AND TIIEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 211 



XANTHOLEUCA, Stephens. IODIA, Hubner. LAMPETIA, Curtis. HOPORINA, Boisduval. 

 The Noctua croceago having been considered by several recent Lepidopterists as the type of a group distinct 

 from the other Xanthi», it is here adopted with the name given to it by Mr. Stephens in the Appendix to the 

 tliird volume of his Illustrations, an act of justice to that gentleman, who sufficiently pointed out its structural 

 distinctions in p. 3G of the same volume ; whilst the name Lampetia, subsequently given to it by Mr. Curtis 

 (Entomol. Mag. i. p. 189), is rejected, having been twice previously used. Notwithstanding this recognition of 

 the genus in this country ten years ago, it is not creditable to the researches of our Continental neighbours to 

 find it in 1840 again proposed as a new genus with a new name. Its chief characters consist in its elongated 

 palpi, forming a kind of beak ; its subconically crested thorax, its very flattened abdomen, decumbent wings 

 truncated along the apical margin, with the tip acute, and caterpillar glabrous, scutellated, feeding on the leaves 

 of trees, and marked with dark oblique lines. In several of these respects it forms a close approximation to 

 the genus Glfea (Cerastis Guen). 



SPECIES ].— XANTHOLEUCA CROCEAGO. Plate XLV., Fig. 9, 10. 



Noctua fulvago, E&pcr. 



Noctua auranliago, Donovan, .5, pi. 150, fig. 2, 3. 



SvNONYMrs. — Noclutt croceago, Wicn. Vera. ; Fabricins ; Albiii, ]il. 

 1.5, fig. 22, e — h ; lluluicr ; Maworth ; Trcitsdike ; Stephens; Wood, 

 Ind. Ent. pi. 15, fig. 352. 



This species varies from I to I]- inch in the expanse of the fore wings, which are of an orange or yellowish 

 red colour, with striga? and spottings of brown ; the costa of the fore wings marked with six distinct, white, 

 nearly equidistant spots ; the two basal striga; are almost obsolete ; the portion of the wing bearing the stigmata 

 is dark ; the stigmata large and concolorous ; a distinct brown oblique stiiga running from the hinder part of the 

 outer stigma to the inner margin of the wing ; beyond the outer stigma is a curved row of dark dots, and the 

 .apical margin of the wing is dark-coloured, bearing an undulated, somewhat indistinct, subapical striga ; the 

 hind wings are whitish, with a dusky spot and central striga, often tinged with rosy, but which is, however, 

 often obsolete. Varieties occur in the intensity of the ground colour of the fore wings, and in the depth and 

 extent of their m.arkings. 



The caterpillar is yellowish, coloured with white dots and angulated dark markings along the back, .and 

 oblique ones on the sides. It feeds on the oak. The moth is produced in the autumn, and appe<ars to survive the 

 winter, having been taken in February and April. It is not a very r.are species in oak woods in the south of 

 England. 



ORBONA (ORBONA & SIDERIDIS p.), Hubner. 

 This group, which Boisduval forms into a section of Xanthia, is considered by Mr. Stephens as intermedi.ate 

 between Xanthia and Gortyna, but not strictly referable to either ; differing from the true Xanthia in tlie 

 acuteness and general form of the fore vrings, and the elongation of the abdomen ; from Gortyna by the larva; 

 not being radicivorous, and from both by having the thorax scarcely crested. 



SPECIES 1.— ORBONA RUFINA. Plate XLV., Fig. 11, 12. 



Synonymes.— /"Antenra Bombyx rnfina, Linnoeus ; Fabricius ; , Noctua punica, Borkhausen. 

 Hubner; Treitsclike; Stephens; Wood, Ind. Ent. pi. I5,fig.376. Phalana Noctua nelvola, Linn. F. .Sti. ; Haworth ; Curtis. 



Noctua caieenata, Esper. 1 



This species measures from 1] to U inch in the expanse of the fore wings, which are of a brownish red colour, 

 with two fascia;, and a striga of a darker shade ; one of these fascia is basal and waved, representing the second 

 striga (the basal one being almost obsolete). The stigmata are very pale and inconspicuous; the outer .me 



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