NOCTUAS. 



425 



firmly by its legs and claspers ; the thirteenth 

 segment is porrected, and at its extremity the 

 anal claspers are still farther extended : when 

 touched or otherwise annoyed, it relaxes its 

 hold and falls rolled in a ring ; the head is 

 narrower than the second segment, and the 

 body altogether is gradually attenuated an- 

 teriorly, but the divisions of the segments 

 are well defined. The colour of both the head 

 and body is ochreous-gray, the head having 

 two blackish lines on the face, and the body 

 having a still paler medio-dorsal stripe, inter- 

 sected throughout by a slender and much 

 interrupted darker stripe : there is an ill- 

 defined dark brown blotch on the back of the 

 eighth segment, and an indication of a similar 

 blotch on the ninth segment : the medio-dorsal 

 stripe passes through the blotch on the ninth, 

 but not through that on the eighth segment ; 

 there are moreover on each side of the cater- 

 pillar several extremely delicate stripes both 

 dark and light, but these are so fine as to re- 

 quire a lens for their definition. The CHRYSALIS 

 has on each segment a bent line which appears 

 as though artificially sculptured, and its anal 

 extremity is wrinkled and squarely truncate. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in March 

 and April : it is one of the earliest Noctuas met 

 with in the spring ; it is common in our 

 Euglish, Welsh, and Scotch counties, and Mr. 

 Birchall says it is also common in the county 

 Wicklow in Ireland. (The scientific nam is 

 Xylocampa litfwrhiza.) 



659. The Purple Cloud (Cloantha perspicillaris) . 



659. THE PURPLE CLOUD. The palpi are 

 but slightly porrected, the second joint being 

 clothed with bristly scales, and the terminal 

 joint short and almost concealed ; the an- 

 tennae are slightly pilose, and alike in both 

 sexes : the fore wings are moderately wide, 

 nearly straight on the costal margin, rather 



pointed at the tip, and slightly scalloped on 

 the hind margin ; their colour is purplish- 

 brown, in some specimens approaching to rosy 

 brown ; the reniform spot is present, but not 

 very clearly defined ; the orbicular is not 

 perceptible; a long dark streak runs from the 

 base nearly to the middle of the wing ; there 

 is a transverse series of rather small wedge- 

 shaped spots parallel with the hind margin : 

 the hind wings have the median area ochreous- 

 gray, the hind border being rather darker: 

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



M. Guen6e has described the CATERPILLAR 

 as of a reddish-brown colour, dotted with 

 darker brown, au'd as having a narrow unin- 

 terrupted medio-dorsal yellow stripe and a 

 dorsal series of indistinct brownish chevrons : 

 the spiracular stripe is broad, clearly defined, 

 continuous, and bright yellow, bordered with 

 darker yellow; the head and legs are con- 

 colorous. It feeds in July and August on 

 several species of St. John's wort (Hypericum). 



There are two records of the occurrence of 

 this MOTH in England one at Yarmouth, and 

 the second, a wing only, at Ashford, in Kent; 

 the latter is said to have been found in a 

 spider's web. (The scientific name is Cloant/ia 

 perspicillaris). 



fiGO. The Golden-rod Brindle (Cloantha Solidayinis). 



660. THE GOLDEN-ROD BRINDLE The 

 second joint of the palpi is porrected and not 

 very bristly, the terminal joint is short, 

 slender, and naked ; the antennas are very 

 slightly pubescent in both sexes : the fore 

 wings are long and narrow, the costal margin 

 almost straight, the tip neither pointed nor 

 rounded, and the hind margin waved ; their 

 colour is gray, with a darker median band, 

 which, however, is very indistinct ; it con- 

 tains the discoidal spots ; the orbiculars are 

 three in number two of them very small 



