NOCTUAS. 



329 



spiracles which are black ; the head, and u 

 dorsal plate on the second segment are pale 

 brown. These caterpillars were found feeding 

 on hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinal e), 

 which grows on sand-hills by the sea coast, and 

 were fed on the same plant in confinement : 

 they are very fond of burrowing in the sand, 

 and Mr. Hellins thinks some of them hyber- 

 nate in the sand at a depth of several inches : 

 they always leave off feeding in October. 



'I he MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, and has been taken in Cornwall, Devon- 

 shire (at Instow Sand-hill-, and Brauuton 

 Burrows, Dawlish, and Ex mouth), Somerset- 

 shire, and Glamorganshire, but I believe 

 always on the sea coast. (The scientific name 

 is Agrotis Ripce.} 



Obs. I am indebted to Mr. Vaughan for 

 the use of a beautiful variety. 



533. The Coast Dart (Agrotis cursoria). 



533. THE COAST DART. The antennae are 

 very slightly pectinated in the male : the fore 

 wings are rather long and narrow, straight on 

 the costa, and blunt at the tip ; their colour is 

 pale gray tinged with ochreous or brown, and 

 presenting in different specimens almost every 

 shade of colour from pale ochreous gray to 

 dark brown ; there are evident indications of 

 three darker transverse lines, all of them 

 double ; the first is short and indistinct, it is 

 almost close to the base of the wing, and does 

 not reach the inner margin ; the second crosses 

 the wing just before the orbicular spot, and is 

 almost straight ; and the third is bent and 

 situated beyond the reniform spot : the orbi- 

 cular spot is almost round and rather paler 

 gray than the rest of the wing ; the reniform 

 is larger and conspicuous, it has a pale circum- 

 scription; the inclosed iirea is of two shades, 

 the upper portion paler, the lower darker than 

 the general ground colour : the hind wings 



are pale gray with a slightly darker marginal 

 cloud, especially towards the tip, and an 

 indistinct crescentic discoidal spot ; in the 

 females the wing-rays also are darker : the 

 head and thorax vary in tint with the fore 

 wings : the body is gray in the males, brown- 

 gray in the females. 



" The CATERPILLAR is pale ochreous with 

 dark brown dorsal line; spiracular line whitish, 

 edged above with brown : ordinary spots 

 black (Frey&r) on spurge (Euphorbia esula)." 

 Staintoris Manual, vol. i., p. 225. 



The .MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 has occurred in Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorset- 

 shire, Kent, Suffolk, N Hoik, Glamorganshire, 

 Denl ighshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire ; it is 

 also reported from Scotland, and Mr. Birchall 

 says it is very abundant on the Irish coast. 

 (The scientific name is Ayrctis cursoria.) 



Obs. I am indebted to Mr. Bond for the 

 use of an unusually tine series of specimens. 



534. The Garden Dart (Agrotis nigricans). 



534. THE GARDEN DART The antennae 

 are very slightly ciliated in the male, but are 

 evidently stouter than those of the female ; 

 the costal margin of the fore wings is slightly 

 arched, and the tip blunt ; their colour is 

 dark umber-brown, sometimes slightly tinged 

 with 7-eddish-brown ; the claviform spot is 

 connected with the base of the wing by a 

 mixed longitudinal streak which presents an 

 appearance of having had the scales scraped 

 off with a penknife ; the orbicular spot is 

 rather depressed, in some specimens a goot 

 deal flattened ; it has a dark circumscription 

 and a pale disk ; the reniform is more 

 perfectly kidney-shaped than in any other of 

 lie genus, its circumscription is very dark, 

 its disk rather dark towards the bii.se of the 

 wing, rather pale gray towards the hind 



