NOCTUAS. 



333 



the shore, it rarely intrudes on the more aris- 

 tocratic society of the higher levels." (The 

 scientific name is Agrotis obelisca.) 



538. The Heath Rustic (Agrotis agathina). 



538. THE HEATH RUSTIC. The palpi are 

 porrected, slightly ascending, and rather dis- 

 tant ; the antennae are slender in both sexes, 

 but rather stouter in the male, and slightly 

 serrated ; the fore wings are straight on the 

 costa, obtuse at the tip, and waved on the 

 hind margin ; their colour is brown glossed 

 and tinged with a rich vinous red ; there is a 

 pale dash on the costa, extending from the 

 base to two-thirds of its length ; the orbicular 

 is pale, clearly defined, arid very conspicuous; 

 the reniform is outlined in pale gray, but not 

 so conspicuous as the orbicular ; its exterior 

 border is indistinct, the space between the 

 discoidal spots is very dark brown, and there 

 is a triangular mark of the same colour on the 

 basal side of the orbicular, and pointing to- 

 wards the base of the wing ; below this are two 

 whitish marks ; a broken series of pale mark- 

 ings crosses the wing just beyond the middle, 

 and of this the reniform forms a part, and a 

 second broken series is parallel with the hind 

 margin, and terminates in a rather conspicuous 

 pale blotch near the anal angle : the hind 

 wings are waved on the hind margin, very 

 pale brown with crescentic discoidal spots, a 

 transverse median line, a broadish marginal 

 bar darker brown ; the thorax and b^dy are 

 reddish-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR does not roll itself in a 

 ring when touched, but falls off its fond, and, 

 bending its body slightly at both extremities, 

 remains motionless a short time, feigning 

 death. In form it is almost uniformly cylin- 

 drical, but slightly decreases in size at either 

 end, it is smooth and velvety : the head is 

 rather small and very shining, of a pale dull 

 green or dull brown, with two obscure longi- 

 tudinal darker markings : the body is of 

 different ground colour in different indivi- 

 duals, the prevailing hues are green and 

 brown, in all instances adorned with five 

 longitudinal white stripes, all of which are 

 more or less interrupted by folds in the skin, 

 especially at the interstices of the segments : 

 three of these are brighter and more distinct 

 than the remaining two, and may be called 

 dorsal, the remaining two are lateral, and are 

 tinged more or less with the ground colour of 

 the body : the medio-dorsal stripe is found on 

 close examination to be composed of a series 

 of shuttle-shaped markings, placed end to 

 end : the next stripe on each side is bordered 

 on its upper or dorsal margin with velvety 

 black, massed on each segment into a conspi j 

 cuous blotch : the lower margin is also bor- 

 dered, but less conspicuously, with black : 

 the lateral stripe is broader and more diffused, 

 as well as less conspicuous, than the others : 

 it encloses the spiracles, which are ranged 

 just within its upper margin, excepting the 

 last and last but one, which are placed above 

 the stripe ; by these five stripes the dorsal 

 surface of the body is divided into four nearly 

 equal compartments, all of which are alike in 

 ground colour, whatever its tint, and are 

 delicately mottled with velvety black : the 

 under surface bordering the lateral stripe 

 partakes of the same colour, but the ventral 

 area, legs and claspers, are paler, having a 

 semi-transparent appearance. It feeds on the 

 common ling (Calluna vulgaris) principally at 

 night, when it is swept off the food-plant in 

 early spring by collectors who are acquainted 

 with its habits ; it is full-fed about the end 

 of May. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 as soon as the heaths are in full flower, when 



