304 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



area ; the reniform is gi'ay and very imperfecly 

 defined : the hind wings are dark gray-brown, 

 rather paler towards the base, and have an in- 

 distinct crescentic discoidal spot; the head is 

 gray ; the thorax gray, often with a reddish 

 median tuft ; the body gray, with a reddish 

 tuft at the base. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July ; it has been taken in some abundance in 

 Yorkshire, and is recorded as occurring in 

 other English counties. Mr. Douglas Robinson 

 mentions it as a native of Kirkcudbrightshire, 

 but Mr. Birchall omits it in his Irish list. 

 (The scientific name is Apamea connexa.) 



503. The Dnsty Brocade (Apamea yemirta.) 



503. THE DUSKY BROCADE. The antennae 

 are almost simple in both sexes ; the palpi are 

 porrected, but not prominently so, they are 

 naked at the tip: the colour of the fore wings 

 is so different that it is necessay to describe two 

 varieties ; the first (represented in the upper 

 figure) has two very different shades of 

 colour ; there is a large blotch at the base, 

 not reaching the costa or inner margin ; a 

 second blotch on the costa descending between 

 the discoidal spots, and abruptly terminated 

 below these spots by a blackish and straight 

 streak, and a hind marginal band dark bistre- 

 brown ; the remainder of the wing being pale 

 ochreous-brown ; both discoidal spots are of 

 the same pale colour, and have a pale gray cir- 

 cumscription : the second variety (represented 

 in the lower figure) is of a smoky bistre-brown 





colour, almost uniform throughout ; the dis- 

 coidal spots scarcely perceptible ; and the only 

 distinct and constant marking being a pale 

 angled line, parallel with the hind mar- 

 gin : the hind wings are smoky gray-brown, 

 paler at the base, with darker wing-rays and 

 crescentic discoidal spot ; the fringe is pale, 

 the outer portion almost white : in both 

 varieties the head and front of thorax are pale, 

 the disk of the thorax is dark brown, and has 

 a short bifid crest in front ; the body is paler, 

 slightly crested, the crests being slightly 

 darker. 



The EGGS are laid in July and probably also 

 in August on the culms of grasses of various 

 species, and the young CATERPILLARS emerge in 

 August and September; they hybernate at the 

 roots of grasses wher. very small, and feed 

 again in April, becoming full-fed in May ; 

 they eat mostly by night, concealing them- 

 selves by day ; when disturbed, they fall to 

 the ground rolled in a compact ring : the head 

 is shining, and narrower than the second seg- 

 ment, into which it is partially received ; the 

 body is obese and soft, it is of a dark smoke- 

 colour, with a paler medio-dorsal stripe, and a 

 paler lateral stripe, the space between which 

 two stripes has a series of black spots ; in the 

 region of the spiracles is a still paler and rather 

 ochreoussti'ipe, in which are the black spiracles, 

 above each of which is a black spot. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in June and 

 July, and occurs almost everywhere in the 

 United Kingdom. (The scientifit name is 

 Apamea gemina.} 



Ols, I believe that my predecessor has given 

 three English and three scientific names to 

 this variable species. The Brown-Pinioned 

 Brocade (N^octua oblonga, Lep. Brit. No. 78); 

 the Gothic Brocade (Noctua remissa, No. 79); 

 and the Dingy Brocade (Noctua obscura, No. 

 80). Mr. Stephens has called it the Dusky 

 Brocade (Hania furva). This is one of those 

 cases in which there seem to be two distinct 

 types of ornamentation, which in their ex- 

 tremes must pass for species, but which seem 

 connected by intermediates of less frequent 

 occurrence than either of the types. 



