NOCTUAS. 



449 



segment ; the body is slightly hairy, rather 

 slender, aud has the back always arched in 

 crawling, after the manner of a Geometer ; 

 although it has eight ventral claspers, it never 

 uses the two anterior pairs for prehension; 

 when annoyed it does not feign death or roll 

 in a ring, but falls from its food-plant and 

 hangs by a thread : the colour of the head is 

 apple-green, of the body green, with a double 

 white or whitish-yellow medio-dorsal stripe, 

 and a lateral stripe of the same colour ; 

 there is also a more conspicuous yellowish 

 stripe below the spiracles, which are black ; 

 between the stripes there are two white dots 

 on each segment. It feeds on birch (Betida 

 alba), and when full-fed descends to the 

 ground, and spinning a slight cocoon either in 

 crevices of the birch-bark or on the ground, 

 changes to a smooth brown CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing with the 

 first bright sunny days of March, flying in 

 the sunshine, and has been taken in Sussex, 

 Surrey, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Gloucestershire, 

 Herefordshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, York- 

 shire, in the Lake District, and also in 

 Scotland, but I think not in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Brephos Parthenias.) 



694. The Light Orange Underwins? (Brephos nofha). 



694. THE LIGHT ORANGE UNDERWING. The 

 palpi are concealed in a beak-like tuft of bristly 

 scales ; the antennae of the male are distinctly 

 pectinated, those of the female simple : all 

 the wings are ample, the costal margin of the 

 tore wings is nearly straight, being slightly 

 curved only at the tip ; their colour is grayish- 



brown, with an indistinct paler blotch near the 

 middle of the costal margin, and the entire 

 surface is sprinkled with paler scales : the 

 hind wings are deep rich orange, with a large 

 smoke-coloured blotch on the inner margin, 

 an angle or lobe of which is prolonged into 

 the very middle of the wing, where it joins a 

 discoidal spot of the same colour; the hind mar- 

 gin is also smoke-coloured : the head, thorax, 

 and body are black-brown and very slender. 

 The CATERPILLAR hasasmoothsemi-porrected 

 head, almost triangular in shape, and rather 

 narrower than the second segment ; the body 

 is rather slender, and always arched in crawl ing, 

 after the manner of a Geometer, and although 

 it has eight ventral claspers, like the cater- 

 pillars of true Noctuce, it never uses the two 

 anterior pairs for prehension. When annoyed 

 it does not feign death or roll in a ring, but 

 drops from its food-plant, suspended by a 

 thread ; the colour of the head is smoky 

 brown, with a darker patch in the middle of 

 each cheek ; the body is dull apple-green with 

 four brown spots on the back of the second 

 segment, and a narrow continuous medio- 

 dorsal stripe rather darker than the ground- 

 colour, and rendered more conspicuous by 

 being bordered with very pale green ; on each 

 side, in the region of the spiracles, is a broader 

 continuous stripe, almost black ; the belly and 

 claspers are green ; the legs tinged with brown. 

 It feeds on aspen (Populus tremula). The CHRY- 

 SALIS is reddish-brown, smooth and shining. 



The MOTH appeai-s on the wing in March and 

 April : it has been taken in Sussex, Surrey, 

 Kent, Essex, Berkshire, Suffolk, Gloucester- 

 shire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, and York- 

 shire. (The scientific name is Brephos notha.) 



695. The Light Spectacle (Abrostola Urticae). 



695. THE LIGHT SPECTACLE. The palpi are 

 long and slender, not directly porrected, but 

 obliquely ascending, the second joint is beut. 



M 29 



