NOCTUAS. 



331 



535. THE WHITE-LINE DART. The palpi 

 are porrocted, sligl.tly ascending, and rather 

 distant ; the antennae of the male are slightly 

 serrated, those of ihe female pimple : the 

 fore wings are straight on the cost*, blunt at 

 the tip, and rather rounded 011 the hind mar- 

 gin ; their colour is dark bistre-brown, more 

 or less varied with pale wainscot-brown ; of 

 this latter colour there is generally but not 

 always a rather conspicuous dash beneath the 

 costa, extending from the base to the reni- 

 form ; the discoidal spots are generally very 

 distinctly outlined with the paler colour, and 

 have a darker central area ; the orbicxilar is 

 small, oval, and oblique ; some of the wing- 

 rays are often pale, and there is generally a 

 sinuotis line or interrupted series of linear 

 spots parallel with the hind margin, from 

 which emanate three, four, or five elongate 

 wedge-shaped spots, the tips of which point 

 towards the middle of the wing : the hind 

 wings are pale at the base, the wing-rays and 

 hind margin being smoky-brown ; the fringe 

 is paler : the head and thorax are bistre- 

 brown, freckled with gray scales; the body is 

 uniform smoky-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR of this very common spe- 

 cies has a rather small and porrected head, 

 and an obese cylindrical and shining body, in 

 which the usual minute warts are not conspi- 

 cuous, and each emits a short hair : the head 

 is shining, of a pale brown colour mottled 

 with darker brown : the second segment has 

 a dark brown glabrous plate; the dorsal area 

 of the body is gray-brown, with a narrow 

 medio-dorsal stripe considerably paler ; there 

 is a narrow lateral stripe on each side, not 

 far from the medio-dorsal, and of the same 

 pale hue, and all these three stripes pass 

 through the dorsal plate of the second seg- 

 ment, and come close to the head ; the sides 

 of the caterpillar are dingy green, inter- 

 sected throughout by a narrow grayish stripe ; 

 the spiracles ai'e black ; the ventral is paler 

 than the dorsal area, and the claspers are 

 concolorous. It feeds at the root of all kinds 

 of garden weeds and vegetables, and changes 

 to a crfRYSALis beneath . the surface of the 

 ground. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, 

 and appears vei-y generally distributed ov r 

 England : it is also reported from Scotland, 

 and Mr. Birchall says it is common every- 

 where on the coast of Ireland. (The scien- 

 tific name is A gratis Tritici.} 



Obs. This is the White-line Dart (Noctua 

 albilhiea) of Haworth (Lep. Brit., No. 180) ; 

 the Lineolated Dart (Noctua lineolata, Lep. 

 rif.., No 181) ; the Pupilled Dart (Noctua 

 pupillata, Lej). Brit., No. 183) ; and the 

 Gothic Dart, (Noctua subyothica, Lep. JBrit., 

 No. 185.) 



536. The Streaked Dart (Ayrotis aquilina). 



536. THE STREAKED DART. The palpi are 

 porrected, slightly ascending, and rather dis- 

 tant ; the antennae of the male are stout and 

 slightly separated, those of the female more 

 slender and quite simple : the fore wings 

 are straight on the costa, and blunt at the 

 tip; their colour is amber-brown, sometimes 

 with a paler dash under the costa ; the dis- 

 coidal spots are well denned, outlined with 

 pale brown, and having darker centres ; 

 there is generally a pale sinuous line or inter- 

 rupted series of pale linear spots parallel with 

 the hind margin, from which emanate three, 

 four, or five elongate wedge-shaped spots, the 

 tips of which point towards the middle of the 

 wing : the hind wings are pale at the base, 

 with darker crescent-shaped discoidal spot, 

 wing rays, and hind margin : the head and 

 thorax are umber-brown; the body smoky- 

 brown. 



The CATERPILLARS of this moth have been 

 discovered by Mr. Last, of Ipswich, at the 

 roots of various vegetables, especially where 

 growing among weeds; they feed on chick- 

 weed, cabbage, broccoli, onions, poppies, 

 plantain. &c. The caterpillar, when full- 

 grown, is thus described by Mr. Buckler, in 



