332 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



No. 18 of the Entomologist^ Monthly Maga- 

 zine : 



" It is an inch and a half long, cylindrical, 

 and rather shining. The head gray-brown, 

 mottled with blackish; the back dingy-brown, 

 a dorsal line of rather paler gray-brown, the 

 sub-dorsal line black, edged below with a thin 

 line of gray-brown, and which, like the dorsal 

 line, runs through the blackish plate on the 

 second segment ; to this succeeds a broad 

 stripe of dingy blackish-green, then another 

 thin line of gray-brown, followed by another 

 broad stripe of clingy blackish-green, the black 

 spiracles being situated along its lower edge ; 

 the belly and legs gray-brown, the warty 

 spots dark brown and not very conspicuous ; 

 the general aspect of the caterpillar very dark 

 and dingy." 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July and 

 August, and occurs not uncommonly in our 

 English counties, but it is so imperfectly 

 known, and so rarely distinguished from the 

 preceding, that no confidence whatever can be 

 placed in the recorded habitats. Mr. Birchall 

 informs us that it has been taken at Malahide 

 Sand-hills in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Agrotia aquilina.) 



537. The Square Spot Dart (Agrotis obeUsca). 



537. THE SQUARE SPOT DART. The palpi 

 are porrected and prominent; the antennze are 

 very stout and slightly serrated in the male, 

 rather slender and simple in the female : the 

 colour of the fore wings is sepia-brown ; there 

 is a gray shade beneath the costa ; the dis- 

 coidal spots are distinct, and rendered more so 

 by the space between them being intensely 

 dark brown or almost black ; a similarly 

 coloured wedge-shaped spot adjoins the orbi- 

 cular pointing towards the base, and below 



the orbicular and extending nearly to the base 

 of the wing, is a compound mark of the same 

 colour ; there are also two iterrupted trans- 

 verse lines or rather irregular series of dark 

 marks, the first before the orbicular, the 

 second beyond the reniform : the hind wings 

 are very pale in the males with darker wing- 

 rays and hind margin, smoky brown in the 

 females : the head and thorax are dark brown ; 

 the body paler, and with a slight appearance 

 of still paler rings. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a nearly straight 

 position on the slender stems of its food-plant 

 when anoyed it falls to the ground in a com- 

 pact ring : the head has a rather flat face, and 

 is considerably narrower than the second seg- 

 ment, into which it is partially received; 

 the body is very stout, smooth, and almost 

 uniformly cylindrical ; its colour is pale testa- 

 ceous-brown, with a slender white medio- 

 dorsal stripe, which is bordered on each side 

 by a still more slender and threadlike black 

 stripe ; there is a similar white stripe, deli- 

 cately black -bordered on each side of the cate 

 pillar, and, connecting the medio-dorsal with 

 the lateral stripes ; there is also a short oblique 

 stripe on each side of each segment, each pair 

 of oblique stripes forming a letter Y, the apex 

 of which is directed towards the anal extre- 

 mity ; below these, and in the region of the 

 spiracles, is a series of round dots, ten on each 

 segment, and also a short oblique line : the 

 ventral is concolorous with the dorsal area, and 

 the claspers are also of the same colour, and 

 just above each is a black dot. It feeds on the 

 ladies' bedstraw (Gcdium veruni). 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 and occurs pretty abundantly in the Isle of 

 Wight, whence I received the series in my 

 possession ; it has also been taken at Brighton ; 

 it is reported by the Rev. Harpur Crewe from 

 Derbyshire, and from Lancashire by Mr. 

 Birchall, who has also taken it in Ireland : 

 this indefatigable entomologist writes of the 

 species thus : " Abundant at Howth ; fre- 

 quents the higher slopes of the hill, where it 

 may be taken freely from the rag-wort flowers 

 in August incompany with Lunigera. Although 

 Tritici swarms at the foot of the hill and a long 



