NOCTUAS. 



283 



same colours ; a double series of very distinct 

 but very small black dots crosses the wing, 

 halfway between the reniform and the hind 

 margin ; the fringe is spotted : the hind wings 

 are very pale wainscot-brown and semi-trans- 

 parent, with a very indistinct crescentic dis- 

 coidal spot, and a series of dark marks on the 

 hind margin, forming an almost continuous 

 line : the head, neck, and body are pale 

 wainscot-brown ; the thorax is variegated with 

 umber- brown. The species rests with its 

 wings folded round the body, and much re- 

 sembles a short piece of stick. 



The CATERPILLAR is described by Guen e"e. It 

 is of a brown colour like the bark of trees, and 

 having the spiracular stripe dirty white, and 

 the medio-dorsal stripe very slender, of a 

 yellowish colour, and marked with a yellow 

 dot, and two white dots on each segment ; the 

 fifth and sixth segments have also a dark 

 green triangular spot ; the head is of the same 

 colour as the body ; the spiracles are white, 

 encircled with black ; the twelfth segment is 

 raised into a dorsal hump almost like that of 

 Mamestra Persicarice. It feeds in August on 

 low plants. 



The MOTH appears in June It is common 

 in most of our English, Irish, and Scotch 

 counties. (The scientific name is Axylia 

 putris.) 



475. The Clouded-bordered Brindle (Xylophasia 



rurea) . 



475. THE CLOUDED-BORDERED BRINDLE. 

 The palpi are rather long and porrected, the 



terminal joint long and slender ; the antenna? 

 are slightly ciliated in the male : the fore 

 wings are slightly arched on the costa, more 

 especially towards the tip, which is blunt, the 

 hind margin is waved ; their ground-col our is 

 various, and necessitates the describing of three 

 varieties. 



The first variety is wainscot-brown, with 

 a dark blotch of the costal margin passing 

 between the discoidal spots and extending 

 below them ; there are two similarly coloured 

 blotches on the hind margin, both of them 

 pointing towards the middle of the wing, and 

 a large whitish space on the inner margin ; 

 a double series of small and indistinct dark 

 dots crosses the wing between the reniform 

 and the hind margin; all these dots are seated 

 on the wing-rays : on the extreme hind mar- 

 gin is a series of crescentic spots, each seated 

 between the extremities of two wing-rays; the 

 fringe is pale at the base, the pale bases of the 

 scales forming a delicate line almost white ; 

 the exterior border of the fringe is spotted 

 with two shades of brown ; the hind wings 

 are smoky brown, paler at the base, and 

 having an indistinct crescentic discoidal spot : 

 the head and collar are wainscot-brown, the 

 thorax umber-brown, the body gray-brown and 

 crested : the tips of the crests are dark smoky 

 brown. This is, without doubt, the Rurea of 

 Fabricius, but it is the Hepatica of Haworth ; 

 whence a confusion of names. 



The second variety differs in having the 

 fore wings of a uniform red-brown, the reniform 

 spot being indicated by a pale line, and a few 

 other darker and paler dots being scattered 

 over the wing. This is Guenee's variety A : 

 he describes it as the Alopecurus of Esper : 

 it is represented in the second figure. 



The third variety has the fore wings dark 

 brown, with very little clouding or marbling, 

 but having the discoidal spots mapped out in 

 white. This appears to me to be Haworth's 

 Combusta, but I believe that name is usually 

 assigned to the preceding variety : my opinion 

 is founded on Haworth's expressions fucco- 

 brunneus and stigmata ordiiiaria a 1 bide margi- 

 nata, neither of which terms is applicable to 

 the second variety. 



