276 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



467. Bond's Wainscot (Chortodes Bondii). 



467. BOND'S WAINSCOT. The antennae are 

 very nearly simple in both sexes ; the fore 

 wings are almost straight on the costa and 

 almost pointed at the tip, their colour is white 

 slightly clouded with gray, and having a 

 curved transverse series of six or seven black 

 dots parallel with the hind margin ; on the 

 under side of the moth the entire area of the 

 fore wings, with the exception of the mar- 

 gins, is smoky-brown : the hind wings are 

 smoky-brown with white fringe : the head 

 and thorax are white, the body pale gray. 



The MOTH appears in June and July, and 

 has been taken in Woolwich marshes, and 

 also near Folkestone. (The scientific name 

 is Chortodes Bondii.') 



Obs. It need not be concealed that con- 

 siderable uncertainty attends the name of 

 Bondii, most entomologists believing the 

 species to be identical with the Noctua ex- 

 trema of Hiibner ; but on this I am unable 

 to pronounce with certainty, and therefore 

 prefer to retain the name of " Bondii" a just 

 compliment to a most zealous entomologist, 

 and a kind friend to all who know him. I 

 would not, however, on these grounds trans- 

 gress the law of priority were I by any means 

 certain that the two names under considera- 

 tion referred to the same insect. 



A / 



468. The Small Dotted-Buff (Chortodes arcuosa). 

 468. THE SMALL DOTTED-BUFF. The palpi 



are porrected, moderately long and rather 

 distant ; the antennse are simple in both 

 sexes : the fore wings are ample, especially 

 in the male, their costal margin is very 

 slightly arched, and their tip blunt; their 

 colour is ochreous, with several dark spots on 

 the costa, and two series of longitudinally 

 linear black spots on the disk, and between 

 these two series is a broad transverse band 

 slightly darker than the general area, and 

 more particularly observable in the female, 

 especially towards the inner margin ; there 

 is a hind-marginal series of transversely linear 

 spots, and a longitudinally linear mark is 

 attached to each of them, but soon disappears 

 towards the disk of the wing : the fringe 

 is also varied : the hind wings are smoky- 

 brown with a paler fringe : the head and 

 thorax are dingy-ochreous, the body smoky- 

 brown. 



The CATERPILLAR is said to feed on the 

 turfy hair-grass (Aira ccespitosa), and to con- 

 ceal itself in the interior of the enormous 

 tussocks formed by that beautiful grass, but I 

 have never succeeded in finding it. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, frequenting those grassy places in woods 

 where the Aira abounds in most of our 

 English counties. (The scientific name is 

 Chortodes arcuosa.') 



Obs. 1. My illustrious predecessor described 

 the sexes of this insect as distinct species, 

 and placed them in different genera without 

 taking any notice of their similarity ; the 

 male is his Phytometra arcuosa (Lepidopteft 

 Britannica, p. 260, No. 17), and the female 

 his Noctua minima (Id. p. 216, No. 153). 

 In Doubleday's List, these are united under 

 the name of Miana arcuosa. 



Obs. 2. In concluding the family of Leu- 

 canidai, it seems desirable to allude to the 

 changes which it has been deemed right to 

 make in the names : but I believe I may 

 state, that where I have departed from the 

 names and arrangement of Mr. Doubleday's 

 List, it has been with the entire approval of 

 that lepidopterist. 



