274 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



rays darker : the head, thorax, and body are 

 pale ochreous. 



My specimen was taken in August at 

 Brighton, and Mr. Douglas Wilkinson in- 

 forms me it has been taken in Kircudbright- 

 shire, in Scotland, but I have not seen any 

 specimens from the North : is the specimen 

 correctly named 1 (The scientific name is 

 jSynia musculosa.) 



463. The Small Wainscot (Tapinostola fulva) . 



463. THE SMALL WAINSCOT. The antennae 

 of the male are slightly pubescent, and there- 

 fore appear stouter than those of the female : 

 the fore wings have the costa quite straight to 

 the tip, which is rather pointed ; their hind 

 margin is straight at the tip,* but rather 

 convex below ; their colour is very various, 

 sometimes whitish-gray, sometimes ochreous 

 or fulvous, and sometimes even ferruginous or 

 brick-dust red, but always sprinkled, more or 

 less, with black or dark-brown atoms or single 

 scales, and these are so numerous on the 

 wing-rays and in the vicinity of the sub- 

 costal and median wing-rays, and again near 

 the tip, as to give these parts a decidedly 

 darker tint; each of the parallel rays has 

 also a small black dot, and these together 

 form a curved series almost parallel with the 

 hind margin ; the fringe is nearly concolorous 

 with the disk of the wing : on the underside 

 of the moth the central ai-ea of the fore wing 

 is smoky-gray, and all the margins are paler : 



the hind wings are small, rather narrow anc 

 rather long, in this respect contrasting witl 

 those of Hellmanni ; their colour is smoky- 

 gray, the fringe and costal margin beinj 

 paler : the head and thorax vary in colour 

 with the fore wings, the thorax being densely 

 clothed with longish scales ; the body is 

 whitish-gray, the extremity in the male being 

 tufted, or rather fringed, with long scales. 



" The CATERPILLAR is short and thick, dirty- 

 white with reddish dorsal stripe ; a blackish 

 line above the spiracles (Treitschke). Feeds in 

 the stems of grass (Poa aquatica), and sec 

 (Carex)" Stainton's Manual, vol. i. p. 193. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in Septem- 

 ber, and is found in most of our English coun- 

 ties, north and south. Mr. Birchall informs us 

 that it is widely distributed in Ireland, anc 

 Mr. Logan takes it in Scotland. (The sci- 

 entific name is Tapinostola fulva : it is tl 

 Nonagria fulva of Doubleday's List.) 



464. The Concolorous (Tapinostola concolor). 



464. THE CONCOLOROUS. The palpi are 

 long and projecting; the antennae are simple 

 in both sexes : the fore wings are nearly 

 straight on the costa and blunt at tho tip ; 

 their hind margin is straight for half its 

 length, and then rather suddenly bends to- 

 wards the anal angle ; their colour is dingy- 

 white, slightly tinged with wainscot-brown, 

 the wing-rays appearing paler from the inter- 

 spaces being sprinkled with darker atoms or 

 scales, especially towards the hind margin : 

 there is an arched series of seven or eight 

 black dots beyond the middle of the wing, 

 and somewhat following the course of the 

 hind margin : the usual discoidal spots are 



