NOCTUID^. MISELIA. 25 



Some examples are much paler, and others much darker, than in var. «., and 



many intermediate varieties occur. 

 Caterpillar fuscous, varied with black and white, posteriorly gibbous : it feeds 



on various plants, especially the white and black thorns : it occurs in June, 



and the imago at the end of September, and continues to the beginning of 



November. 



Far from an uncommon species, especially in the larva state, 

 but less frequently observed on the wing; probably from the late 

 period of its flight. " Warwick."— Eet;. IF. T. Bree. " Alderley, 

 Cheshire." — Rev. E. Stanley. " Littleton- copse, in 1828, not un- 

 common." — Rev. G. T. Rudd. 



Sp. 3. Aprilina. Alls anticis viridibus, maculis variis atris; posticis utrinque 



punctis trigonis. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 7 — 8 lin.) 

 Ph. No. Aprilina. Linm.—Mi. Aprilina. Steph. Catal part ii. p. 88. No. 



6259.— Ph. No. runica. Don. x. pi. 354./. 1. 



Head immaculate green, with a large fascicle of scales at the base of the an- 

 tennae : thorax green, with black marks, one on each side at the base of the 

 wings, a triangulated one anteriorly, and two reaching therefrom to the 

 scutellum : anterior wings green a little varied, with several irregular black 

 strigae margined with white, of which one passing between the stigmata is 

 the broadest and most distinct; towards the hinder margin, the spots of 

 which the striga is composed are arrow-shaped, and on the hinder margin 

 itself is a series of minute similarly shaped marks : stigmata large, white, with 

 the centre green : cilia greenish, spotted with black : abdomen and posterior 

 wings dark fuscous, the latter with a white striga on their hinder margin, 

 and an abbreviated one towards the anal angle : cilia white, spotted with 

 brown. 



This beautiful insect varies much; in some examples the black strigse are 

 rather faint, while in others they are very broad, and become confluent. 



Caterpillar variable: cinereous, with darker lines and spots on the back and 

 sides ; or cinereous, with whitish dorsal spots and lateral lines : it feeds on 

 various trees, as the oak, lime, beech, apple, &c. : the imago appears in 

 October. 



Also very abundant, and rarely found on the wing, but frequently 

 in the larva state ; the latter being readily found in the clefts 

 of the bark of their food ; in which situations I have taken them 

 at Coombe and Darenth woods, at Dover, Hertford, and near 

 Ripley. " Swinton, Somersetshire." — C. H. Spragg, Esq., who 

 furnished me with the following singular relation. " About the 

 end of April last (1828), I procured a brood of the larvae from a 

 stunted oak near Swinton; one specimen of the imago made its 

 appearance every succeeding month, till the beginning of October, 



