NOCTUAS. 



427 



662. The Sword-grass (Calocampa exoleta). 



662. THE SWORD-GRASS. The palpi are 

 scarcely porrected beyond the head, thir ter- 

 minal joint being hardly distinguishable from 

 the second joint ; the antennae are nearly 

 simple in both sexes, and rather unusually 

 long : the fore wings are long and narrow, 

 very straight on the costa, blunt at the tip, 

 and waved on the hind margin ; their colour 

 is ashy-gray ; the discoidal spots are distinct, 

 and nearly of the same shape, both being 

 transversely elongate, and both also have a 

 double and distinct dark circumscription and 

 a paler central area except at the lower part 

 of the orbicular, which is sienna-brown; 

 there is an indistinct pale zigzag line parallel 

 with the hind margin, and on this rests a 

 single very sharp-pointed wedge-shaped spot, 

 the tip of which is directed towards the reni- 

 forni : the hind wings are smoky-gray with 

 paler fringe : the head and collar are ashy- 

 gray ; the disk of the thorax is square and 

 dark brown ; the body is pale dingy brown. 



The CATERPILLAR feeds throughout May and 

 June, and in July, when full-fed, it rests in 

 a nearly straight position on a stalk of its food- 

 plant, but falls to the ground rolled in a ring 

 if annoyed. The head is narrower than the 

 second segment, and somewhat triangular ; 

 the body is stout and uniformly cylindrical ; 

 the colour of the head is dull apple-green, 

 sometimes approaching to brown ; that of the 

 body is either dull apple-green or bright ver- 

 digris-green with two stripes on each side, 

 the upper of which is bright yellow, and 

 surmounted on each segment by a short black 

 line, at each extremity of which is a circular 

 pure white spot surrounded with black ; the 



second segment has two black spots instead of 

 white ones, and the twelfth segment has but 

 one white spot. In the region of the spiracles 

 is the second lateral stripe of an intense blight 

 vermilion colour, and usually bordered both 

 above and below with a delicate white stripe: 

 on each segment, and resting on this white 

 stripe, is the spiracle, also white, and accom- 

 panied on each segment from the fifth to the 

 eleventh inclusive, with three circular white 

 spots very similar to the spiracle ; the second 

 segment has but one such white spot, the 

 third and fourth two each, and the twelfth 

 none ; the belly is glaucous-green ; the legs 

 reddish-green ; the claspers apple-green. It 

 feeds in meadows on a variety of plants, the 

 most singular of which appears to me the 

 creeping plume-thistle of the fields (Carduus 

 arvensis}. The way in which the delicate 

 velvety body of the caterpillar escapes injury 

 from the sharp thorns of the thistle is really 

 miraculous. I have watched it for hours, and 

 never saw it receive the slightest damage. The 

 devil's bit scabious (Scabiosa succisa), the 

 bladder campion (Silene iiiflata), and the rest- 

 harrow (Ononis arvensis), are also favourite 

 food-plants. The CHRYSALIS is reddish-brown 

 and shining. I have found it on the surface 

 of the earth in the breeding-cage without any 

 cocoon. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in September 

 and October, and comes freely to sugar. It 

 also reappears in the early spring, after hyber- 

 nation; it is common in England, Scotland, 

 and Ireland. (The scientific name is Calo- 

 campa exoleta.) 



663. The Conformist (Xylina con/ornw). 



663. THE CONFORMIST. The palpi are 

 porrected, and the terminal joint almost 



