NOCTUAS. 



313 



sluggish, concealing themselves on the under- 

 side of leaves close to the ground, or even 

 uuder the surface of the earth, coming out to 

 eat when they find the temperature agreeable. 

 The head is rather narrower than the second 

 segment, the body stout and full ; its colour 

 is gray-brown with a series of darker wedge- 

 shaped markings on each side, and a pale 

 stripe in the region of the spiracles : there 

 are short bristles or hairs scattered over every 

 part of the body : it makes a cell rather than 

 a cocoon just under the surface of the earth 

 in May, and therein changes to a CHRYSALIS. 

 The MOTH appears on the wing in June, 

 July, and August, and is common in most 

 parts of England. Mr. Douglas Robinson 

 reports it from Scotland, but Mr. Birchall did 

 not meet with it in Ireland. (The scientific 

 name is Caradrina Morpheus.) 



518. The Uncertain (Ca/racbrina Alsines). 



518. THE UNCERTAIN. The palpi are 

 slightly porrected, curved upwards, and very 

 distant ; the antennae are almost simple in 

 the male, quite so in the female : the fore 

 wings are very straight on the costa, and 

 blunt at the tip ; their colour is pale dingy- 

 brown tinged with ochreous ; the discoidal 

 spots are darker than the ground colour, very 

 distinct, and very regularly and distinctly 

 outlined with pale brown ; two transverse 

 zigzag lines cross the wing, the first before 

 the orbicular, the second beyond the reniform ; 

 between these two is a transverse median 

 darker shade or obscure band ; parallel with 

 the hind margin is a pale whitish line with a 

 dark brown interior border : the hind wings 

 are pale gray-brown tinged with ochreous ; 

 the head and thorax are ochreous gray-brown, 

 the body paler. 



Mr. Harpur Crewe has given a very careful 

 description of the CATERPILLAR in the Zoologist 

 for August, 1861 ; it is as follows: "Before 

 last moult : back and sub-dorsal parts dusky 

 purplish-brown ; sides and belly yellowish- 

 gray ; central dorsal line whitish ; sub-dorsal 

 line edged with black ; central line bordered 

 on either side of each segment by a large 

 black tubercular spot ; spiracular line waved, 

 blackish ; between sub-dorsal and spiracular 

 lines a row of blackish tubercular spots, 

 smaller than the dorsal ones. Both dorsal 

 and lateral tubercles surmounted by a longish 

 white hair; head dusky yellowish-brown ; 

 belly mottled on the sides with dusky 

 markings. After last moult : ground colour 

 pale reddish-drab or buff ; back more or less 

 tinged with purplish-brown ; medio-dorsal 

 line whitish, bordered with black at the centre 

 of each segmental division ; tubercular spots 

 as before ; sub-dorsal lines yellowish- white, 

 edged, on the upper side narrowly, and on the 

 lower side broadly, with black, and dotted on 

 the former, on each segment, with a yellow 

 tubercle having a black centre ; spiracles en- 

 closed in a dusky space between two black 

 lines; tubercular hairs yellowish ; when very 

 young the ground colour is a uniform pale 

 yellowish-gray ; central dorsal and sub-dorsal 

 lines white, the latter indistinct ; spiracular 

 line blackish ; dorsal and lateral tubercles 

 very small and indistinct. The caterpillars 

 from which the foregoing description was 

 taken, were reared from eggs laid by moths 

 taken by myself in August; they were hatched 

 in about six weeks, and fed throughout the 

 autumn and winter on chickweed (Alsine 

 media). They were full-fed in March ; CHRY- 

 SALIS bright red, short and stout, enclosed in 

 a tightly spun earthen cocoon." 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July ; it 

 has been taken in our southern and midland 

 counties, and even as far north as the Mersey, 

 but I think has not been reported from Scot- 

 land or Ireland. (The scientific name ia 

 Caradrina Alsines.) 



