THE ENTOMOLOGIST.' 95 



curled hooks each side of them. The general colour of the 

 moth is light reddish brown or fawn-colour, and it is prin- 

 cipally characterized by, and receives its name from, a white 

 spot near the centre of its fore wings, there being also a 

 dusky oblique line running inwardly from their tips. 



Our army-worm moth was first described by the English 

 entomologist Haworth, in the year 1810, in his ' Lepidoptera 

 Britannica,' page 174, as Noctua unipunctata. Subsequently 

 the French entomologist Guenee (' Noctuelites,' i. p. 77), 

 overlooking the former's description, and regarding it as a 

 new species, named it Leucania extranea. Of course 

 Haworth's name takes the precedence. It is considered a 

 common species even in European collections, and Guenee 

 mentions it as occurring in Brazil. A variety without the 

 white spot occurs in Java and India, and still another, 

 lacking the white spot, and having a dark border on the hind 

 wings, occurs in Australia; while an occasional specimen 

 has been captured in England. A figure is given in Stainton's 

 * Entomologist's Annual' for 1860 of one captured there in 

 1859, but if the figure be a correct one the specimen is much 

 lighter than ours, and the characteristic white spot is not 

 nearly so conspicuous. 



[This remarkably destructive insect, which is a perfect 

 plague in many parts of the United States, has occurred 

 twice to my knowledge in England : it is described by 

 myself, and figured by Mr. Willis with surpassing accuracy, 

 at p. 261 of my ' British Moths,' under Guenee's name of 

 Leucania extranea : I was not at that time aware that it was 

 the long-lost Noctua unipuncta of Haworth, and still less 

 that it was the much-dreaded army worm of the United 

 Slates. My note on its habitat is as follows : — This moth 

 appears on the wing in September ; Mr. Bond captured one 

 specimen at sugar at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, on the 

 6th of August, 1859. It has always been considered an 

 American insect." — Newman, 1. c. There seems to me no 

 reason for hesitating about the restitution of Haworth's prior 

 name. — E. Newman.^ 



