NOCTUAS. 



401 



631. The Green-brindled Dot (Valeria oleagina). 



631. THE GREEN-BRINDLED DOT. The 

 palpi are porrected and rather ascending, very 

 scaly, with the exception of the terminal joint, 

 which is almost naked, slender, and pointed; 

 the antennae are decidedly pectinated in the 

 male, slightly so in the female : the foi'e 

 wings are sti'aight on the costa, blunt at the 

 tip, and scalloped on the hind margin ; their 

 colour is olive-brown, interspersed with scales 

 of bright metallic green, which impart a 

 greenish lustre to the whole wing ; both the 

 discoidal spots are distinct, the reniform re- 

 markably so, being large and. pure white, 

 with the exception of a few scattered brown 

 scales near each extremity ; the orbicular, 

 which is much smaller, is outlined in white, 

 and has a brown median area ; parallel with 

 the hind margin is a zigzag line, almost white 

 id not very distinct; on the margin itself is 

 series of seven black crescents ; and in the 

 ringe, alternating with these crescents, are 

 3ven short white lines : the hind wings are 

 le gray at the base, and have a broad smoke- 

 loured band occupying the hind margin ; 

 id this band is interrupted throughout by a 

 impound bar, the interior portion of which is 

 rhite, the exterior black : above the mai'ginal 

 ind, but rather below the middle of the 

 wing, is a waved transverse black line : the 

 antenna are pale testaceous-brown ; the head 

 and thorax are densely scaly, and of the same 

 confused olive-brown colour as the fore wings ; 

 the body is crested, and of a smoky-brown 

 colour, with paler sides. 



The head of the CATERPILLAR is garnished 

 with hairs ; it is very large, and yet seems 

 almost buried in the second segment, which 

 projects beyond it on all sides ; the second, 

 third, and fourth segments are all very stout, 

 and appear particularly so when the cater- 

 pillar is in a state of repase, from their being 



crowded together, when the divisions between 

 them entirely disappear; the segments follow- 

 ing the fourth are much narrower; the wart- 

 like spots are rather prominent, and each 

 emits a bristle from its summit; the warts on 

 the twelfth segment are very prominent and 

 conical : the colour of the head is bluish-gray, 

 its hairs white; the body is gray or brown, 

 with an orange-coloured neck, which is 

 adorned with a transverse series of black dots ; 

 there is a broad dorsal black spot, becoming 

 white at its extremity, on the fourth and fifth 

 segments; there is also a blackish and inter- 

 rupted medio-dorsal stripe ; the wart-like dots 

 are generally black, and connected with each 

 other by waved blackish lines; some of these, 

 however, on the sides of the caterpillar, are 

 orange : it feeds on the black-thorn (Prunus 

 spinosa), principally in shady places, and on 

 the skirts of woods : when full-fed it descends 

 to the ground, and forms an irregular cocoon 

 of silk and earth, in which it changes to a 



CHRYSALIS. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in March and 

 A pril ; it seems to be a very rare species in 

 this country. Ha worth says, in Anr/lia, 

 rarissima, etiam in Wallia. I know of no 

 capture since the publication of the " Lepi- 

 doptera Britannica," in 1803. (The scientific 

 name is Valeria oleagina.) The description of 

 the caterpillar is copied from the French of 

 M. Guenee. 



Obs. I believe there is no ground for 

 doubting the capture of this beautiful moth 

 in Wales : several specimens occur in the 

 older British collections which from time to 

 time come under the hammer, and they are 

 always set in the customary English fashion, 

 and with English pins; at that early period, 

 the setting-boards which are now so commonly 

 used by beginners, and which flatten out the 

 partially folded character of the hind wings, 

 had not been invented. Few of -our English 

 entomologists adopt the old fashion of setting 

 insects with card braces beneath the wings, 

 but Mr. Doubleday is one of them, and 

 his specimens are always distinguishable for 

 the perfectly natural elegance of the shape. 

 The specimen of this moth in the collection 



EDWABD NEWMAN'S BRITISH' 

 MOTHS. No. 26. PBICB 6D. 



: E. HABDWICKE, 

 192, PICCADILLY. 



