r- 



NOCTUAS. 



459 



rather long, slender, naked, and ascending ; 

 the antennae are simple : the fore wings are 

 ample, the costa very slightly arched, and the 

 tip scarcely pointed ; their colour is marbled 

 with darker brown, and ornamented with light 

 brown; the orbicular and reniformare distinct; 

 their circumscription is pale brown ; the wing- 

 rays are pale brown ; and there are three 

 transverse pale brown lines ; the first is rather 

 oblique, and situated before the orbicular, it 

 has dark edges ; the second is bent and is 

 situated beyond the orbicular; it consists 

 of eight or nine double crescents, each of 

 which is bordered by a dark crescent of 

 similar size and shape ; the cusps of all these 

 crescents point towards the hind margin ; the 

 third transverse line is parallel with the hind 

 margin : the hind wings are gray-brown : the 

 head, thorax, and body are gray-brown, the 

 thorax strongly crested. 



The EGGS are laid in July and August in 

 clusters on the leaves of pear, plum, and very 

 many other trees ; I have always found them 

 on the upper surface of the leaf, and a] so 

 always in autumn, when the fruit has been ripe 

 or ripening ; they hatch in ten or twelve days, 

 the young CATERPILLABS proceeding at once to 

 devour the upper cuticle and parenchyma of 

 the leaf, leaving the lower cuticle entire, 

 dry and brown ; they lie closely packed side by 

 side, and apparently motionless, the only in- 

 dication being that day after day, and hour 

 after hour, the rank move gradually but surely 



onwards, leaving a larger brown space be- 

 hind ; in a few days, perhaps from ten to 

 fifteen, they abandon this arboreal life, and de- 

 scending scatter themselves over vegetables and 

 living plants of all kinds, obligingly selecting 

 dock where it can be found, but making 

 perfectly free with lettuce and autumnal 

 greens ; in October the caterpillar begins to 

 hybernate, concealing itself in gardens at the 

 bottom of box-edging, or under the leaves of 

 herbaceoxis plants lying on the ground, or 

 under stones, or the leaves of docks. In the 

 spring it feeds greedily, but always, I believe, 

 on herbaceous plants, never ascending trees. 

 The full-fed caterpillar has a shining head 

 rather narrower than the second segment, and 

 a smooth velvety body ; it rolls in a ring on 

 being annoyed ; its colour is a dull pale brown, 

 with a rather darker medio-dorsal, and a much 

 darker lateral stripe ; the latter has a blackish 

 border above ; a longitudinal series of oblique 

 white lines intersects the latei-al stripe. It 

 changes to a CHRYSALIS beneath the surface of 

 the ground. 



The MOTH appears in June, and is common 

 everywhere, so far as entomologists have ex- 

 plored. (The scientific name is Ncenia typica.} 



Obs. Guenee, who has noticed in France the 

 little companies of caterpillars of this insect, 

 observes, "I/a chenille se rencontre souvent par 

 petits groupes dans le jeune age, au premier 

 printemps." In England I have only seen 

 these clusters in autumn. 



710. The Old Lady (Mania, Maura) Variety. 



