336 



BRITISH MOTHS. 



the eleventh, inclusive, has an almost con- 

 fluent yellow waving curved streak, extending 

 along two-thirds of each segment, becoming 

 less curved towards the twelfth, on which 

 they are straight, and slightly converging at 

 the end of that segment, where they are 

 margined above with dusky brown wedge- 

 shaped streaks pointing forwards, and a dusky 

 edging above to the curved yellow streaks, 

 but gradually less intense towards the head 

 on the other segments. 



The sides and belly, with legs, brownish- 

 gray ; a paler grayish stripe freckled with 

 dusky atoms above the the feet ; immediately 

 above that are the spiracles, minute and dirty 

 white in a dusky blotch, which emits an 

 oblique dusky streak, extending to the sub- 

 dorsal marking of the segment in advance. 

 Head gray, mottled and streaked on the lobes 

 and face with dusky brown ; a dull brown 

 plate on the second segment, with slight indi- 

 cations of dorsal and sub-dorsal faint lines 

 through it. 



Looking on the back of this caterpillar, the 

 yellow marks on each side are suggestive of a 

 series of incomplete horse-shoe shapes. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July ; it 

 occurs in Devonshire, having been taken by 

 Mr. Dorville at Alphington, and by other 

 entomologists at Torquay ; also in Dorset- 

 shire by Mr. Dale ; in Kent, Essex, and 

 Norfolk, and Suffolk, in nearly all the midland 

 and northern counties, extending even into 

 Scotland. (The scientific name is Ayrotis 

 ravida.) 



542. The Dotted Rustic (Ayrotis pyrophila). 



542. THE DOTTED RUSTIC. The palpi are 

 short but ascending, approximate, and very 

 inconspicuous ; the antennas are slender and 

 simple : the colour of the fore wing is gray- 

 brown ; the discoidal spots are very indistinct 



and very near together ; beyond the reniform 

 is a transverse series of black dots, and on the 

 hind margin itself a similar series ; the hind 

 wings, head, thorax, and body, are also 

 grayish-brown. 



" The CATERPILLAR is dull gray-brown 

 (Treitschke) on grasses and low plants " 

 (Stainton's Manual, vol. i., p. 228). 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 seems to be local, rare, and most imperfectly 

 known; it has been reported from Dorsetshire, 

 Hampshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Wor- 

 cestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Lanca- 

 shire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Scotland 

 (The scientific name is A gratis pyropldla.') 



543. Tho Northern Rustic (Agrotis lucernea). 



543. THE NORTHERN RUSTIC. The palpi 

 are porrected and slightly ascending, the ter- 

 minal joint projects slightly beyond the scales 

 of the second ; the antennas are long and 

 simple in both sexes, but rather stouter in the 

 male ; the fore wings are slightly arched on 

 the costa, blunt at the tip, and rather broad; 

 their colour is smoky-gray, suffused in some 

 specimens with a decidedly ochreous tint, and 

 having three very indistinct and irregular 

 darker lines, the first of which is very short 

 and almost close to the base ; it scarcely reaches 

 half-way across the wing; the second is before 

 the usual site of the orbicular ; the third 

 beyond the usual site of the reniform, but I 



