ifl TMis faiTtatt isuifod. l2l 



tactucce, Gluenee writes : "This Cacullid, long as it lias been known, is 

 yet erroneously named in certain collections, and authors have made 

 numerous errors over it. The lactiicce of Treitschke, Hiibner, and 

 Stephens, are umlrattca, that of Borkhausen is also probably the same, 

 except the larva which is the true species. Lastly, that of Fabricius 

 does not appear to me to be clearly the true species, for he writes : 

 1 Alis primoribus lanceolatis,' et ' posterioribus disco albo ' " (' Noc- 

 tuelles,' vol. vi., p. 145). 



9. Family 'Heliothidce, Bdv. 



This small (so far as British species are concerned) family, con- 

 tains some beautiful and interesting insects, although they are not, as 

 a whole, given to much variation. One species, armiger, is rather 

 remarkable, from its distribution occurring abundantly in America 

 and Australia. Chariclea delphinii (if ever really a native) is now 

 supposed to be extinct in Britain, whilst Heliothis scutosa is of great 

 rarity here. The peculiar coloration of the upper wings of the species 

 of Anarta are particularly well-suited to their protection, and illustrate 

 remarkably well the influence of " natural selection " in bringing about 

 protective resemblance. Gueriee says : " The perfect insects of this 

 family are almost all very easy to recognise with their wings strongly 

 spotted with black on a clear ground. The legs are furnished with 

 spines as in the Agrotidce. They love most to fly in the daytime, and 

 one finds them thus much more often than clinging to trunks of trees " 

 (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 166). 



Chariclea, St., delphinii, Linn. 



This species occasionally turns up in our magazines as British, but 

 it is included on the most doubtful authority. A specimen was sold 

 in Stevens' sale rooms in May 1890, described as follows : " Chariclea 

 delphinii, a fine specimen, taken by J. A. Edwards, in a clover-field 

 at Pangbourne, Berks, July 1857," and many of the very old col- 

 lections contained type specimens of this as they did of many other 

 foreign species ; and in the end, it became very difficult to separate 

 what was really indigenous from what was not. The following seem 

 to be the chief facts known of this as a British species. Haworth 

 says : " This is perhaps the most beautiful of all our genuine NOCTIL*?, 

 and it is likewise certainly one of our rarest ; as has already been ob- 

 served in the 'Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,' 

 p. 35, where about five specimens are recorded to have been found in 

 England." His description is : " Noctua alis Isete rubicundis ; fascia 

 trilobata basi alia angusta postica, strigaque geminata saturatioribus," 

 and to this he adds : " Habitat near London, most rare with us " 

 (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 248). Humphrey and Westwood 

 wr ite : " This lovely, insect measures about 1J inch in the expanse of 

 the fore wings, which are of a rosy tint, with lilac shades ; a pale 

 trilobed slender striga, preceded by a brown shade, is placed before 

 the anterior stigma, which is small, round, and pale buff-coloured, 

 resting upon a square blotch of the same colour ; between it and the 

 outer stigma is a slender curved rosy striga ; the outer stigma being 

 purplish, followed by a slender curved pale striga edged on both sides 

 with a brown streak ; the apical margin pale, with a dark apical line ; 



