NOCTUAS. 



299 



$notfax are of the colour of the fore wings, 

 the body of the hind wings. 



Tht> MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 is said to occur in several of our English 

 counties ; but it seems to be very local and 

 so imperfectly known that the recorded 

 habitats must be received with great doubt ; 

 it is certainly abundant on the banks of the 

 Thames near Gravesend, and also on the 

 Irish coast near Waterford. (The scientific 

 name is Mamestra abjecta.) 



Obs. This obscurely-marked insect is the 

 Noctua lunulina of Haworth (Lap. Brit. p. 

 192, No. 92). 



496. The Large Nutmeg (Mamestra anceps). 



496. THE LARGE NUTMEG. The antennae 

 are rather long, and almost simple in both 

 exes ; the palpi are short, the tips naked and 

 distant : the colour of the four wings is pale 

 dingy-brown, tinged with ochreous ; the 

 ground coloxir of the orbicular and reniform 

 spots is scarcely different from that of the 

 rest of the wing, but the border of the reni- 

 foim i.5 almost white ; there is an irregular 

 paler band, parallel with the hind margin, 

 accompanied on the outside by a slender 

 zigzag line of the same colour, which, below 

 the middle, projects two teeth or angles to 

 the hind margin itself : the hind wings are 

 pale gray-brown, with a darker hind-marginal 

 band and darker wing-rays : the head and 

 thorax are exactly of the same colour as the 

 fore wings, the body of the same colour as 

 the hind wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June, 

 and is common in most of our English coun- 

 ties, it is also reported from Scotland, and 

 Mr. Birchall says it is common on the Irish 

 coast near Dublin. (The scientific name is 

 Mamestra anceps ) 



The CATERPILLAR of this moth is very im- 

 pei-fectly known. Mr. Stainton, citing Bork- 

 hausen, says it is " pale brown, with three 

 faintly darker streaks ; the spots black, the 

 second and anal segment black;' food un- 

 known. (Stainton' 's Manual, vol. i. p. 208.) 



Obs. This species is certainly the Noctua 

 contigua of Haworth (Lep. Brit. No. 91); 

 but that name will occur farther on applied 

 to another species. 



497. The White Colon (Mamesira albicolori). 



497. THE WHITE COLON. The antenna) 

 are rather long and nearly simple in both 

 sexes ; the palpi are inconspicuous : the fore 

 wings are rather ample, their colour is dark 

 gray-brown, mottled and marbled with darker 

 colours ; the markings being generally sharp 

 and well-defined; the orbicular spot is nearly 

 circular, and of the ground colour ; the reni- 

 form is rather elongate, and has two white 

 dots at its lower outer extremity; these are 

 placed one above the other, and resemble the 

 colon (:) used in printing: parallel with the 

 hind margin is an irregular transverse series 

 of whitish or ochreous spots : the hind wings 

 are gray-brown ; darker towards the hind 

 margin and apical angle ; the wing-rays also 

 are conspicuously darker : the head and 

 thorax are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings, as are also the tips of the crests on 

 the body ; the rest of the body is of the same 

 colour as the hind wings. 



The EGGS are laid in June, in waste places, 

 on various species of A triplex and Cheitoj.'O- 

 dium, and in gardens on lettuce and other 

 esculents : the CATERPILLAR is full-fed about 

 the end of July, when it falls from its food- 

 plant and rolls itself in a compact ring if dis- 

 turbed. The head is rather narrower than the 

 second segment ; and the body is almost uni- 



