344 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



and occurs in most of our English and Scotch 

 counties, beginning in Cornwall and Devon- 

 shire, and extending northwards, even to 

 Sutherland and Caithness, and Mr. Birchall 

 says it is widely distributed and common 

 in Ireland. (The scientific name is Noctua 

 glareosa.) 



552. The Plain Clay (Noctua depuncta). 



552. THE PLAIN CLAY. The palpi are dis- 

 tant, porrected and spreading ; the antennae 

 are very slightly incrassated in the male, ex 

 tremely slender and thread-like in the female : 

 the colour of the fore wings is ochreous-gray ? 

 with two dark brown markings, the first 

 double and near the base of the wing ; the 

 second triple, its three component parts being 

 arranged transversely ; the usiial discoidal 

 spots have a very slender pale circumscrip- 

 tion, but are generally quite distinct, and 

 between them is a darker shade , beyond the 

 reniform is a slender double line, then a series 

 of dots, and then a broader waved line, 

 parallel with the hind margin : the hind 

 wings are grayish-brown, paler at the base : 

 the head, thorax, and body are ochreoiis-gray. 



" The CATERPILLAR is grayish-brown ; the 

 sub-dorsal line whitish, with a row of black 

 dots ; the spiracles are white in black rings 

 (Hub.). On sorrel and other low plants." 

 (Stainton's Manual, vol. i. p. 234.) 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 may be described as local and rare. Mr. Read- 

 ing gives Yealmpton, Harford Bridge, Exeter, 

 and Alphington as western localities ; Mr. 

 Horton has taken it at Worcester ; it has also 

 been obtained in thenorthern English counties, 

 and in Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland, but not 

 hitherto in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Noctua depuncta ) 



553. The Double Dart (Noctua augur). 



553. THE DOUBLE DART. The palpi are 

 curved, projecting, and ascending; the antennae 

 are stout in the male, slender in the female : 

 the fore wings are gray-brown and very dull ; 

 the orbicular has the lower border, the reni- 

 form the interior and exterior borders strongly 

 outlined with black ; there are two transverse 

 zigzag black lines, the first before the orbicu- 

 lar, the second beyond the reniform : the hind 

 wings, head, thorax, and body are gray-brown. 



The EGG is laid in June, and hatched in June 

 or July. The CATERPILLAR hybernates early. 

 In the spring it again begins to feed on white- 

 thorn (Cratcegus oxyacantha), sallow (Salix 

 caprea), and other shrubs. When full-fed, 

 which is usually at the end of May, it rests in 

 a straight position, but falls off its food-plant 

 and rolls in a ring when disturbed. The head 

 is of much less circumference than the body, 

 semi-porrected, and slightly notched on the 

 crown : in moving, the head is stretched for- 

 ward, and moves about in a very leech-like 

 manner. The body is cylindrical, slightly 

 attenuated towards the head, and slightly in- 

 crassated dorsally on the twelfth segment. 

 The head is very shining, pale pellucid brown, 

 reticulated and variegated with darker. The 

 body is excessively smooth, dull purplish- 

 brown, with several dai'ker markings, more 

 particularly a narrow waved rich brown stripe 

 along each side, including the spiracles ; there 

 is a transverse mark of the same colour, dilated 

 at each extremity, on the twelfth segment; on 

 various parts of the back there are also small 

 round white spots, two on the anterior part 

 of each segment, beginning with the third, 

 and two rather less distinct on the posterior 

 part ; the belly, claspers, and legs are pale 



