348 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



crown of the head is brown and shining ; the 

 body has the dorsal area as far as the spiracles 

 brown, but the tint of the brown is different 

 in different individuals, approaching some- 

 times to sepia, sometimes to sienna-brown : 

 this brown area is divided by three equidistant 

 narrow stripes, of a pale greenish hue, and 

 these three equidistant narrow stripes are 

 connected on the twelfth segment by a trans- 

 verse bar of the same colour ; the back has 

 several black markings, almost taking the 

 character of dots; the belly below the spiracles 

 is pale olive-green. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 seems to be confined to the Southern counties 

 of England, as Darent Wood in Kent, West 

 Wickham in Surrey, Essex, Hertfordshire, 

 Isle of Wight, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire. 

 (The scientific name is (Noctuarhomboidea.) 



560. The Purple Clay (Noctua brunnea). 



560. THE PURPLE CLAY. The palpi are 

 porrected, pointed, distant, and of a rich red- 

 brown colour ; the antennae are simple ; the 

 colour of the fore wings is richly marbled with 

 several shades of brown ; the reniform is 

 ocbreous-white, and very conspicuous : the 

 orbicular is purplish-gray, subtriangular, and 

 very indistinct ; there is an indication of two 

 transverse bands, rather darker than the 

 ground colour ; the first is between the dis- 

 coidal spots, the second beyond the reniform ; 

 both these are rather dark towards the costal 

 but very faint towards the inner margin ; 

 there are several ochreous spots on the costa: 

 the hind wings are dull gray-brown, a cres- 

 centic discoidal spot, the wing-rays, and the 

 extreme hind margin being darker, and the 

 fringe testaceous-brown ; the head and thorax 

 are rich dark brown ; the body is dingy brov^u, 

 its extremity tufted and testaceous-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR feeds on sallow, and is full- 

 fed at the end of April. It rolls in a com- 

 pact ring when annoyed. The head is very 

 much narrower than the body ; the body is 

 velvety, attenuated anteriorly ; the twelfth 

 segment is very stout; the thirteenth rounded; 

 the colour of the head is pale brown, shining, 

 with a dark longitudinal line on each side the 

 commissure ; the body is dingy olive-brown, 

 with two transversely placed, and somewhat 

 triangular, marks on the back of the eleventh 

 and twelfth segments, the apex of the 

 triangles pointing forwards, and much atte- 

 nuated ; there is a darker stripe along each 

 side, enclosing the white spiracles, and behind 

 each spiracle is a black spot ; each segment 

 has a transverse series of minute black dots ; 

 the legs and claspers are concolorous ; it 

 changes to a glabrous brown CHRYSALIS be- 

 neath the surface of the ground, and enclosed 

 in a very slight web. 



The MOTH appears on the wing the first 

 week in July, and occurs throughout England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland. (The scientific name 

 is Noctua brunnea.) 



" ; ' |J ' : t, j ; 

 561. The Ingrailcd Clay (Noctua festiva). 



561. THE INGRAILKD CLAY. The palpi are 

 rather long and distant, the terminal joint long 

 and slender, but rarely exceeding the scales oi 

 the second in length ; the antennae are simple : 



