NOCTUAS. 



455 



703. The Silver Y (Plusia Gamma), 



703. THE SILVER Y. The palpi are por- 

 rected and ascending, the second joint very 

 scaly, the terminal joint slender and erect ; 

 the antennae are simple : the costal margin of 

 the fore wings is straight nearly to the tip, 

 where it is very slightly hooked and pointed ; 

 their colour is glittering-gray, mottled and 

 marbled with sepia-brown; the darker colour 

 forms a large lozenge-shaped patch between 

 two pale transverse lines, and occupying the 

 middle of the inner margin ; in this patch is a 

 bright silvery mark, supposed to represent the 

 Greek gamma y and the English y, as written : 

 the hind wings are pale at the base, with 

 dark wing-rays, there is a broad black hind- 

 marginal band ; the fringe of all the wings is 

 gray interrupted with smoky-brown : the head, 

 thorax, and body are gray -brown, the last 

 crested. 



The CATERPILLAR rests in a bent posture, 

 the back slightly arched: the head is small 

 and porrected in crawling, the body having 

 the action characteristic of a Geometer ; the 

 anterior extremity is attenuated, and the 

 remainder of the body gradually increases in 

 thickness to the twelfth segment, which is 

 thickened and slightly humped ; every part 

 emits short bristle-like hairs; like its congener 

 it has four ventral and two anal claspers; the 

 colour of both head and body is apple-green, or 

 glaucous-green, with six very n arrow and rather 

 inconspicuous white stripes; in the region of 

 the spiracles ia a yellow stripe, almost as 

 slender as the six dorsal stripes, but more 

 conspicuous, inasmuch as it has a decidedly 

 yellow tint; closely approximate to this last 

 are the spiracles of a whitish-green colour, 

 and very inconspicuous; the legs are reddish- 

 brown, the claspers green : it feeds on all 



kinds of garden herbs and low plants; I find 

 it every year on a hop (Humulus lupulus) in 

 my own garden; when full-fed it spins a 

 whitish cocoon among the leaves of its food- 

 plant, and in this it changes to a black shining 



CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing throughout 

 the summer and autumn, flying about flowers 

 morning, noon, and night; it comes freely to 

 light, and is equally attracted by sugar: 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland it seems 

 ubiquitous. (The scientific name is Plusia 

 Gamma.) 



704. The Ni Moth (Plusia Ni). 



704. THE Ni MOTH. The palpi are por- 

 rected, but scarcely ascending, the second 

 joint is scaly, but not densely so; the terminal 

 joint slender and pointed; the antennae are 

 simple : the costal margin of the fore wings is 

 straight nearly to the tip, when it is slightly 

 bent and somewhat pointed ; their colour is 

 gray, mottled and marbled with sepia-brown; 

 this darker colour occupying the median area 

 of the wing, and containing a dull silvery 

 mark supposed to bear a resemblance to the 

 Greek y or English?/: the hind wings are 

 gray-brown, rather paler at the base, where 

 they h-ive darker wing- rays : the head, thoi*ax, 

 and body are gray-brown, the latter with loflg 

 reddish scales at the sides near the tip. 



The MOTH is an inhabitant of North America, 

 Italy, Sicily, and the South of Francj ; it 

 appears on the wing in June and August. A 

 single specimen is said to have been taken at 

 Alphington, near Exeter, by Mr. D'Orville, on 

 the 13th of August, 1868, flying over the 

 flowers of red valerian. I make use of the 

 qualified term " is said," because the details 

 given by Dr. Knaggs, in the Entomologists 

 Monthly Magazine, vol. v., p. 127, and in the 



