38 NOCTUA DAHLII. 



back to the anal extremity ; otherwise the figure is 

 tolerably cylindrical. 



The great feature in the colouring of this species is 

 the contrast of the back with the rest of the body, and, 

 although the pattern was very much the same through- 

 out the numerous brood which I reared, yet I noticed 

 great variations of colour — from whitish-ochreous — 

 through greyish-ochreous, ochreous-yellow, cinnamon- 

 brown, rich orange-brown, to the deepest tint of 

 mahogany on their backs. 



I shall describe one of the varieties as typical of the 

 greatest number. The ground colour of the back 

 down to the subdorsal region, bright ochreous, 

 delicately freckled with darker ochreous-brown ; on 

 each segment from third to twelfth, more or less dis- 

 tinctly appears a diamond shape of ochreous-brown, 

 with its edges gently vanishing into the groundcolour; 

 the dorsal line is of the ground colour between two 

 lines of very dark brown, though in full grown 

 examples it is seldom uninterrupted, being visible only 

 at the beginning of each segment, and thence 

 obliterated by the brown diamond. 



The subdorsal line is thin, rather paler than the 

 ground colour, edged above at the beginning of each 

 segment with a thin black streak, which is generally 

 inclined to end in the slightest possible curve just at 

 the lateral point of the dorsal diamond : this diamond 

 form is but obscurely and vaguely represented on the 

 third and fourth segments, and the last of the series is 

 on the twelfth, where it becomes little more than a 

 triangle, while the pale subdorsal lines and their black 

 upper edgings are there continuous, and become united 

 by both crossing transversely the end of that seg- 

 ment ; on the thirteenth segment the dorsal line only 

 is distinct. 



The ground colour of the sides is grey or brownish- 

 grey, tinged anteriorly with bluish-grey, the space 

 between the subdorsal line and the spiracles very 

 thickly freckled with dark grey -brown, forming a dark 



