NOCTUAS. 



407 



and having a median pale line, and a pale 

 patch on each cheek ; the l>ody is adorned 

 with five pale stripes extending the entire 

 length of the caterpillar; one of these is 

 narrow and medio-dorsal ; this is followed by 

 a pale lateral stripe which in each segment 

 emits a short oblique branch directed back- 

 wards ; then follows on each side a white 

 stripe in the immediate region of the spiracles; 

 on the dorsal area of each segment are two 

 distinct white spots on each side of the narrow 

 medio-dorsal stripe ; the ventral area, legs, 

 and claspers are rather paler than the dorsal 

 area. The CHRYSALIS is subterranean, of a dull 

 dead black colour, with a very conical body 

 and two sharp bristles like spines directed 

 backwards from the thirteenth segment. It 

 feeds on primrose (Primula acaulis) and other 

 low-growing plants. 



The MOTH appears on the wing in July, and 

 has occasionally been taken in the Isle of 

 Wight, Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, Cheshire, 

 Lancashire, Yorkshire, and in Scotland, but I 

 cannot find that it has been, met with in 

 Ireland. (The scientific name is Aplecta 

 occulta.) 



Obs. The northern specimens are remark- 

 able for their dark colour, some of them being 

 almost black. 



vy 



639. The Gray Arches (Aplecta nebulosa). 



639. The Gray Arches (Aplecta nelulosa). 



639. THE GRAY ARCHES. The palpi are 

 porrected ; the second joint is rather slender 

 at the base and stouter at the tip, which gives 

 it a clavate form ; the antennae are almost 

 simple in both sexes ; the costal margin of the 

 fore wings is very slightly arched, the margin 

 very slightly scalloped ; their colour is either 

 pale whitish-gray, or dark smoky-gray ; in 

 both cases they are marbled and mottled with 

 darker shades; the discoidal spots are distinct; 

 the orbicular is nearly circular, generally of a 

 pale gray, with a central dark spot ; the reni- 

 form has a dark circumscription, and a reni- 

 form figure outlined in its median area : the 

 hind wings are smoky-gray and pale at the 

 base ; the thorax is crested and variegated 

 with two shades of gray ; the body is crested 

 and smoky -gray. 



The head of the CATERPILLAR is porrected 

 and somewhat exserted, although rather nar- 

 rower than the second segment ; it is almost 

 triangular in shape and very glabrous ; the 

 body is obese, and the segments are very 

 strongly marked, each being somewhat swollen 

 in the middle ; it tapers gradually at the 

 anterior extremity, and rapidly and suddenly 

 at the posterior extremity ; the surface is soft 

 and velvety : the colour of both the head and 

 body is wainscot-brown on the dorsal surface, 

 shaded to pale, sickly, and semi-transparent 

 olive-brown on the belly; there is a dark 



