NOCTUAS. 



307 



the wing, leaving a broad dark brown costal 

 area, and a dark brown hind margin ; the 

 orbicular spot is very seldom clearly denned, 

 often entirely imperceptible ; the reniform is 

 generally well defined, its circumscription pale, 

 and its disk occupied by a crescentic pure 

 white spot ; sometimes, however, this con- 

 spicuous character is wanting, the white being 

 confined to a mere line, and sometimes it is 

 replaced by an ochreous spot : the hind wings 

 are dark smoky-brown : the colour of the 

 head and thorax varies as much as that of the 

 fore wings : in some specimens there is a 

 median elongate pale blotch on the thorax, 

 in others a ferruginous tuft at the base ; 

 the body is slightly crested, and is almost 

 invariably of the same dull colour as the hind 

 wings. 



I am by no means certain that I know the 

 CATERPILLAR of this ubiquitous insect. Three 

 years back I possessed a number of caterpillars 

 which I supposed to be this species, but after 

 feeding upon sods of grass, they finally 

 entered the earth, turned to CHRYSALIDS, and 

 so died : they were putty-coloured, with a 

 black glossy plate on the second, and a smaller 

 one on the twelfth segment ; there was a very 

 indistinct medio-dorsal and another lateral 

 stripe. (See Staintons Manual, vol. i. p. 211, 

 where the description is rather different. The 

 scientific name is Apamea oculea). 



Obs. My predecessor divides this protean 

 species into five the Flame Furbelow 

 (Noctua furca, Lep. Brit., No. 136) ; the 

 Russet (N. rava, Lep. Brit., No. 137) ; the 

 Letter I (N. I-niger, Lep. Brit., No. 140) ; 

 the Common Rustic (N. oculea, Lep. Brit., 

 No. 141) ; and the Rustic Mourner (N. 

 lugens, Lep. Brit., No. 142) ; in addition to 

 which he describes thirteen varieties, designa- 

 ting them by letters of the Greek alphabet : 

 our collections are now so much more exten- 

 sive than in the time of Mr. Haworth, that 

 these species and varieties are shown to be 

 connected by intermediates, thus rendering the 

 descriptions useless : it were a hopeless task, 

 the endeavour to describe every individual of 

 the species which differed from the rest 



508. The Marbled Minor (Miana sbrigilis). 



508. THE MARBLED MINOR. The palpi 

 are porrected and curved upwards ; the an- 

 tennae are rather stout in the males, slender 

 in the females : the fore wings are slightly 

 prolonged but not pointed at the tip ; their 

 colour is usually dark brown, marbled with 

 white, but the variation in colouring is so great 

 that it may truly be said that two specimens 

 j cannot be found alike ; a conspicuous whitish 

 bar usually crosses the wing parallel with the 

 hind margin ; this is elbowed below the mid- 

 dle, irregular and toothed ; this white bar is 

 particularly bright near the inner margin, and 

 on the said inner margin, half way between 

 this bar and the base, are two white linear 

 marks, which indicate the commencement of 

 two irregularly elbowed and approximate 

 white lines, which in some specimens ascend 

 to the costa, and in others are entirely want- 

 ing ; in the specimens possessing these white 

 markings the discoidal spots are also outlined 

 in white, but in others no markings are dis- 

 tinctly visible, the entire wing being suffused 

 with black more or less shaded and tinted 

 with ferruginous-brown : the hind wings ai-e 

 always dark smoky-brown : the body has a 

 medio-dorsal series of very distinct crests. 



The CATERPILLAR has a small shining head, 

 narrower than the second segment ; the body 

 is stout, smooth, and rests in a bent position 

 in the interior of the stems of the larger 

 grasses ; it is attenuated at both extremities : 



