NOCTUAS. 



441 



682. The Beautiful Yellow Underwing (Ancvrta 

 Myrtilli). 



682. THE BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING. 

 The palpi are rather porrected and ough 

 with bristle-like scales; the antennae are 

 simple in both sexes : the fore wings are 

 straight on the costa, and produced but 

 scarcely pointed at the tip ; their colour is 

 bright red-brown with a very conspicuous and 

 somewhat triangular median white spot, this 

 spot usually projects an acutely wedge-shaped 

 lobe towards the base of the wing ; there are 

 several transverse gray lines either waved or 

 zigzag : the hind wings are bright yellow at 

 the base and have a broad black hind-marginal 

 band : the head and thorax are of the same 

 colour as the fore wings ; the body smoky- 

 black delicately ringed with gray. 



The CATERPILLAR, when full-fed, rests with 

 the second, third, and fourth pairs of ventral 

 claspers, as well as the anal claspers, firmly 

 attached to the food-plant, the anterior part of 

 the body raised, and the head bent under, 

 sphinx-like ; the first pair of claspers are 

 held free : when disturbed it falls from its 

 food-plant and rolls into a compact ring, but 

 does not long retain that position, soon un- 

 rolling itself and crawling with considerable 

 activity. The head is of the same width as 

 the second segment, the cheeks rounded, the 

 crown not conspicuously notched, the whole 

 extremely glabrous, yet emitting several 

 bristles: the body is uniformly cylindrical. 

 The colour of the head is pale transparent 

 green, with a number of dark brown dots ; the 

 second segment of the body has a dull green 

 plate occupying its entire dorsal surface ; the 



remain Jer of the body is olive-green, decora ted 

 with numerous pale markings; there is a 

 medio-dorsal series of eleven spots, all of them 

 guttiform or elongate-oval ; on each side is a 

 series of eleven spots, almost semicircular, but 

 not perfectly so ; and each of these is divided 

 at the junction of the segments : there is still 

 another series in the region of the spiracles, 

 and these are more united, forming a zigzag 

 line ; the spiracles themselves are white ; each 

 is surrounded by a black ring ; the ventral 

 surface has achain-like series of pale markings, 

 extending to all the segments except the 

 second, third, fourth, and thirteenth : the legs 

 and claspers are of the ground-colour, but 

 each has a pale streak at the base, and on all 

 parts of the body are numerous smaller 

 markings intervening between those I have 

 described: these various markings are far 

 from constant in form, number, or colour ; 

 their ordinary colour is an impure white, but 

 sometimes they are pure white, and sometimes 

 tinged with yellow ; in one specimen I find 

 the lateral series alternately pure white and 

 dingy white ; the dorsal area also varies in 

 tint, bright green, olive-green, olive-brown, 

 and bottle-green ; and the lateral ornamenta- 

 tion is sometimes varied with a darker ground- 

 colour, encroaching on and almost eclipsing 

 the paler markings. It feeds on heath (Erica 

 vulgcvris), and when full-fed spins a cocoon 

 on the surface of the earth, mixing grains of 

 sand with its silk. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, and 

 is common on the heaths of mostof oursouthern 

 and south-eastern counties. Mr. Reading says 

 it is local and scarce in Cornwall and Devon- 

 shire, but he gives several localities where it 

 has been taken, as Bickleigh Down ; Brent- 

 hill, near xavistock ; St. Clear Down, Fat 

 mouth, Torquay, and Haldon. Tracing its 

 progress northwards, it seems to occur here 

 and there in all the north-English and Scotch 

 counties, and Mr. Birchall says it is generally 

 distributed and common in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Anarta Myrtilli.} 



Obs. The upper figure represents the 

 insect in its natural position when at rest. 



