328 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



distributed in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Agrotis corticea.) 



Obs. This is the Heart and Club (Zcr.ibyx 

 clavigerus), of Haworth (Lep. Brit., No. 52); 

 the Chain-Shot Dart (Bombyx connexus, Lep. 

 Brit., No. 58) ; the Pointed Dart (Bombijx 

 corticeus, Lep. Brit., No. 59); the Broad- 

 Veined Dart (Bombyxvenosus, Lep. Brit., No. 

 60) : These are subsequently placed in the 

 Genus Noctua, at p. 218 of the same work. 



531. The Light-Feathered Rustic (Agrotis cinerea). 



531. THE LIGHT-FEATHERED RUSTIC. The 

 antennae are ciliated in the male, simple in 

 tl.e female : the fore wings are very straight 

 on the costal margin, but r< ded at the tip ; 

 their colour is pale gray with three slender 

 transverse line*, and two transverse shades ; 

 the first transverse line is very short and very 

 near the base, the second is zigzag, and pre- 

 cedes the orbicular spot, which is represented 

 by a mere dot ; then follows the first trans- 

 verse shade vhicl. includes the reiiiform spot, 

 and beyond this is the third transverse line, 

 bent and zigzag : the second transverse shade 

 is parallel with the hind margin ; in some 

 specimens especially females, the entire ground 

 colour of the wing is darker, in othei-s only 

 the space between the second and third trans- 

 verse lines : the hind wings are almost white 

 with darker wing-rays, and a very indistinct 

 crescentic discoidal spot ; the head, thorax, 

 and body arc pale gray. 



" The CATERPILLAR is shining greenish- 

 brown ; dorsal and sub dorsal lines darker : 

 between them are small oblique dark streaks 

 (Treitschke). On roots of various low plr its." 

 titainton's Manual, vol. ii., p. 225. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, and 

 has been taken in the Isle of Wight, at Brigh- 



ton, 'Lewes, and in Gloucestershire, Hereford- 

 shire, Pembrokeshire, and Carnarvonshire. 

 (The scientific name is Agrotis cinerea.) 



532. The Sand Dart (Agrotis Ripce). 



532. THE SAND DART. The antennae are 

 ciliated in the male, simple in the female : the 

 fore wings are rather long and rather narrow, 

 straight on the costa, and rounded at the tip ; 

 their colour is pale gray with a very slight 

 tinge of ochreous ; the claviform spot is pre- 

 sent, but not strongly marked, the orbicular is 

 small and round, defined by its darker outline 

 only, the reniform is almost square and its 

 disk dark ; there are two irregular and inter- 

 rupted transverse lines, both of them semi- 

 double, and both broken up into spots: the 

 hind wings --f the male are white, those of the 

 female slightly clouded, especially on the 

 wing-rays and towards the hind margin : the 

 head, thorax, and body are gray, the body 

 rather the palest. 



The Rev. John Hellins has described the 

 CATERPILLAR in the Zoologist as having the 

 ground colour varying from a light pea -green 

 to a yellowish-gray (in one instance the cater- 

 p : llar was green half its length and gray the 

 other half) having a medio-dorsal stripe of a 

 darker shade of the ground colour, but inter- 

 sected throughout by a very slender pale 

 stripe ; there are three slender waved lateral 

 lines on each side ; these are placed clo^e 

 together just above the spiracles, and are 

 slightly paler than , ie medio-dorsal stripe; 

 they are followed by a stripe rather darker 

 than the ground colour, and containing the 



