264 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



Lancashire, in the Isle of Wight, and on the 

 east coast of Ireland. (The scientific name is 

 Leucania littoralis.) 



446. The Striped Wainscot (Leucania pudorina') . 



446. THE STRIPED WAINSCOT. The an- 

 tennse of the male are slig'htly ciliated; the fore 

 wings have thecosta straight, the tip blunt, and 

 the hind margin rather arched ; their colour is 

 ochreous, strongly tinged with a rosy hue, and 

 thickly sprinkled with dark-brown scales which 

 occupy the wing-rays ; on the upper side of 

 the median ray these dark scales are numerous 

 and crowded, and form a rather conspicuous 

 streak along the middle of the wing; they are 

 also more crowded towards the costal and hind 

 margins, near the latter forming decided 

 markings which diminish to points towai'ds 

 the central disk : the hind wings are dingy 

 gray-brown ; the head and thorax are of the 

 same colour as the fore wings; the base of 

 the body is rather paler; the rest of the body 

 inclining to a reddish tint. 



The EGGS are laid on the common reed 

 (Arundo Phragmites) and on several grasses on 

 which the CATERPILLAR feeds. The full-grown 

 caterpillar rests in a perfectly straight position 

 and when disturbed falls off its food plant and 

 forms a lax ring, but almost immediately un- 

 folds to resume the straight position. The 

 head is porrected, and of the same width as 

 the second segment : the body is obese, cylin- 

 drical, and tapers towards the anterior ex- 

 tremity. The colour of the head and body is 

 pale wainscot brown : the head being glabrous, 

 and having darker reticulated markings, and 

 two approximate longitudinal dark stripes on 

 the face, which diverge at the clypeus ; the 

 body has two closely approximate but very 



narrow and very indistint medio-dorsal black 

 stripes,, exterior to which are numerous veiy 

 delicate reticulated or rivulet markings of a 

 smoky black colour ; again, exterior to the 

 somewhat wide space occupied by these, is a 

 distinct double stripe on each side, of a dark 

 smoke-colour, almost black; this has the ex- 

 terior margin darker than the interior margin, 

 and bounded by a narrow lighter stripe, which 

 makes it still more conspicuous; exterior to 

 this are four lateral stripes, each composed of 

 multitudinous delicate markings, the lowest 

 on each side containing the perfectly black 

 spiracle ; below the spiracles is a broader 

 pale stripe, and then a delicately reticulated 

 surface of rather a darker hue ; each segment 

 has two very small but intensely black dots 

 on its dorsal surface, equidistant from the 

 double medio-dorsal stripe and the next dark 

 stripe; and ranged along each side is a serie 

 of black dots, one above and another behinc 

 each spiracle ; and similar black dots occur 

 below the lowest lateral stripe; the ventral 

 surface, legs, and claspers, are of the same 

 pale wainscot-brown as the general dorsal 

 surface. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 and has been taken in the southern, eastern, 

 and northern coiinties of England, ad Mr. 

 Birchall says it is abundant at Killajney, in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is Leucania, 

 pudorina. ) 



447. The Shoulder-striped Wainscot (Leucania 

 Comma). 



447. THE SHOULDER-STRIPED WAINSCOT. 

 The antennae of the male are slightly pubes- 

 cent ; the fore wings are rather rounded at 

 the tip ; their colour is wainscot-brown with 

 a whitish dash under the costa, originating at 

 the base and extending nearly to the tip of 

 the wing; the median wing-ray is white, 



