NOCTUID.Ti;. — HELIOTHIS. 107 



« On the hills near Netley, Salop."— 7?^t;. F. W. Hope. " Near 

 Cottingham." — A. H. Haworth^ Esq. 



Sp. 12. Festucfe. Alis anticisjlavo hrunneoque variis maculis nitidissimc aureis 



■punctoque minutissime nigra. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 5 lin.) 

 Ph. No. Festucae. Li?me. Wilkes, pi. 17. ~Fl Festucie. Stepli. Catal. part \\. 



p. 107. No. 6386. 



Head and thorax tawny-griseous, the latter with a transverse fuscous streak, 

 and its sides and crest tipped with the same ; anterior wings of a rich golden 

 brown, or varied with yellow and brown, with the nervures and several oblique 

 streaks of a darker hue, producing a reticulated appearance, especially on the 

 inner margin, which is palest, and tinted with gold ; on the costa, at the 

 base, is a pale yellowish-brown patch glossed with gold, and towards the apex 

 a second of a larger size ; to this last is attached a brilliant oblong golden 

 blotch, and in the centre of the wing are two other extremely glossy spots of 

 similar hue, the basal one being somewhat triangular, and the other elongate- 

 ovate; in the place of the posterior stigma is a minute jet-black dot: ciha 

 reddish-brown : posterior wdngs fuscous, with a darker central lunule ; cilia 

 rufescent. 



It varies a little in colour, and in the form and size of the golden spots on the 

 anterior wings. 



Caterpillar green, with a darker dorsal streak, and a pale yellowish mark on each 

 segment; it feeds on the bulrush (Typha latifoliaj, Festuca fluitans, Poa 

 aquatica, and other aquatic plants; the pupa is placed in a deUcate white 

 foUiculus, situated beneath a broad leaf of the Fescue, which is bent down 

 angularly for the purpose by the larva : — the imago appears about the middle 

 of August. 



Found In marshy districts, inhabiting the meadows in the vicinity 

 of Rotherhithe; the Surrey Canal, near Greenwich, Woolwich, &c. 

 also the ditches of Battersea-fields : but not very abundant : — it has 

 likewise occurred on the borders of Whittlesea and Yaxley Meres. 



Genus CXLVII. — Hf.liothis, Ochsenheimer. 



Palpi short, scarcely ascending, densely clothed with elongate scales, the ter- 

 minal joints almost concealed and somewhat conic ; the two basal joints of 

 nearly equal length, the first being slightly curved, the other straight and at- 

 tenuated at the apex ; terminal small, ovate, obtuse : maxillw as long as the 

 antennae. Antenna rather short, alike in both sexes, pubescent within : head 

 rather small : eyes naked : thorax stout, not crested : body robust, slightly 

 elongate, with a few fascicles of scales down the back ; the sides and apex, 

 especially in the males, ciliated : wings elongate, triangular, deflexed during 

 repose ; anterior entire, slightly repanded, without metallic penciUings, more 



