NOCTUAS. 



405 



The MOTH appears on the wing in September 

 and October, and seems to be common in one 

 or two localities on the south coast of Sussex, 

 as near Brighton and near Lewes, but has not 

 been taken elsewhere. (The scientific name 

 is Trigonophra empyrea.) 



Obs. 1. The prior name of this species is 

 Flammea: it is the Noctua flammea of Esper, 

 Borkhausen, and Engramel : it has been 

 changed to avoid conflicting with another 

 Noctua of the same name. I am indebted to 

 Boisduval's " Collection des Chenilles" for my 

 description of the caterpillar. 



Obs. 2. I can find no affinity between this 

 species and Meticulosa, with which it has been 

 associated ; both the caterpillar and perfect 

 insect agree better with the genus Hadena : 

 when placed between Meticulosa and Lucipara 

 it seems to dissever a very natural alliance. 



636. The Small Angle -Shades (Euplexia lucipara). 



636. THE SMALL ANGLE-SHADES. The 

 palpi are rather long, decidedly porrected, and 

 widely separated ; the antennae are slightly 

 ciliated in the male, quite simple in the 

 female : the fore wings are nearly straight on 

 the costa, and scalloped on the hind margin ; 

 their colour is rich umber-brown, with a paler 

 transverse band between the reniform and the 

 hind margin, and this band is intersected 

 throughout by a slender brown line ; the orbi- 

 cular is scarcely to be traced ; it is large, 

 nearly devoid of outline, and nearly of the 

 same colour as the general area ; the reniform 

 is large, conspicuous, and almost white, with 

 a darker linear shade in the middle : the hind 

 wings are smoke-coloured, rather paler at the 

 base, and having the rays and a discoidal spot 

 rather darker; they have several waved lines 

 parallel with the hind margin, which is dis- 

 tinctly scalloped : the head and thorax are 



dark brown, the body smoky-brown, and very 

 decidedly crested. 



The CATERPILLAR rolls in a very rigid ring 

 when touched. The head is shining, pale, 

 pellucid-green ; the body gradually tapers 

 towards the head, but increases in size 

 towards the anal extremity, rising almost 

 into a hump on the twelfth segment; its 

 colour is opaque, but delicate green on the 

 back, gradually paler on the sides until this 

 colour merges in a white stripe below the 

 spiracles ; the belly below this white stripe 

 is of a more intense green than the back ; on 

 each side is a series of rather darker oblique 

 lines than the rest of the back, these are 

 very indistinct ; meeting on the back they 

 combine to form indistinctly-pronounced V- 

 shaped markings, pointing backwards, and 

 their apices meeting on a central very narrow 

 paler stripe : there are two conspicuous white 

 dots on the twelfth segment, and other less 

 observable on various parts of the body. It 

 feeds on the common brakes (Pteris aquilina), 

 and sometimes on the male fern (Dryopteris 

 Filix-mas). Mr. Doubleday has occasionally 

 found it on nettles. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, and is universally distributed in Great 

 Britain and Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Euplexia lucipara.} 



637. The Green Arches (Aplecta herbida). 



637. THE GREEN ARCHES. The palpi are 

 porrected and scarcely at all curved upwards ; 

 the second joint is densely scaly, the third 

 somewhat pointed ; the antennaB are almost 

 simple in both sexes : the fore wings are 

 slightly curved on the costal, and slightly 

 waved on the hind margin ; their colour is 

 gray-green interspersed with numerous sharply 

 defined black markings and a few white ones, 



