806 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



606. The Orescent (Apamea fibrosa) . 



606. THE CRESCENT. The antennse are 

 nearly simple in both sexes ; the palpi are 

 porrected and naked at the tip : the fore 

 wings are rather pointed at the tip, and rather 

 concave below the tip ; as regards colour, 

 there are two very distinct varieties of this 

 insect ; in the first (represented in the upper 

 figure) the inner margin and a broader band 

 parallel with the hind margin, are pale gray 

 brown, the hind margin itself, and all the 

 basal area of the wing being umber-brown ; 

 somewhat marbled with other tints : in the 

 second variety (represented in the lower figure) 

 the fore wings are uniform umber-brown ; the 

 orbicular spot is very obscure, the reniforra 

 very distinct, sometimes altogether of a snowy 

 whiteness ; sometimes its circumscription and 

 a central line only are white ; but I almost 

 invariably find that the wing-rays proceeding 

 from its lower extremity are pure white for a 

 short distance : the hind wings are gray- 

 brown : the head, thorax, and body are of the 

 colour of the wings. 



The CATERPILLAR is an internal feeder, living 

 concealed in the flowering stems of the common 

 yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus), and devouring 

 the pith : it has a brown shining head, and a 

 whitish maggot-like body, with a dark brown 

 dorsal plate on the second segment. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July. All 

 my specimens came from the fens of Cam- 

 bridgeshire, where it appears to be abundant ; 



it has also been taken in Sussex, Surrey, 

 Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Yorkshire. (The 

 scientific name is Apamea fibrosa.) 



507. The Common Rustic (Apamea oculea). 



507. THE COMMON RUSTIC. The antennae 

 are slender and simple, those of the male 

 scarcely different from those of the female ; the 

 palpi are porrected, and the tips naked : the 

 fore wings have the tips blunt, and the outline 

 of the fringe scalloped; their colour is re- 

 markably inconstant, it has not a single cha- 

 racter by which the species can be with cer- 

 tainty distinguished ; the most common 

 colouring appears to be umber-brown, with a 

 darker median band more or less distinct ; but 

 in many specimens there is not the slightest 

 trace of this band; another very distinct variety 

 has the whole of the inner margin of the wing 

 ochreous-brown, which colour, passing under 

 the reniform, ascends obliquely to tip of 



