NOCTUAS. 



It is generally distributed in England, Scot- 

 land, and Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Cucullia umbratica.) 



676. The Bordered Sallow (HeUothis mwrginatus). 



676. THE BORDERED SALLOW. The palpi 

 are slightly porrected and ascending, the tips 

 are incurved on approaching the summit; the 

 antennae are simple in both sexes : the fore 

 wingg are ample, straight on the costa and 

 pointed at the tip ; their colour is orange- 

 brown with a broad purplish hind-marginal 

 band ; the discoidal spots have a slender but 

 distinct circumscription of darker brown, and 

 there are six transverse lines ; the first very 

 short and close to the base ; the second zig- 

 zag and before the orbicular; the third 

 elbowed and beyond the orbicular ; the fourth 

 oblique and beyond the reniform ; the fifth 

 zigzag and intersecting the purple hind- 

 marginal band ; the sixth on the margin : the 

 hind wings are cloudy at the base with a 

 smoke-coloured discoidal spot, then ochreous 

 with a brown smoky hind-marginal band and 

 a pale fringe : the head and thorax are rich 

 orange-brown, the body testaceous-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR feeds on the common 

 rest-harrow (Ononis arvensis), and is full-fed 

 towards the end of August, when it rests with 

 the anterior segments slightly elevated and 

 arched, and the head tucked in, the attitude 

 being somewhat Sphinx-like ; when annoyed 

 it falls off its food-plant, rolling itself in a ring 

 and feigning death ; in confinement, like so 

 many other caterpillars, it feeds greedily on 

 knot-grass (Polygvnum aviculare). The head 

 is porrected in crawling and narrower than 

 the second segment, into which it is partially 

 received : the body is almost uniformly cylin- 

 drical, but has the twelfth and thirteenth 

 segments rather attenuated and depressed ; 

 the skin is densely covered with a velvety 



pile of very short bristles, intermixed with 

 longer hairs. The colour of the head is pale 

 apple-green and shining ; of the body dull 

 apple-green, the dorsal darker than the ventral 

 surface, and sprinkled with white spots, 

 certain of which form four longitudinal series; 

 it also has numerous black dots, each of which 

 culminates in an acute point; these black 

 dots are particularly crowded along each 

 lateral margin of the dorsal surface : the 

 dorsal surface is bounded by a narrow white 

 lateral stripe, extending from the head to the 

 anal claspers ; on the upper margin of this 

 are seated the spiracles, which are nearly 

 circular, of a testaceous-brown colour, and 

 surrounded by a black ring : the inferior 

 margin of the white lateral stripe is shaded 

 off into green ; the ventral surface is spotted 

 with white. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in May and 

 June, and seems to be widely distributed in 

 our English counties, from Cornwall to the 

 Lake District. It seems particularly common 

 in Cornwall and Devonshire, the caterpillar 

 having been found in great abundance on the 

 rest-harrow. Mr. Douglas Robinson reports 

 it from Scotland, but we have at present no 

 record for Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 HeUothis mcvrginatus.} 



677. The Bordered Straw (HeUothis peltiger). 



677. THE BORDERED STRAW. The palpi 

 are porrected and connivent at the tips, which 

 are almost without scales ; the antennae are 

 almost simple, and very slender in both sexes : 

 the fore wings are ample, almost straight on 

 the costa, produced and rather pointed at the 

 tip ; their colour is ochreous-gray ; the or- 

 bicular is absent ; the reniform is smoky- 

 black, and connected with the costal margin 

 by a blotch of somewhat similar colour; near 

 the apex is another darkish blotch on the costa, 



