262 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



in the female ; the fore wings are pale wains- 

 cot-brown, the wing-rays being a shade lighter; 

 on each side of each ray is a delicate line of 

 darker brown, and in the interspace between 

 the rays is a similar slender brown line. The 

 median wing-ray has a pale, almost white spot 

 at its extremity, and beyondthis is a trans verse 

 series of eight or nine black dots ; these descend 

 as far as the third or fourth in a direct line 

 from the costa, and then trend obliquely to the 

 middle of the inner margin : the hind wings 

 are almost white, with the wing-rays and an 

 apical radiating cloud smoky-brown ; on the 

 extreme margin is a series of dark brown 

 dots : the hind wings are pale gray with dark 

 brown rays, and a brown cloud on the hind 

 margin : the head and thorax are exactly the 

 same tint as the ground colour of the fore 

 wings ; the body is much paler, almost white. 



Guenee describes the CATERPILLAR as of a 

 grayish-yellow colour with a tinge of red, 

 which is more perceptible at the interstices of 

 the segments where the skin is folded ; there 

 is a slender white medio-dorsal stripe, bordered 

 on each side with deep transparent green, and 

 also a slender whitish lateral stripe ; the area 

 between the medio-dorsal and lateral stripe is 

 marbled, and is longitudinally divided by 

 another broader and less clearly defined stripe; 

 the spiracular stripe is continuous and bright ; 

 the spiracles are black with a dingy gray 

 centre; the head is pale, reticulated with 

 brown, and having the upper margin of the 

 divisions darker; the neck is gray-brown 

 with three white lines. It feeds by night, 

 in August and September, on the leaves of 

 the common reed (Arundo Phragmites), and 

 conceals itself by day in the hollow stems of 

 the reed, which it fills with its green excre- 

 ment : at the approach of winter it loses its 

 colour, and passes the whole of that season 

 in the reed-stems, only changing to a chrysalis 

 in the following spring. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, 

 and occurs commonly round London in reed- 

 beds, more especially on the banks of the 

 Thames : Mr. Birchall records its having been 

 taken in the Coiinty Wicklow, in Ireland, by 



Mr. Bristow. (The scientific name is Leucania 

 obsoleta.} 



444. The Cosmopolitan (Leucania, Loreyi). 



444. THE COSMOPOLITAN. The palpi are 

 rather long and porrected, the terminal joint 

 being short and naked : the antennae are 

 simple in both sexes : the fore wings are 

 nearly straight on the costa, but slightly 

 bent and blunt at the tip; their colour is 

 pale wainscot-brown with a darker median 

 dash, which extends from the base beyond 

 the middle of the wing, and includes a white 

 spot, which represents the reniform ; a simi- 

 larly coloured shade extends obliquely from 

 the tip towards the middle of the wing, but 

 does not reach the median dash ; the upper 

 boundary of this oblique shade is sufficiently 

 definite, but the lower vanishes in the hind- 

 marginal area; there is a curved series of 

 small black dots half way between the cen- 

 tral white spot and the hind margin ; the 

 fringe is concolorous with the hind-marginal 

 area ; the hind wings have their hind margin 

 slightly scalloped ; their colour is very pale 

 with darker wing-rays, which, in the female, 

 expand into undefined spots on the hind 

 margin : the head and thorax are pale wains- 

 ! cot brown : the body is much paler. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, 

 and is common to almost all countries the 

 south of Europe, Africa, Asia, the islands of 

 the eastern archipelago, and South America. 

 In Britain it has only occurred twice, two 

 specimens having been taken on the race- 

 course near Brighton by Mr. Thorncroft, one 

 of our most energetic and successful ento- 

 mologists. (The scientific name is Leucania 

 Loreyi.) 



