330 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



margin; there is a waved series of pale spots 

 six to eight in number parallel with the hind 

 margin ; the hind wings are pale at the base, 

 darker and smoky towards the hind margin ; 

 they have a crescentic discoidal spot, and 

 some of the wing-rays rather darker. 



The CATERPILLAR of this moth has been 

 found by Mr. Doubleday, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Epping, and has been carefully 

 described by Mr. Buckler in the Entomolo- 

 gists' Monthly Magazine: the egg is laid in 

 July on clover and other plants ; the cater- 

 pillar when full-grown, is an inch and a-half 

 long, smooth and cylindrical ; the colour of 

 the back ochreous-brown, and in some indi- 

 viduals very bright ochreous ; a thin gray 

 dorsal line, margined with blackish, and 

 running through a series of blackish-brown 

 triangular and diamond shapes, well defined 

 in some individuals, though obscure in others; 

 sub-dorsal line greenish-black, in some varie- 

 ties quite black, and edged below with a 

 narrow line of dirty whitish-green, then a 

 broad stripe of blackish-green, followed by 

 another dirty whitish - green, narrow and 

 slightly interrupted, line, and then another 

 darker broad stripe of blackish-green, along 

 the lower edge of which are the black spi- 

 racles ; a double whitish stripe follows, ex- 

 tending down the sides of the anal claspers, 

 which is made by a line of pale dirty grayish- 

 green, being the colour of the belly and clas- 

 pers, running through the middle of the white; 

 the ordinary shining warty spots black ; the 

 head grayish-brown, mottled, and streaked 

 with black ; a dark brown shining plate on 

 the back of the second segment, with three 

 paler grayish lines; some of these caterpillars 

 presented great resemblance to several of the 

 varieties of Ayrotis Tritici, but the double 

 white stripe above the feet, and black warty 

 dots, give distinct characters to the caterpillars 

 of Nigricans. 



Obs. This is another most destructive cater- 

 pillar, and Mr. Doubleday has communicated 

 to me some interesting particulars of its 

 ravages in 1865, near Epping. In one in- 

 stance, a field often acres, sown with wheat in 

 the autumu and with clover in the spring, 



was attacked so vigorously that by the 17th 

 of May not a clover leaf was to be seen : it 

 is not a little remarkable that the wheat re- 

 mained entirely uninjured, and that when 

 the clover and weeds too commonly sown with 

 clover seed had been utterly consumed, the 

 caterpillars betook themselves to the hedges 

 and devoured every green leaf they could find; 

 every kind of weed, even the large umbellifers 

 were entirely stripped, but grasses of every 

 kind were spared. I am indebted to Mr. Last 

 as well as Mr. Doubleday for specimens of 

 these caterpillars, and have described them for 

 publication, but prefer quoting Mr. Buckler's 

 description as a just compliment to one who 

 has done so much to elucidate the natural 

 history of our British Lepidoptera. 



The MOTH appears on the wing throughout 

 July, and is only too common throughout the 

 country. (The scientific name is A gratis 

 nigricans. ) 



Obs. This is the Dark Rustic (Noctua 

 fwnosa) of Haworth (Lep. Brit., No. 173); 

 the Garden Dart (Noctua nigricans, Lep. Brit., 

 No. 1 74) ; the Rufous Dart (Noctua ruris, 

 Lep. Brit* No. 175) ; the White Line (Noctua 

 dubia, Lep. Brit., No. 176) ; and the Square 

 Spot Dart (Noctua obeliscata, Lep. Brit., No. 

 177). 



535. The White-lino Dart (Agrotis Tritici). 



