195 



NOCTUID^. 



The present family is a very natural one, corre- 

 sponding to the section Phalccna noctua of Linnaeus, 

 and containing no fewer than about eight hundred 

 European species, and four hundred British, besides 

 exotics. The genera already established are very 

 numerous, and in many cases founded in such mi- 

 nute structural differences, that they cannot be re- 

 cognised without great difficulty. The antennae are 

 simple and setiform, very rarely pectinated or cili- 

 ated in the males ; the body short and stout, the 

 thorax being often crested ; the mouth is well deve- 

 loped, the spiral tongue long, the palpi projecting, 

 and in general having the terminal joint naked, at 

 least at the tip. The wings are usually deflexed, 

 or folded on each side of the body, when in a state 

 of repose, but frequently they are horizontal, and 

 partly expanded. The caterpillars are very diversi- 

 fied, generally solitary, not residing in a web, and 

 apparently in no case subcutaneous. For the most 

 part they have sixteen feet. The pupa is never 

 suspended, and is almost always buried in the 

 earth. 



