G3 HAUSTELLATA. — LEPIDOPTERA. 



depending : the head is also furnished with a conical crest of scales, and the 

 abdomen is gi-eatly depressed in the females: but the proportionsof the joints 

 of the former and their form are not very dissimilar to those of the true 

 Xanthise when denuded:— I have therefore still retained the insect in this 

 genus. 



Not uncommon, frequenting the oak woods of Surrey and Kent; 

 also found near Hertford and in Devonshire. 



Sp. 9. rufina. Alis anticis rujis, stigmatibus pallidiorihus, fasciis duabus stri- 



gaque saturatiorihus. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 4 — 6 lin.) 

 Ph. Bo. rufina. Linne. — Xa. rufina, Steph. Catal. par/ii. jd. 99. No. 6325. 



Head and thorax uniform bright rufous, immacidate: anterior wings also 

 rufous, with an undulated fascia at the base, an angulated striga between the 

 stigmata, and a broader fascia, interrupted by the nervures being of a paler 

 hue, behind the stigmata of a deeper colour; stigmata rather pale, with the 

 margins slightly paler; cilia with the apex rather dark : posterior wings fus- 

 cous, with the costa somewhat ochraceous, the hinder margin and the cilia 

 rufescent : abdomen rufous, with the base fuscous, and a few cinereous hairs 

 intermixed. 



Extremely variable in colour, some examples being suffused with a rich cas- 

 taneoushue; others, on the contrary, are nearly ochraceous ; the markings are 

 very constant, but differ in intensity. 



Caterpillar reddish-brown, spotted with white, with a white lateral line; — it 

 feeds on the oak ; — the imago is produced about the middle of September, 

 and frequents woody places. 



Not uncommon, especially in the woods of Kent, within the 

 metropolitan district : it also occurs in Epping Forest, near Hert- 

 ford, and at Coombe-wood. 



With the insect just mentioned should evidently be associated 

 Noctua macilenta of Hawortli (Orthosia? macilenta, vol. ii. p. 148), 

 No. ferruginea of the Wiener Verzeichnis, as surmised in the above 

 page *, which, with some continental species, appear to form a group 

 intermediate between Xanthia and Gortyna, but not strictly re- 

 ferrible to either; differing from the true Xanthise by the acuteness 

 and general form of the anterior wings, and the elongation of the 

 abdomen; from both by having the thorax scarcely crested, and 

 from Gortyna by the larva not being radicivorous : — it therefore ap- 

 pears to me that the most advisable and proper course to a,dopt, 



* As I am now satisfied that the Noctua flavihnea of Haworth is synony- 

 mous with the Orthosia macilenta of the continental writers, and the insect 

 above alluded to with their Xanthia ferruginea; the names of these species must 

 consequently be changed on the score of priority. 



