NOCTUAS. 



337 



can discover no trace of the former, and a 

 mere cloud indicates the usual position of the 

 latter; between the second and third trans- 

 verse lines there is a transverse shade which 

 includes the reniform, and beyond the third 

 transverse line is a dark band rendered rather 

 more conspicuous by a lighter line which 

 melts into the hind marginal area : the hind 

 wings are smoky, and paler at the base; the 

 fringe is very pale, almost white : the head, 

 thorax, and body are smoky-gray. 



The CATERPILLAR rolls in a ring when 

 touched, feigning death, and falling off its 

 food-plant; in shape it is almost uniformly 

 cylindrical : the surface is smooth and velvety; 

 the head is shining, its triangular plate in- 

 tensely black; its hemispheres mottled with 

 black and gray-brown : the colour of the body 

 is a mottled mixture of gray-brown and black- 

 brown, the darker colour assuming somewhat 

 the form of a double medio -dorsal series of V- 

 shaped markings, the tips of the Vs directed 

 towards the head ; the space within each V is 

 only a shade paler than the V itself, but 

 terminates at its tip in a very decided pale 

 spot, which has a black dot in the middle, the 

 dot emitting a black bristle ; the legs are 

 black and shining ; the claspers pale ; the 

 spiracles almost white, but surrounded by a 

 black space. In a state of nature it feeds on 

 the common yellow-flowered stone-crop, and 

 occasionally also on grasses. In confinement 

 the caterpillars fed voraciously by night on the 

 leaves of the common harebell (Campanula 

 rolundifolia), but concealed themselves in 

 peat-earth by day ; they were full-fed and 

 finally buried themselves on the 1st of May. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July : it 

 is rather abundant in Cornwall and Devon- 

 shire, particularly about Whitsand Cliffs, 

 Bovisand, and Torquay. Mr. Reading, who 

 has paid so much attention to the Lepidoptera 

 of this district, says it has the habit of flying 

 from flower to flower in the sunshine; it has 

 also been taken in the Isle of Wight, on the 

 coast of Kent, in South Wales, and in several 

 Scotch localities : Mr. Birchall informs us it 

 is very common at Howth, in Ireland. (The 

 scientific name is Agrotis lucemea.) 



544. Ashworth's Rustic (Agrotis Ashivorthii). 



544. ASHWORTH'S RUSTIC. The palpi are 

 porrected and slightly ascending; the basal 

 joint is black, the second joint black at the 

 base, and white and very scaly at the tip; the 

 third or apical joint is very small and short, 

 and is received into the second jointand almost 

 hidden like an egg in its nest : the fore wings 

 are very slightly curved on the costa and 

 blunt at the tip: their colour is the most 

 delicate blue-gray approaching to dove-colour, 

 with three very narrow transverse black lines; 

 the first of these is at the base and very short, 

 beginning at the costa and scarcely reaching 

 half across the wing; the second is before the 

 orbicular and waved, but pretty direct; and 

 the third is beyond the reniform, very much 

 bent and very zigzag; between the second and 

 third is a transverse smoky shade, and in this 

 the orbicular and reniform may be traced, but 

 are very inconspicuous; parallel with the 

 hind margin there is, in some specimens, a 

 narrow, waved, darker bar, but this is by no 

 means constant; the hind wings are smoky- 

 gray, paler at the base, and having darker 

 wing-rays; the head and thorax are gray, the 

 body pale gray, and very downy at the base, 

 rather darker towards the tip. 



The CATERPILLAR rolls in a compact ring, 

 feigning death and falling off its food-plant 

 when touched. In shape it is almost uniformly 

 cylindrical, quite smooth and velvety: the 

 head is bright red and shining ; the body is 



M 22 



