black dots which com- 

 bine with the first in forming a triangle : the 

 hind wings are dark smoke-colour, almost 

 black, the fringe white : the head and thorax 

 are wainscot-brown ; the body very nrmch 

 paler. 



The CATERPILLAR has been minutely described 

 and figured in Bo isd aval's Collection des Che- 

 nilles, and I have obtained no information 

 respecting it from any other source ; it rests in 

 a straight position on the blades of grass on 

 which it feeds ; the head is small, much 

 narrower than the second segment, and por- 

 rected ; the body is cylindrical, except at the 

 extremities, which are tapering ; the colour of 

 the head is reddish brown, with darker re- 

 ticulations, and six darker lines ; the body is 

 pale reddish gray: there is a medio-dorsal 

 stripe intersected by a white thread-like line, 

 and this is bordered by a rather broad 

 brownish stripe, which has two black dots in 

 each segment, really four on each segment, 

 two on each side of the medio-dorsal stripe, 

 and each of these black dots emits a small 

 bristle: on each side are two compound 

 stripes paler than the ground colour, one 

 above, the other below the spiracles ; both 

 these stripes are pale yellow-gray and rather 

 broad, and both are intersected throughout by 

 a median red portion which seems to have no 

 clearly defined boundaries; the ventral is paler 

 than the dorsal area, and slightly tinged with 

 green, the spiracles are oval, reddish, and 

 edged with black : the legs are reddish, the 

 claspers are concolorous with the ventral 

 area, but each has two black points and a 

 little cloud on the outside : it undergoes 

 pupation in the earth without spinning any 

 cocoon, and changes to a smooth CHRYSALIS of a 

 dull deep red brown, which has a number of 

 hooks at the anal extremity, two of which are 

 longer and every way larger than the rest : 

 they are widely separated at the base but 

 approach at the tips. 



The MOTH appears on the wing about mid- 

 summer, and continues throughout July ; it 

 is very abundant in England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland. (The scientific name is Leucania 

 impura.) 



Obs. A series of Scotch specimens, most 

 kindly presented to me by Mr. Birchall, are 

 rather smaller, and have the hind wings muc]> 

 blacker than English ones. 



451. The Common Wainscot (Leucania pollens) . 



' 451. THE COMMON WAINSCOT. The an- 

 tennae are very slightly thicker in the male: 

 the fore wings are obtuse, almost rounded, at 

 the tip: their colour is pale wainscot-brown, 

 very frequently inclining to red, the tint being 

 very delicate and beautiful ; the wing-rays are 

 very pale, nearly white ; there is a black dot 

 in the very centre of the wing, and two others 

 between this and the hind margin, the three 

 forming a triangle : the hind wings are white, 

 the wing-rays and a portion of the interspaces 

 slightly clouded; there are a few dots on the 

 wing-rays, in some specimens forming a 

 median series ; the fringe is pure white; the 

 head and thorax are wainscot-brown ; the 

 body paler. 



The CATERPir.LAR has been reared from the 

 EGG which hatched in September ; it feeds 

 on grass and lives through the winter ; it is 

 full-fed about the middle of March or during 

 April, and is thus described by Mr. Buckler 

 in the third volume of the " Entomologists' 

 Monthly Magazine : " its form is cylindrical, 

 its colour ochreous or grayish ochreous, with a 

 whitish dorsal line outlined with dark gray 

 running through the middle of an oval mark 

 of brownish-gray on each segment ; the sub- 

 dorsal line is whitish-margined above, with a 

 grayish stripe, and below by a thin brownish 

 line, and after an interval of the ground 

 colour, another fine line of brown, edged 

 below with a thin line of pale ochreous, 

 followed by a broad stripe of grayish, the 

 black spiracles being along its lower edge; 

 below is a broad stripe of pale ochreous ; the 



