INSECT A. 155 



"Wort, and changes in the earth to a pupa of a reddish 

 brown. 



Noctua Delphinii is nearly of the same size as the 

 above. Upper -wings purple, marked with rose red ; 

 lower pair grayish-blue, Avith yellow borders. The cat- 

 erpillar, an inch and a half long, violet-gray, striped 

 with yellow, and dotted with black, lives upon the wild 

 larkspur many of the species receive their names from 

 the plants on which they feed and in autumn changes 

 into a dark brown chrysalis, from which the imago 

 emerges in May. 



The Silver Moth (noctua argentea) is above an inch 

 long ; upper wings green, with silver hued stripes ; 

 lower white, with large green half-moon spots and white 

 border. The caterpillar is greenish-yellow, and is found 

 in late autumn ; lives in the field mugwort. It makes 

 a large cocoon, which encloses an ochre-colored pupa. 



The Dagger Moth (noctua psi). The butterfly is an 

 inch and a half long ; gray, and the upper wings marked 

 with black, one of which is shaped like the letter i>. 

 The caterpillar is black above, gray, marked with red, 

 below, and has a long, cone-like knob on the fourth ring. 

 In autumn it makes a cocoon or web under dry leaves, 

 and changes into a reddish-brown pupa. 



The Knotgrass Moth (noctua rumicis), plate 23, fig. 

 8. More than an inch long ; the upper wings are bluish - 

 gray, marked with white and black ; lower wings yellow- 

 gray. The caterpillars, black, and marked with yellow, 

 red. atid white, are ornamented with tufts of red hair, 

 and live on cabbages and sorrel. They pass the pupa 

 state in the crevices of wood, covered with a web of their 

 own making. The nympa is dark brown. 



The Agate Wing (noctua meticulosa). Two inches 



