NOCTUAS. 



835 



are decidedly narrow, the costal and hind 

 margins being neai-ly parallel ; their colour is 

 pale obscure green, with numerous very dis- 

 tinct markings, most of them black ; the orbi- 

 cular and reniform are outlined in black, the 

 area enclosed by the black outline is light 

 gray, with a median darker shade, which in 

 the orbicular is indistinctly circular, and in 

 the reniform has somewhat the shape of an 

 hour-glass; there are three zigzag black lines, 

 the first short and near the base, the second is 

 before the orbicular, and the third beyond the 

 reniform ; beyond the third is an elbowed 

 reddish bar parallel with the hind margin, but 

 not quite reaching the'costa, and on the hind 

 margin itself is a linear series of elongate 

 black spots : the hind wings are smoky-brown, 

 paler at the base, having an obscurely crescent- 

 shaped discoidal spot, and a black marginal 

 line : the thorax is pale greenish-gray, dotted 

 with black : the body is of the same colour as 

 the hind wings. 



The head of the CATERPILLAR is very pale 

 brown, broadly notched on the crown, and 

 there is a dark V-shaped mark pointing back- 

 wards on the face : the colour of the body is 

 very various : a medio-dorsal series of longi- 

 tudinal gray markings, each extending almost 

 the length of a segment and dilated posteriorly; 

 these markings are mai'gined on each side by 

 others of a smoky-brown, which are narrowed 

 to mere lines in front, but dilated posteriorly: 

 on each side of the narrowed portion is a spot 

 of the same colour ; all the aforesaid markings 

 constitute a variegated median stripe ; on each 

 side of this is a ferruginous stripe, interrupted 

 at the segmental divisions, and below this on 

 each side is a narrow stripe extending to the 

 spiracles, which are black ; there is a gray 

 stripe below the spiracles; the belly is dingy 

 gray : it feeds on chick weed (Alsine media), 

 and is full-fed at midsummer, when it 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS just below the surface 

 of the earth. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in August; 

 it has been takeu both on the noi-th and south 

 coasts of Devonshire by Mr. Reading, in Dor- 

 setshire by Mr. Dale, in Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 v South "Wales, Cheshire, and Lancashire. 



Mr. Douglas Robinson reports it from Scot- 

 land, and Mr. Birchall says it is common on 

 the sand-hills of the Dublin coast. (The 

 scientific name is Agrotift jjrcfcox.) 



541. The Stout Dart (Agrotis ravida). 



541. THE STOUT DART. The palpi are por- 

 rected and slightly ascending ; the second joint 

 is cup-shaped, the third very small and scarcely 

 perceptible: the antennfe are simple and 

 slender : the colour of the fore wings is dingy 

 brown with very obscure and inconspicuous 

 markings : the orbicular is longitudinally 

 elongate and oblique ; it is outlined in black, 

 but the median ai-ea is concolorous with the 

 general ground colour of the wing ; the reni- 

 form is incomplete, being oui lined in black on 

 its interior border only ; the hind wings are 

 pale gray-brown, the wing-rays and hind 

 margin rather darker : the head and thorax 

 are the same colour as the fore wings, the 

 body the same colour as the hind wings. 



The CATERPILLARS were found by Mr. 

 Doubleday just below the siirface of the 

 ground, at the roots of thistles and dandelions; 

 they feed greedily on the leaves of the latter. 

 Mr. Buckler has described three varieties in 

 No. 17 of the Entomologists' Monthly Magar 

 zine, as under : 



Var. 1. Caterpillar yellowish-brown, slightly 

 tapering near the head, but almost of uniform 

 thickness, and cylindrical; a thin dorsal line 

 slightly paler than the ground colour, and 

 running through a dusky V-like streak at the 

 end of each segment after the fourth. At the 

 commencement of the fourth segment, on each 

 side, and close to the division, is a sub-dorsai 

 ochreous-yellow spot, which, on the fifth to 



