NOCTTJAS. 



325 



area trtaekis^ at both extremities, more par- 

 tici'larlv the lower : the hind wings are very 

 ample, their colour is pale gray-brown at the 

 base, darker brown towards the hind margin; 

 there is a crescentic discoidal spot, which with 

 the wing-rays is also darker : the head and 

 thorax are of the same colour as the fore 

 wings ; the body as the, hind wings. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July and 

 August ; it has occurred on the Continent of 

 Europe, and also in the State of New York ; 

 and Mr. Stainton says, " One specimen has 

 occurred in Derbyshire." (The scientific name 

 is Ayroti* fennica.) 



528. The Crescent Dart (Agrotis lunigera). 



528. THE CKESCENT DART. The antennae 

 are ciliated in the male, simple in the female : 

 the fore wings are straight on the costa and 

 rather blunt at the tip ; their ground-colour is 

 gray in the males, with a slight tinge of sepia- 

 brown, and they have vai'ious markings of a 

 dark sepia-brown ; they are almost entirely 

 dark sepia-brown in the females ; the claviform 

 spot is black, or nearly so ; the orbicular is 



very round and very conspicuous, pale gray, 

 \> vth a black, or nearly black, circumscription, 

 and a central dot ; the reniform is partially 

 obscured by a transverse cloud-like bar ; the 

 hind margin is occupied by a broad sepia- 

 brown band : the hind wings are white in 

 the males, smoky-brown in the females, the 

 base of the wing being paler and the wing- 

 rays darker ; there is also a row of linear 

 spots on the hind margin, and a crescentic 

 discoidal spot is just discernible in both 

 sexes : the thorax is varied with two shades 

 of bi'own in the males ; it is uniform dark 

 brown in the females ; the body is gray -brown. 



The CATERPILLAR has been bred by Mr. 

 Buckler, from eggs obtained by Mr. W. Far- 

 ren. Its medio-dorsal stripe is conspicuously 

 sulphur-yellow on the black shining plate of 

 the second segment only, while on all the 

 other segments scarcely noticeable, and chiefly 

 ai the commencement of each a rather paler 

 brown than the mottled portions it runs 

 through. The anal segment is buff colour, 

 forming a conspicuous pale mark above the 

 flap. The sides are blackish-green, bounded 

 above by the sub-dorsal line of rather darker 

 hue, and below by the black spiracles and 

 usual warty tubercles ; the sub-dorsal line is 

 edged below by a fine thread of dirty whitish- 

 green, and another such fine line, but undu- 

 lating and interrupted, runs between it and 

 the spiracles. Above the legs is a pale thin 

 dirty-whitish line ; the belly and legs slightly 

 darker, of a greenish-drab tint ; the ventral 

 legs are more beneath the body than usual; all 

 the tubercular warts are blackish, large, and 

 shining. The head is mottled-brownish, with 

 a large black blotch on each side of the crown. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August, 

 but is by no means generally distributed. It 

 is reported from Cornwall, Devonshire, Isle of 

 Wight, Pembrokeshire, Flintshire, and Scot- 

 land ; and Mr. Birchall says it is common at 

 Howth, and has occurred at Cork. All my 

 specimens have been taken in the Isle of 

 Wight, where it is attracted by sugar 

 sprinkled on the heads of thistles and knob- 

 weed growing on the chalk-downs. (The 

 scientific name is Agrotis lunigera.) 



