354 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



enters the earth to undergo its change to a 



CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 always frequenting heaths. In such situations 

 it is common in Cornwall and Devonshire, in 

 which county Mr. Reading gives Ivybridge, 

 Ugborough Beacon, Shaugh Downs, St. Clear 

 Downs, Whitsand Heights, Torquay, and 

 Exeter, as localities ; Somerset, Wilts, Dorset, 

 Hampshire (in the New Forest), Sussex, 

 Kent, and Surrey, at West Wickham ; and 

 is also reported from two northern counties, 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire ; it is common at 

 Rannoch, in Scotland ; and Mr. Birchall 

 found it at Galway. (The scientific name is 

 Noctua neglecta.^ 



670. The Square-spot Rustic (Noctua xanthographa) . 



570. THE SQUARE-SPOT RUSTIC. The palpi 

 are porrected, the apical joint naked and dis- 

 tinct ; the antennae are slightly serrated in 

 the male, quite simple in the female ; the fore 

 wings are short, the hind margin unusually 

 rounded ; their colour is gray-brown, tinged 

 either with ochreous-brown, brickdust-red, or 

 umber-brown ; the discoidal spots are generally 

 very distinct and decidedly paler, being of an 

 ochreous-gray tint; in some their median 

 area is exactly concolorous with the general 

 area of the wing : the hind wings are pale 

 gray-brown, with a dark brown hind-marginal 

 band ; the fringe is paler ; the head and 

 thorax are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings, the base of the body is pale gray- 

 brown, but beyond the middle it is darker 

 brown. 



The EGGS are laid in August and September, 

 on various species of grass, which constitute 

 the food of the CATERPILLAR; it retires to 

 wards the roots when very small, secreting 

 itself under any covering that will protect it 

 from the weather : at this season, and again 



in the spring, after it has recommenced feed- 

 ing, it is very fond of hiding on the under 

 surface of stones, if such occur near its dwel- 

 ling-place. The full-fed caterpillar drops from 

 its food-plant when annoyed, and rolls itself 

 into a very tight and compact ring, but 

 quickly unrolls when the danger is passed, and 

 crawls with considerable activity. The head 

 is manifestly narrower than the second seg- 

 ment ; the body is obese, almost uniformly 

 cylindrical, but still increasing very gradually 

 from the second to the twelfth segment ; the 

 colour of the head is pale semi-transparent 

 brown, very glabrous, with two slightly 

 curved longitudinal dark stripes on the face, 

 and the cheeks are slightly reticulated with 

 the same colour; the body is pale velvety- 

 brown, with a narrow medio-dorsal stripe still 

 paler, and margined on each side with black, 

 which shades off externally into the pale- 

 brown ground-colour ; this black, however, 

 consists of innumerable minute specks, which 

 are crowded when in close proximity to the 

 pale medio-dorsal stripe, but become scattered 

 as they recede from it ; just above the spira- 

 cles is a rather broad lateral stripe, somewhat 

 darker than the ground-colour, and having a 

 dark but ill-defined upper margin, and a uni- 

 colorous and clearly defined lower margin j 

 exactly intermediate between the medio- 

 dorsal stripe and this lateral stripe, is a parti- 

 coloured stripe, scarcely so wide as the latter ; 

 it is divided longitudinally into two equal 

 parts, the upper part very dark brown, almost 

 black, and somewhat interrupted at the inter- 

 stices of the segments (thus forming a series 

 of eleven elongate blotches), the lower part 

 pale, and throwing the series of blotches into 

 bold relief; three pale stripes are also to be 

 traced on the second segment ; the legs, 

 claspers, and belly are pale, and have a semi- 

 transparent appearance. It enters the ground 

 in May, but never changes to a CHRYSALIS! 

 until the middle of July, and sometimes not 

 before August. The chrysalis is shining and 

 brown : that state generally lasts about three 

 weeks. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July and 

 August, and is equally abundant in England, 



