NOCTUAS. 



409 



nearly white ; the spiracles are black ; the 

 legs and claspers of the same colour as the 

 body. It feeds on birch (Bvtula alba), and 

 those in confinement seemed to be nearly 

 full-grown at the end of October, when they 

 hybernate. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, but cannot be called common ; it has 

 occurred at Plymouth, in the New Forest, 

 Hampshire, in Sussex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, 

 Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, 

 Shropshire, and also in Scotland, so that its 

 geographical range in Great Britain is ex- 

 tensive, but I do not find it recorded for 

 Ireland. (The scientific na.nje is Aplecta 

 tincta.) 



641. The Pale-shining Brown (Aplecta advena). 



641. THE PALE-SHINING BROWN. The 

 palpi are very slightly porrected, and some- 

 what connivent at the tip ; the antennae are 

 nearly simple, but those of the male are mani- 

 festly stouter than those of the female; the 

 fore wings are scalloped on the hind margin ; 

 their colour is pale wainscot-brown, with the 

 slightest possible tinge of red ; the discoidal 

 spots are very indistinct ; the reniform has a 

 white outer border, more particularly apparent 

 at the lower extremity; parallel with the hind 

 margin is a darker, but interrupted and un- 

 certain line, which dilates into a kind of blotch 

 near the anal angle : the hind wings, head, 

 thorax, and body are dingy gray-brown. 



The CATERPILLAR feeds by night, on lettuce, 

 knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare), and many 

 other plants, but buries itself during the day 

 just below the surface of the earth ; when an- 

 noyed it rolls itself in a ring, generally lying 

 on its side, the legs and claspers being visible, 

 it if full-fed at the beginning of September, 

 and is then very obese ; t''e head is generally 



porrected in crawling, glabrous, narrower than 

 the second segment, into which it is partially 

 withdrawn at the will of the insect; the 

 second segment is narrower than the others, 

 and has on its back a semicircular glabrous 

 plate, the convex margin of which is directed 

 backwards ; the body is almost uniformly 

 cylindrical ; the thirteenth segment is very 

 small; the anal claspers are very approximate 

 and inconspicuous ; the colour of the head is 

 pale semi-transparent brown, that of the 

 dorsal surface of the body very pale brown, 

 tinged with smoky brown ; there is a narrow 

 medio-dorsal stripe of darker brown, tinged 

 with olive-brown, and on each side of this is a 

 broader testaceous stripe ; the spiracles are 

 bright sienna-brown, margined with black ; 

 the ventral surface, legs, and claspers very 

 pale semi-transparent olive-brown; all the 

 colours and every part of the body have 

 smoke-coloured reticulations variously ar- 

 ranged : some of these assume the form of 

 four dorsal dots on each segment, but all the 

 colours and markings are confused and obscure. 

 The MOTH appeal's on the wing in June and 

 July, and has occurred in most of our English 

 counties and also in Scotland, but, I think, 

 not in Ireland. (The scientific name is Aplecta 

 advena.) 



642. The Bcsmtiful Brocade (Hadena satura). 



642. THE BEAUTIFUL BROCADE. The palpi 

 are rather long and very decidedly porrected ; 

 the second joint is not very scaly, it is un- 

 usually slender towards the base, but stouter 

 towards the tip, the terminal joint is small 

 and short ; the antennae are rather stout in the 

 male, but simple in both sexes : the fore wings 

 are ample, the costal margin is rather arched 

 towards the tip, the hind margin is scalloped 

 rat'ier slightly throughout the principal part 

 of its length, but very deeply at the anal angle; 



