NOCTUIDjE. TRACHEA. 



21 



are very long and linear, and the palpi are fully developed, and not 

 concealed beneath the pubescence of the head :— the narrowness of 

 its linear anterior wings at once discriminates it from Trachea. 

 Sp. 1. praecox. Alls anticis virescentibus, maculis ordinariix pallidioribus,fascid 



undatd ahbreviatd posticd rtifd. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 7—8 lin.) 

 Ph. No. priECOX. Linne.—Don. vi. pi 213.— Ac. praecox. Steph. Catal part ii. 



p. 87. No. 6254. 

 Head and thorax hoary, the latter tinted with green : anterior wings ashy-green, 

 and slightly clouded, with an obscure pale whitish striga, bordered with dusky 

 or black, before the middle, and another somewhat arcuated behind; stigmata 

 large, pale ; anterior with an ashy central cloud ; posterior reniform, with an 

 asliy cloud in the centre of each lobe; towards the hinder margin of the wing 

 is an undulated rather broad rufous fascia, which does not extend to the 

 costa; this is followed by a much waved pale striga; on the posterior margin 

 of the wing is an interrupted row of lunate black spots ; the posterior wings 

 and abdomen are fuscous-ash : cilia whitish. 

 Caterpillar griseous, with a dorsal pale hne : it feeds on the Sonchus oleraceus, 

 Viola tricolor, and other plants, and appears to abound in sandy and barren 

 situations near the coast:— the imago appears in the month of June, and again 

 in September. 



Till within these few years this beautiful insect was to be seen 

 in the best collections only; it has, however, been taken in con- 

 siderable plenty in several parts of the country, generally on the 

 coast; Captain Blomer having found it on that of Devonshire, and 

 Mr. Weaver in the north of England. 



Genus CXVIII.— Trachea, Ochsenheimer. 



Palpi moderate, the basal joint pubescent, the second densely clothed with com- 

 pact scales, the terminal minute, exposed, ovate ; basal joint stouter and shorter 

 than the second, a little bent; second stoutest at the base, rather attenuated at 

 the apex ; terminal one third as long as the second, rather slender, ovate : 

 maxillw elongate. Antennce simple in both sexes, pubescent beneath and 

 ciUated in the males : head with a dense frontal crest, produced into a tuft at 

 the base of each antennae: eyes globose, naked : thorax stout, quadrate, crested 

 anteriorly and posteriorly: abdomen elongate, carinated, and crested on the 

 back in both sexes ; male with a small anal tuft : ivings deflexed during re- 

 pose, anterior elongate-triangular, the posterior margin faintly denticulated ; 

 posterior ovate-triangular. Caterpillar naked, smooth : pupa subterranean. 

 The elongate-triangular wings of this genus at once distinguish 

 it from Actebia, and the quadrate, crested, thorax from Achatia; and 

 from Valeria the simple antennae sufficiently remove it : from all 

 the above the greater elongation of the abdomen sufficiently distin- 

 guishes it. 



