NOCTUAS. 



307 



ic wing, leaving a broad dark brown costal 

 area, and a dark brown hind margin; fhe 

 orbicular spot is very seldom clearly defined, 

 often entirely imperceptible ; the reniform is 



?nerally well defined, its circumscription pale, 

 id its disk occupied by a crescentic pure 



t'hite .spot ; sometimes, however, this con- 

 spicuous character is wanting, the white being 



Dnfincd to a mere line, and sometimes it is 



:-placcd by au ochreous spot : the hind wings 

 are dark smoky-brown : the colour of the 

 icad and thorax varies as much as that of the 

 lore wing.s : in some specimens there is a 



lediaii elongate pale blotch on the thorax, 

 others a ferruginous tuft at the base ; 

 the body is slightly crested, ;md is almost 

 invariably of the same dull colour as the hind 

 Avings. 



I am by no means certain that I know the 

 1,'ATEUi'iLLAii of this ubiquitous insect. Three 

 rears back I possessed a number of caterpillars 



fhich I supposed to be this species, but after 

 feeding upon sods of grass, they finally 

 sntered the earth, turned to CHUYSALIDS, and 

 died : they were putty-coloured, with a 

 :ilack glossy plate on the second, and a smaller 

 jne on the twelfth segment ; there was a very 

 indistinct medio-dorsal and another lateral 

 stripe. {'See ^luinluiiK M<ti,:iiil, vol. i. p. 211, 



i'here the description is rather different. The 



sientific name is Apdmea vcvlea). 

 Obs. My predecessor divides this protean 



oecies into five the Flame Furbelow 

 fnu furca, Lep. Brit., Xo. 130); the 



lusset (N. rava, Lep. Brit., No. 137); the 



2tter I (N. I-niffer, L^t. Brit, No. 140) ; 

 the Common Ilustic (X. oculea, Lep. Jirii., 



fo. 141); and the Rustic Mourner (3 T . 



uf/ens, Lnp. JJrif., No. 142) ; in addition to 



I'hich he describes thirteen varieties, designa- 

 ting them by letters of the Greek alphabet : 

 nir collections are now so much more exten- 

 sive than in the time of Mr. llaworth, that 

 the.-;e species and varieties are shown to be 



Jimected by intermediates, thus rendering the 

 lescriptions useless : it were a hopeless task, 

 the endeavour to describe every individual of 

 the species which differed from the rest. 



508. The Marbled Minor (Miana strigilis). 



508. THE MARBLED MINOR. The palpi 

 are porrccted and curved upwards ; the an- 

 tenna) are rather stout in the males, slender 

 in the females : the fore wings are slightly 

 prolonged but not pointed at the tip ; their 

 colour is usually dark brown, marbled with 

 white, but the variation in colouring is so great 

 that it may truly be said that two specimens 

 cannot be found alike ; a conspicuous whitish 

 bar usually crosses the wing parallel with the 

 hind margin ; this is elbowed below the mid- 

 dle, irregular and toothed ; this white bar is 

 particularly bright near the inner riiargin, and 

 on the said inner margin, half way between 

 this bar and the base, are two white linear 

 marks, which indicate the commencement of 

 two irregularly elbowed and approximate 

 white lines, which in some specimens ascend 

 to the costa, and in others are entirely want- 

 ing ; in the specimens possessing these white 

 markings the discoidal spots are also outlined 

 in white, but in others no markings are dis- 

 tinctly visible, the entire wing being suffused 

 with black more or less .shaded and tinted 

 with ferruginous-brown : the hind Avings are 

 always dark smoky-in-own : the body has a 

 medio-dorsal series of very distinct crests. 



The CATERPILLAR has a small shining head, 

 narrower than the :-econd segment ; the body 

 is stout, smooth, and rests in a bent position 

 in the interior of the stems of the ! 



> ; it is attenuated at both extremities : 



