jgg BRITISH MOTHS 



varied with fteen, which is disposed along tlie main veins of the wings ; tlie costa is marked near the tip with 

 several whitish dots ; the two anterior strigse are obsolete, the anterior stigma is ronnd, brown, with a pale 

 margin, the outer stigma is large, broad, and white, with a slight shade of brown at each end, beyond vv hich 

 appears the slender, black, denticulated, and much w^aved penultimate striga, the apical portion being much 

 varied with brown and green. The hind wings are whitish, with a broad dusky border in which is a pale 

 subapical striga. 



The caterpillar is ashy, with red dots and black dentate .streaks and a red collar ; it feeds on the blackthorn. 

 The moth is of great rarity, but is very widely dispersed, having been taken near London, in Richmond Park, 

 near Bristol, in South Wales, aud in Scotland. 



MISELIA, Treitschke. 

 The species which have been introduced into the present genus by English authors, are by no means so 

 uniform in their habitus or appearance as to render the group a fixed one as thus constituted ; we accordingly 

 find the recent Continental authors are not in accord with our own, adopting indeed the generic name, but 

 introducing some other species, whilst some of ours are removed by them to other groups. The antennse in our 

 typical species are robust, and more or less serrated beneath in the males ; the palpi short and obliquely porrected, 

 with the terminal joint not concealed by the scales of the preceding ; the head with a crest ; the thorax large, 

 and also crested or thickly squamose ; and the abdomen large aud tufted ; the wings are but slightly deflexed 

 when at rest, the anterior being strongly marked, and having the apical margin crenated. The caterpillars are 

 naked, subdepressed, and varied with dark markings on the back, with the extremity of the body gibbose, or 

 furnished with conical protuberances. 



SPECIES 1.— MISELIA BIMACULOSA. Pl.^te XXXIX., Fig. 10. 



SvNONYME. — PhaltBna (Noctua) himaculosa, Linnaeus ; Hiibner ; Fabricius; Curtis ; Brit. Eiit. pi. 177. Wood, Ind. Ent. pi. 13, fig. 291. 

 This fine species measures two inches in the expanse of the fore wings, which arc of a pale buff-coloured gray, 

 minutely speckled; the fore margin, with about ten dark oblique dashes, an oblong oval chesnut-coloured patch 

 towards the base resting upon a dentate striga preceding the stigmata, which are large and pale-coloured, a very 

 large supplemental one being placed behind the anterior one ; beyond the stigmata, is a curved and crenated 

 striga of a brown colour, edged with pale tint, and followed by a few dark dots on the veins, and a waved interrupted 

 submarginal striga. The hind wings are also pale, with two large dark patches, one in the middle and one near 

 the anal angle. I believe this insect still remains unique in the British Museum, the specimen having been 

 taken near Bristol. Boisduval gives August as the time of its appearance in the perfect state. The caterpillar, 

 as figured by Iliibner, is gray, with longitudinal dusky and whitish lines, each segment with two dark oval 

 patches, each bearing a spiracle ; the hind part of the body with two conical protuberances : it feeds on the Elm. 



SPECIES 2.— MISELIA OXYACANTH^. Pl.ite XXXIX., Fig. 12. 



SvNoNYMP. — Ph. (A^ocl.) Oxyacanthce, Liiiu.; Haworth ; Donovan, 5 pi. 165 ; Wilkes, pi. 2" ; H.irns, Amvlian, pi. 43. fig. d, f ; 

 Albin, pi. 14, fig. 19, a— d ; Hubner ; Stepbens ; Wood, lud. Ent. pi. 13, fig. 292. 



This species measures Ij inch in the expanse of the fore wing.s, which are of a shining brown colour, varied 

 along the margins and upon the veins with green scales. At the base of the wings i.s a black dash extending 

 into the supplemental stigma, and running through the angulated striga at the base of this and the anterior 

 stigma. All the stigmata are larger and paler-coloured than the disk of the wings, with the edges within still 

 paler ; they are followed by a slender waved black line, which is conspicuously edged towards the inner margin 



