NOCTUAS. 



273 



not pointed ; they are extremely glossy, and 

 of a very ambiguous colour, pale ochreous at 

 the base, gradually deepening to an olive- 

 brown towards the hind margin ; the fringe 

 is darker than any other part of the wing j 

 the hind wings are gray-brown, with the rays 

 and fringe paler ; the head and thorax are 

 pale ochreous-gray, the body rather darker. 



The EGGS are laid in July, on the stems of 

 the common reed (Arundo Phraymites), and 

 the little CATERPILLARS soon emerge, enter 

 the stem through a minute circular aper- 

 ture, which they gnaw, and begin feeding : 

 towards the end of the following May they 

 may be found in the stem, in the first or 

 second interuode from the top. When full- 

 grown, the caterpillar has a very maggot-like 

 appearance ; if removed from the interior 

 of the reed, it does not feign death, or roll 

 iteelf in a ring, but is restless, and crawls 

 incessantly, but not with great activity : the 

 head is very small, and extremely glabrous ; 

 it is porrected in crawling : the body is obese, 

 and slightly attenuated towards -oth extre- 

 mities ; on the dorsal surface of the second 

 segment is a semicircular corneous plate, the 

 eonvex margin of which is benij ? ; the dorsal 

 surface of the thirteenth segment is entirely 

 covered by a similar plate ; the incisions of 

 the segments are clearly marked. The head 

 is intensely black ; the body dingy white, with 

 a large amorphous ill-defined purplish patch 

 on each side of each segment, except the ' 

 second and thirteenth ; the corneous plate on 

 the second segment is glabrous and brown ; 

 below it on each side are three black dots ; on 

 the third and fourth segments, respectively, 

 is a transverse dorsal series of ten black dots ; 

 on each of the following segments are four 

 such dorsal dots ; the anterior pair on each 

 segment, excepting the eleventh, are rather 

 nearer together than the posterior pair ; on 

 the twelfth segment they form an exact quad- 

 rangle ; on the sides are two series of similar 

 dots ; every one of these dots emits a black 

 bristle ; the ventral surface of the fifth and 

 sixth segments is purplish, of the others, 

 dingy white ; the legs are rather long, gla- 

 brous, corneous, and dark brown ; the claspers 



are dingy semi-transparent white; they are 

 slightly constricted at the base, a peculiarity 

 which gives them an elongate-linear and 

 unusual appearance. About the middle, or 

 towards the end of June, the caterpillar 

 gnaws a perfectly circular hole in the stem 

 of the reed, and, descending to the ground, 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS amongst damp moss. 

 The MOTH appeai-s on the wing about mid 

 summer, and is very local : I have taken it on 

 the banks of the Thames below and opposite 

 Greenwich, once a delightfully wild and pro- 

 ductive region for the naturalist ; subsequently 

 it became a perfect hive of industry in our 

 shipbuilding days : now, owing to the effects 

 of trades' unions and strikes among the ship- 

 wrights, this trade has gone abroad or to the 

 North, and the wretched inhabitants are 

 pauperised, and subsisting on parish relief or 

 private bounty, so that we may look forward 

 to the return of the whole district to its 

 pristine state, and that the naturalist will 

 again revel in undisturbed security and 

 silence, where the clang of hammers, and the 

 smell of pitch, and the busy tread and loud 

 voices of innumerable money-making arti- 

 zans once reigned supreme. It has also been 

 taken in some abundance in the Cambridge- 

 shire fens. (The scientific name is Leucania 

 Phragmitidis.') . 



462. The Brighton Wainscot (Synia musculosd). 



462. THE BRIGHTON WAINSCOT. The 

 antennae are slightly pubescent in the male, 

 quite simple in the female ; the wings are 

 very straight on the costa, blunt, but not 

 rounded at the tip, and have the hind mar- 

 gin very oblique ; their colour is whitish, 

 almost white, with a tinge of ochreous, and 

 there are three very faint and indistinct 

 stripes originating at the base and diverging : 

 the hind wings are almost white, and their 



M 18 



