2696 The Zoologist — August, 1871. 



produce males, the green ones females : in the foUowiug definition I describe 

 only the intensity, not the colour of the marliiugs. The head shining, pale, 

 mottled with darker ; the second segment has a nearly square dark velvety 

 patch on the back, bounded on each side by a longitudinal white line, and 

 being intersected in the middle by a third longitudinal white line ; a pale 

 narrow median stripe commences at the termination of this short white 

 line, and terminates on the twelfth segment ; on each side are two series of 

 oblique dark markings ; those of the upper series commence on the fifth 

 segment, and are continued to the twelfth segment, each commencing about 

 the middle of the side, pass obliquely upwards and backwards to the median 

 stripe, and there meet a corresponding marking on the opposite side, thus 

 forming a series of V-shaped markings, the points of the V's directed back- 

 wards : those V's on the fifth and sixth segments have the greatest intensity ; 

 the twelfth segment is also much darker than the rest, but the dark portion 

 has lost the V-shape ; there is a slender dark rivulet stripe on each side 

 below the V-shaped markings, and from this descend five other oblique 

 markings, taking an opposite direction to the upper ones, and terminating 

 in the claspors ; in the upper part of each of these is situated a white 

 spiracle ; the twelfth segment has a pale squai-ish patch behind ; the anterior 

 part of the body is dark beneath. It feeds on a great variety of plants, and 

 is particularly fond of elder ; is full-fed at the end of September, and buries 

 itself in the earth in order to undergo the change to a chi'ysalis. 



" The moth appears at the cud of June, and is common throughout July 

 in most of our English counties, and extends also into Scotland ; but Mr. 

 Birchall did not meet witli it in Ireland. (The scientific name is Mamestra 

 Persicarite.)" 



" The Rustic Shoulder-Knot. — The antennae are slightly ciliated in the 

 male ; the palpi are porrected and prominent, the second joint densely 

 clothed with scales, the terminal joint very distinct and almost naked : the 

 fore wings have the hind margin slightly waved; their colour is pale 

 ochreous-browu, marbled with shades of greater or loss intensity; the 

 orbicular is rather oblique and very indistinct ; the reniform is more clearly 

 defined, its border outlined in dingy white, and the lower half of its area 

 fiUed with smoky-brown ; there is a short black line at the base directed 

 towards, but not nearly reaching, the middle of the wing ; this black line is 

 slightly elbowed in the middle, and often emits at the elbow a very short 

 branch ; the hind wings are more dingy than the fore wings, but of very 

 similar tint ; the head and thorax are ochreous-brown ; the body rather pale. 



" The eggs are laid on the ears of wheat in little clusters, genei"ally in 

 suCBcient number to supply one or more caterpillars when hatched to every 

 grain in the ear ; then they penetrate the grains, and consume the contained 

 flour as soon as it has commenced to become solid, leaving the cuticle of the 



