NOCTUAS. 



281 



male, owing to their being slightly ciliated : 

 the fore wings are nearly straight on the 

 costa, pointed, but not acutely, at the tip, 

 and waved, but not scalloped, on the hind 

 margin ; their prevailing colour is rich ferru- 

 ginous brown, varied with darker longitudinal 

 streaks or stripes and transverse lines, which 

 combine in giving a somewhat reticulated 

 appearance to the wing. The orbicular is 

 very round, and usually of a fulvous colour, 

 but often indistinct ; the reniform is usually 

 white, and very distinct, but sometimes bright 

 fulvous ; it is divided at its lower extremity 

 into two portions, and the upper portion con- 

 tains an evident reniform mark, in outline 

 corresponding with the exterior outline ; the 

 hind wings are gray-brown with a paler 

 fringe ; the head, palpi, antennae, and neck 

 are rich reddish brown ; the thorax darker 

 brown, the body gray-brown, inclining to red 

 towards the extremity. 



"The CATERPILLAR is dull brown, the dor- 

 sal plate of the second segment darker and 

 shining ; a row of brown dots on each side 

 of the dorsal line (Treit&chke), on roots of vari- 

 ous grasses." Stainton's Manual, vol. i. p. 197. 



I have found this pretty little MOTH on the 

 wing in the middle of the day in all English 

 localities where I have collected ; it is very 

 fond of settling on flowers. Mr. Birchall says 

 it is common, and widely distributed in Ire- 

 land, and Mr. Douglas Robinson that it occurs 

 in Kirkcudbrightshire, in Scotland. (The 

 scientific name is Hydrcecia nictitans.) 



Obs. 1. The very common variety of this 

 insect represented in the second figure, and 

 having no trace of white in the reniform, is 

 the Noctua erythrostigma of Haworth (Lep. 

 Brit., p. 240). My illustrious predecessor, 

 although comparing it with the more usual 

 variety with the white reniform, emphatically 

 pronounces it " distinct " as a species, a deci- 

 sion in which I am unable to concur. 



Obs. 2. Hydrcecia lucens of Herrich- 

 Scha3ffer must also be referred to this species : 

 I entirely agree with M . Guenee, who says, " I 

 confess that I am totally unable to point out 

 any character by which to distinguish Lucens 

 from Nictitans." 



472. The Butter-bur (Hydroecia Petasttis). 



472. THE BUTTER-BUR. The palpi are 

 curved upwards, but are very inconspicuous ; 

 the antennae are delicately ciliated in the 

 male : the fore wings are slightly arched on 

 the costa, rather pointed at the tip, very 

 slightly incurved below the tip, and have the 

 hind marginal outline waved but not scalloped; 

 their colour is gray -brown, suffused in recently 

 disclosed specimens with a purplish gloss or 

 reflections : there is a darker median band, in 

 which the paler reniform and orbicular are 

 very visible ; there is also a hind marginal 

 band, the interior border of which is irregular, 

 but mapped out by a slender gray line : the 

 wing -rays are thickly sprinkled, but not 

 entirely covered with pale gray scales : the 

 hind wings are pale dingy gray-brown, with a 

 crescentic discoidal spot, a median transverse 

 line, and a hind marginal shade rather darker : 

 the antenna are pale ; the head and thorax of 

 the same colour as the fore wings ; the body 

 of the same colour as the hind wings. 



" The CATERPILLAR is of a dull whitish colour 

 with black dots; the head and the dorsal 

 plates of the second and anal segments reddish 

 brown " (Freyer) Staintoris Manual, vol. i. 

 p. 198. It feeds in the roots and flowering 

 stems of the butter-bur (Petasites mdgaris), 

 and when full fed leaves its food-plant and 

 forms a cocoon of earth glued together, and in 

 this changes to a CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in October. 

 It is likely to be found wherever the butter- 

 bur (Petasites mdgaris) occurs, but at present 

 has only been captured in one English county, 

 Lancashire ; in Scotland, near Edinburgh ; 

 in Perthshire ; and at Howth, in Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Hydrcecia Petasitis.) 



Ofo.-This species is the Hydrcecia vindelicia 



