NOCTUAS. 



393 



CHRYSALIS just beneath the surface of the 

 earth. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 although abundant in certain localities, can by 

 no means be regarded as generally common : 

 it has been taken in Somersetshire, Dorset- 

 shire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 and Cambridgeshire. (The scientific name 

 is Hecatera dysodea. ) 



623. The Broad-barred White (Hecatera serena). 



623. THE BROAD-BARRED WHITE. The 

 palpi are very slightly porrected, the terminal 

 joint concealed ; the antennae are slightly 

 ciliated in the male, simple in the female ; the 

 fore wings are very slightly arched on the 

 costa, blunt at the tip, and slightly waved on 

 the hind margin ; their colour is white ; the 

 costal margin conspicuously spotted with black, 

 and they have a dark median band, so much 

 broader at the costal than at, the inner margin 

 as to appear almost triangular ; this band 

 includes both the discoidal spots, which are 

 white, with a darker central shade ; there 

 are several black spots at the base of the wing : 

 the hind wings are pale at the base, the pale 

 area being traversed by dark wing-rays, and 

 there is a broad band of smoky-brown along 

 the hind margin, and in this bar are two 

 whitish spots, one near the apical, the other 

 near the anal angle : the head and thorax are 

 gray, mottled with black ; the body gray. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a straight position 

 on its food-plant, but falls to the ground when 

 disturbed, and, tucking its head under the 

 body, embraces it with the ventral claspers, 

 the anal extremity, together with the anal 

 claspers, remaining extended : the head is 

 glabrous, scarcely notched on the crown, nar- 

 rower than the second segment, into which it 

 is partially received ; it emits a few slender 

 bristles : the body is cylindrical, but slightly 

 attenuated towards both extremities; the anal 



claspers are spreading ; there are a few 

 minute warts, each of which emits a fine 

 bristle, scattered about the body ; the colour of 

 the head is dull pale greenish-brown ; of the 

 body, dingy yellow -green, the dorsal and 

 ventral areas being divided by a very distinct 

 yellow-green stripe, extending from the head 

 to the anal claspers; this stripe is immediately 

 below the spiracles, which are testaceous- 

 brown, surrounded by a very delicate black 

 ring ; the second segment has a quadrate 

 smoky -black dorsal patch, longitudinally 

 intersected by a pale line ; it is also bounded 

 on both sides by a similar pale line ; the 

 dorsal area of the other segments is sprinkled 

 with smoky-black, which forms itself into a 

 kind of dorsal ornamentation, consisting of a 

 medio-dorsal and two lateral series of blotches; 

 all these markings are very obscure, but there 

 are two dorsal dots placed transversely on the 

 back of each segment, which are distinct and 

 constant ; the ventral area is sprinkled above 

 the claspers, but is perfectly unicolorous, and 

 of a more decided green below them ; the legs 

 and claspers are concolorous with the ventral 

 surface : it feeds on the blossoms of the corn 

 sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis), the common 

 sow-thistle (S. oleraceus), and the wild 

 lettuce (Lactuca virosa), and in confinement it 

 feeds freely on the flowers of the cultivated 

 lettuce. When full-fed the caterpillar de- 

 scends to the ground and changes to a 

 CHRYSALIS just below the surface of the earth : 

 this change takes place at the end of August. 



The MOTH appeal's on the wing in June and 

 July, and is not uncommon in the southern 

 counties of England, particularly in Kent, in 

 which county I once found forty, or perhaps 

 fifty specimens at rest on the trunk of a pollard 

 ash, in the lane leading to Darent Wood. Mr. 

 Birchall took it in the county Wicklbw, and at 

 Howth in Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Hecatera serena.} 



Obs. The broad dark median band from 

 which this species has been named, gives it a 

 remarkable and beautiful appearance when at 

 rest : it would form a valuable feature in a 

 cabinet if one of each species could be pre- 

 served in this natural position of test. 



