AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. " 113 



costa is darker brown, ami bears an oval and an oblong stigma ; and there is also a pale oblong oval patch behind the 

 first stigma, towards the inner margin of the wing. Within the apical margin is a series of cuneated black spots ; 

 the hind wings are brown, darkest at the apex. Varieties occur with the fore wings of a uniform colour, except 

 the pale yellow marks and stigmata, and others have the latter markings edged with black on a plain ground. 



The moth appears in July and August, occasionally in great numbers in certain districts ; indeed it is recorded 

 that in Sweden, towards the middle of the last century, the ravages of its larvaj were so extensive that whole 

 meadows appeared white and dry— as though a fire had passed over them. In some parts of England " spots 

 of a mile square have been observed totally covered by them, and the grass devoured to the root ; and Mr. Wailes 

 lias recorded in the Entomological ^Magazine that in one year at least fifty acres of grass upon Skiddaw were so 

 completely devastated, and the line of devastation so clearly marked, that even from the town of Keswick the 

 progress of the larvae down the mountain could be distinctly noticed. Vast quantities of rooks flocked to the 

 spot to feed upon the delicious re))ast afforded by these caterpillars ; but so greatly was the vegetation destroyed, 

 that even several years afterwards the extent of their ravages was distinctly visible." " Of course," adds 

 Mr. Wailes, " the quality of the newly-grown herbage was materially improved, thus affording another instance 

 of indirect advantages derived from insects." The insect seems to frequent mountain districts by preference, as I 

 have taken it both on the Wrekin, in Shropshire, and on Snowdon, in Wales ; and, contrary to the general 

 habits of the family, I noticed it flying with great velocity in the middle of the day. Mr. Wailes, however, 

 mentions that it is about eight o'clock in the morning that they chiefly fly, as he observed them at that time 

 flying in swarms over old pastures ; but on returning to the spot a couple of hours afterwards, with his butterfly- 

 net, not one was to be seen. The next morning he was early on the spot, but then, also, not a sohtary moth 

 was to be seen ; at half past seven he was about to return, " when suddenly the whole field, as far as the eye 

 could reach, was once more the .scene of their gambols ; the eye became bewildered with their motions ; they 

 were lost in the mazes of their evoluticjus. Sudden, however, as their appearance had been, their disappearance 

 was equally so, as, with one general consent, at about half past eight, they again settled, and their flight for the 

 morning being over, scarce a solitary si)eciinen was anywhere to be seen. They flew about three or four inches 

 from the ground, and apparently very seldom alighted, but threaded their way most dexterously amongst the 

 long culms of the grasses." 



RUSINA, Stephens, Boisduval, Guen:£e. 

 The antennas in the males are strongly pectinated, but ciliated in the females ; the palpi are slender, and 

 extend beyond the forehead, they are compressed and rather bent upwards ; the thorax is not crested ; the 

 abdomen scarcely extends beyond the hind wings ; the fore wings are rather obtuse at the tip, shining, with the 

 two middle lines distinct, as well as the reniform stigma. The caterpillar has sixteen feet ; it is attenuated at 

 each end, with longitudinal stripes, it feeds on a variety of low herbs, and keeps itself concealed by day. The 

 chrysalis is smooth, shining, cylindric-conic, inclosed in a slight cocoon of earth. In various respects this genus 

 comes very near to Caradrina. It is of difficult location, being arranged by Boisduval in his Amphipyrides, and 



by Guenee in his Noctuelidi. 



SPECIES 1.— RUSINA FERRUGINEA. Plate XXII., Fjg. !). 



Synonymes. — Bomhyxferrxiginea^ Esper; Slephens, 111. (Riisina f.) 

 Nociua tenebrosa, Hubner; Boisduval ; Gueiiee. (Rusina t.) 

 JVoctna pkma, Haworth. 



This species measures rather more than U inch in the expansion of the fore wings, which are of a reddisl 



Nuctua ol/soletlssima, Haworth (variety). 



yoclua nigricans, HUbncr?? (referred \iy Boisduval aud Cueiiee' 

 to C'liar;eas iEtliiops, Ochs. — nigra, Haworth — ). 



<i 



