NOCTUAS. 



417 



colouring of this pretty caterpillar, but neither 

 of the colours seems absolutely constant, and 

 the dorsal surface varies from the usual 

 opaque green to bright apple-green, to pink, 

 to clear brown, and to deep olive-brown ; it 

 is full-fed at the end of August, and changes 

 to a smooth brown CHRYSALIS below the 

 surface of the gi-ound. 



The MOTH appears on the wing about Mid- 

 summer, stragglers being met with throughout 

 July. The caterpillar is much more abundant 

 than the moth, since it absolutely swarms on 

 the various species of Clienopodium which in- 

 variably spring up in waste places round Lon- 

 don. It also occurs in all the southern 

 counties of England, but does not extend far 

 north, Shropshire being its utmost limit so far 

 as hitherto ascertained. The name appears in 

 Mr. Green's list of Irish Lepidoptera. (The 

 scientific name is Hadena Chenopodii.) 



650. The Orache Moth (Hadena Atriplicis). 



650. THE ORACHE MOTH. The palpi a;e 

 porrected, the second joint stout and scaly, 

 the third slender, very distinctly exserted, and 

 almost naked : the antennae are simple in both 

 sexes : the fore wings are very straight on the 

 costal, slightly waved on the hind margin, and 

 almost rounded at the tip ; their ground-colour 

 is gray-brown ; the discoidal spots are green, 

 the orbicular having a pale, almost white, 

 circumscription, the reniform having the inner 

 border white, and a waved white line as well 

 as a gray-brown shade on the median area ; 

 there are several other green blotches, one at 

 the base of the wing, another between the base 

 and the orbicular, but lower than either ; a 

 third, the largest, near the anal angle, and 

 several others : there is also a very conspicuous 

 white blotch almost in the middle of the wing, 

 it originates at the lower outer extremity 



of the orbicular, and passing obliquely below 

 the reniform, points towards the anal angle ; 

 parallel with the hind margin is a much bent, 

 very clearly-defined whitish line, which termi- 

 nates at the anal angle : the hind wings are 

 smoky-brown, with the base and fringe pale, 

 and the discoidal spot darker : the head and 

 thorax are vai-iegated like the fore wings, the 

 body plain gray-brown like the hind wings. 



The head of the CATERPILLAR is porrected in 

 crawling, but semi-prone when at rest ; it is 

 scarcely narrower than the second segment ; 

 the face is flat, and the crown without a 

 notch ; the body is obese and rather velvety, 

 cylindrical, and having the dorsal surface of 

 the twelfth segment gibbous ; it falls from its 

 food-plant rolled in a very compact ring when 

 disturbed : the colour of the head is pale tes- 

 taceous-brown, approaching to red, and having 

 a slightly darker mark down each cheek ; the 

 dorsal surface of the body is green, but the tint 

 is very various, sometimes approaching to olive, 

 at others to yellow-green, and sometimes it is 

 even dark olive-green : there is a very dark 

 but narrow medio-dorsal stripe, and a sub- 

 dorsal stripe of the same width and colour, 

 but less clearly defined ; each of these three 

 stripes contains a series of pale dots, and on the 

 back of each segment are the usual four black 

 dots, of which the anterior pair are nearest 

 together : below the dark sub-dorsal stripe is 

 a bright stripe, sometimes inclining to yellow, 

 but generally to pink, and both the borders 

 of this bright stripe, which extends from the 

 head to the very extremity of the anal 

 claspers, are almost white, which makes the 

 stripe itself peculiarly conspicuous : this stripe 

 contains the spiracles, which are white ; on 

 each side of the dorsal area of each segment is 

 an oblique dark streak ; the ventral is rather 

 paler than the dorsal area ; the legs and 

 claspers are pink, but rather dingy : it feeds 

 on various species of orache (A triplex), goose 

 foot (Chenopodium), persicaria (Polygonum\ 

 dock (Rumex), and many other low plants, 

 but only in the night, concealing itself by day 

 under stones or clods of earth, often at a very 

 considerable distance from its food-plant ; 

 when full-fed it changes to a CHRYSALIS beneath 



M 27 



