NOCTUAS. 



447 



pure white ; the hind wings are dingy gray- 

 brown : the head, thorax, and body are 

 grayish dove-colour. 



The CATERPILLAR, according to Treitschke, 

 is very similar to that of Bankia argentula ; it 

 is slender and of a green colour, with a white 

 lateral stripe. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June ; 

 it is common in Cornwall, and Mr. Reading 

 says : " It is most plentiful on Dartmoor, in 

 Devonshire, but the nature of the place pre- 

 cludes one from obtaining it easily ;" it has 

 also been taken in Somersetshire, Suffolk, 

 Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire, and the 

 Lake District : it absolutely swarms in the 

 neighbourhood of Killarney, in Ireland, but I 

 think has not occurred in Scotland. (The 

 scientific name is Hydrelia unca.} 



691. The Purple Marbled (Micra ostrina). 



691. THE PURPLE MARBLED. The palpi are 

 porrected, ascending, and curved, the terminal 

 joint being slender, distinct, and pointed ; the 

 antennae have a very short and fine pubescence 

 in the male, in the female they are quite 

 simple ; the fore wings are nearly straight on 

 the costa and pointed at the tip ; their colour 

 is nearly white ; there is an oblique median 

 orange band, and beyond this an oblique and 

 rather wide hind-marginal band generally 

 intersected by a waved white line ; the fringe 

 is pale brown : the hind wings are rather 

 small and almost white, with two or three 

 paie brown transverse bars ; the fringe is 

 aimost white : the head and thorax have the 

 mixed colours of the fore wings ; the body is 

 almost white. 



The CATERPILLARS of the genus Micra have 

 only six claspers ; they have a small head and 

 a rather stout body, attenuated at both extre- 

 mities ; they are supposed to feed on the stems 

 \f low-growing plants, especially towards the 

 ends ; the CHRYSALIDS are short with promi- 

 nent segments, and are enclosed in lax oval 



cocoons spun among the leaves of the food- 

 plant. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, and 

 has been taken in one English and one Welsh 

 county only, Devonshire and Glamorganshire. 

 Mr. Reading records the capture of a specimen 

 at Torquay, by Miss Battersby, and Mr. 

 Stainton says one specimen was taken at 

 Bideford, in June, 1825. The Welsh locality is 

 thus recorded in the Entomologist*? Monthly 

 Magazine by Mr. Llewelyn : " It was in the 

 month of July, a few years since, that I 

 captured, on the sand-hills at Penvbrey, South 

 Wales, a pretty little insect whose identity I 

 have, until lately, been utterly unable to 

 establish. The spot at which I secured it was 

 rather barren and sandy, in a sheltered situa- 

 tion ; an abundance of dwarf sallow grew in 

 the vicinity, and also, as far as I remember, 

 thistles, bed-straw, wild thyme, and a short 

 kind of grass, from which latter I expect that 

 I disturbed it ; at any rate, the insect was 

 flying low over the barren sand when I caught 

 it. The day was showery, with occasional 

 gleams of sunshine, during which H. Semele 

 and other butterflies were on the wing, and 

 during one of these gleams I took the insect, 

 and seeing that it was something I did not 

 know, boxed and pinned it at once. The 

 recollection of the capture is very fresh inuny 

 mind, owing to the pleasure of the expedition 

 and the difficulty I have had in getting the 

 insect named." (The scientific name is Micra 

 ostrina.} 



Obs. 1. The figure is from a specimen 

 kindly lent me by Mr. Bond. 



Obs. 2. My knowledge of this genus and 

 the two supposed species is very slender and 

 derived almost exclusively from books. 



692. The Small Marbled (Micra ptvrea). _ 



692. THE SMALL MARBLED. The palpi are 

 porrected, ascending, and curved ; the terminal 

 joint is distinct and pointed ; the antennae are 



