NOCTUAS. 



265 



and the parallel rays running to the hind 

 margin are pale ; there is a dark brown dash 

 beneath the median ray, and in each inter- 

 space between the parallel wing-rays is a 

 shorter dash of the same colour: the hind 

 wings are pale smoky brown gradually growing 

 darker towards the fringe, which is lighter; 

 the rays are darker: the head, thorax, and 

 body are wainscot-brown. 



The EGG is laid on cock's-foot grass (Dactylis 

 glonierata) and other grasses, in June, and the 

 CATERPILLAR probably hybernates, not being 

 full-fed until the following spring; it feeds 

 almost exclusively by night, reposing t>y day 

 near the ground, on the stem of its food- 

 plant, in a perfectly straight position : when 

 annoyed, it rolls itself in a compact ring, 

 falling to the ground and remaining concealed 

 at the roots of the grasses. The head is 

 semi-globose, of the same breadth as the 

 second segment ; the body is almost uniformly 

 cylindrical, slightly narrower towards the 

 anal extremity ; the anal claspers project 

 beyond the anal flap and are slightly spread- 

 ing. The head is glabrous, wainscot-brown, 

 delicately reticulated with darker brown, 

 and having two dark brown stripes down the 

 face which approximate on the crown, but 

 divide towards the mouth, enclosing the 

 clypeus ; the colour of the body is wainscot- 

 brown, variegated throughout the dorsal 

 surface with delicate rivulet markings, of 

 both darker and paler brown, and having 

 four black dots, arranged as a trapezoid, on 

 the dorsal surface of every segment, from the 

 fifth to the twelfth inclusive ; the second 

 segment has a semicircular semi-corneous 

 plate, its truncated margin next the head : 

 this is traversed by three distinct pale 

 stripes, which are continued indistinctly 

 throughout the entire length of the cater- 

 pillar, and are bordered with dark brown 

 dots and shades, here and there massed into 

 patches; the spiracles are intensely black, 

 and immediately below them is a rather broad 

 and very distinct pale stripe : the ventral 

 surface is tinged with purplish semi-trans- 

 parent green ; the legs and elaspers are of 

 the same colour : it changes to a smooth 



brown CHRYSALIS beneath the surface of the 

 ground. 



The MOTH appears in June, and is found in 

 most of our 'English counties, north, midland, 

 and south ; it is also common in Ireland. 

 (The scientific name is Leucania Comma.) 



448. The Devonshire Wainscot (Leucania putrescens). 



448. THE DEVONSHIRE WAINSCOT. Thean- 

 tennse are slender in the males, still more so in 

 the females; the wings are straight on the 

 costa, blunt at the tip, slightly scalloped on 

 the hind margin ; their colour is very pale 

 wainscot-brown, with a median longitudinal 

 dash of dark brown, in the middle of which 

 is a slender white lunule; there are a number 

 of dark brown longitudinal streaks towards 

 the hind margin, and these are separated and 

 rendered more conspicuous by six white wing- 

 rays : the hind wings are pearly white, with 

 a marginal series of black dots alternating 

 with smoky wing-rays ; the head and thorax 

 are wainscot-brown, tinged with gray ; the 

 latter has two transverse dark lines on the 

 neck, the posterior of which emits two longi- 

 tudinal branches parallel with the base of the 

 wings, and directed towards the base of the 

 body, which is pale gray-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR has been described by 

 Mr. Buckler in the second volume of the 

 " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine : " it was 

 found feeding on grass in the month of October : 

 its colour was pale grayish ochreous, striped 

 longitudinally after the manner of its con- 

 geners. The head is mottled with dusky- 

 gray and ochreous, with a black streak border- 

 ing the front of each lobe, followed by a 

 white streak on each side of the central 

 portion : the dorsal line is whitish, con- 

 spicuous only on the second, third, and fourth 

 segments, and afterwards nearly obliterated 

 by the dusky edging enclosing it; and on 



\ 



