NOCTUAS. 



295 



terminal joint is small and short ; the antenmw 

 are long, pointed, and sti-ongly pectinated in 

 the male, but simple in the female : the fore 

 wings are ample, very nearly straight on the 

 costal, and scalloped on the hind margin ; 

 their colour is gray, slightly tinged with 

 ochreous, and clouded and variegated with 

 brown ; the discoidal spots are very con- 

 spicuous ; they are of the same clouded gray 

 colour as the rest of the wing, but their cir- 

 cumscription is white, and the ground colour 

 surrounding it very dark ; below the orbicular 

 is a very dark and obtusely wedge - shaped 

 spot pointing towards the hind margin ; there 

 are four double transverse lines, the first near 

 tlie base, very short, bent, and imperfect to- 

 wards the inner margin ; the second before 

 the orbicular, and united to the wedge-shaped 

 spot ; the third, which is much interrupted 

 and oblique, beyond the reniform ; and the 

 fourth, which is very zigzag, and very pale, 

 parallel with the hind margin ; on this last 

 are seated six or seven distinct and acutely 

 wedge-shaped dark spots, all of them point- 

 ing towards middle of the wing ; the costal 

 margin is spotted with darker and lighter : 

 the hind wings are cloudy gray, with the 

 wing-rays, a crescentic discoidal spot, and a 

 marginal line decidedly darker ; their outline 

 is waved ; there is also an indistinct clouded 

 band pai'allel with the hind margin, more 

 particularly observable in the female; the 

 fringe is spotted ; the head and thorax are 

 varied with gray and brown ; the body is 

 grayish-brown, with a medio-dorsal series of 

 darker crests. 



The CATERPILLAR has not been found in 

 this country, but Guenee describes it as obese, 

 velvety, and swollen posteriorly, and having 

 small and short clampers, and a large and gla- 

 brous head of a light brown colour ; the body 

 is yellowish-gray, and striated, with a very 

 conspicuous medio-dorsal stripe of a nankeen- 

 yellow colour ; the sub-dorsal stripe is less 

 distinct, and the spiracular stripe melts 

 gradually into the paler area beneath ; the 

 usual dots are extremely small and scarcely 

 perceptible : the spiracles are strongly out- 

 iined with black : there is a shining brown 



plate on the second segment. It feeds in 

 those tufts of grass which grow on commons 

 and in dry woods, and lives through the 

 winter from October till the following April. 

 When full-fed, it makes a soft cocoon 

 among mosses on the surface of the ground, 

 and therein changes to a short, big-bellied 

 CHRYSALIS, with the anterior part of each 

 segment chagreened, and the extremity of 

 the abdomen very blunt. 



The MOTH appears on the wing at the end 

 of June, and continues flying until the mid- 

 dle of July : the only British locality in 

 which it has been known to occur is Mickle- 

 ham, in Surrey, and here it has not been taken 

 during the last seven years. Mr. Stevens has 

 kindly sent me the following information foP 

 publication in this work : " Whilst mothing 

 on Mickleham Downs, early in July, about 

 fifteen years ago, I boxed several moths that 

 were flying round flowers then in bloom, and 

 the next morning, when pinning my captures, 

 I found amongst them a specimen ofPachetra 

 leucopJicea. For several years afterwards, 

 during the same month of July, I succeeded 

 in capturing a few more specimens, not more 

 than fourteen or fifteen in all. For the last 

 seven or eight years I have tried in vain. I 

 have only heard of three more specimens be- 

 sides those mentioned above : the last was 

 taken about seven years ago." (The scientific 

 name is Pac/ietra leucophcea.} 



490. The Straw Under-wing (Oerigo Cytherea). 



490. THE STRAW UNDER-WING. The palpi 

 are slightly curved and porrected, the terminal 

 joint naked and pointed ; the antennae of the 

 male are serrated, of the female simple ; the 

 fore wings are ample, very slightly arched on 

 the costa, blunt at the tip, and waved on the 

 hind margin ; their colour is various, most 



