HELIOTHIS DIPSACEA. 77 



The ground-colour is varied, straw-colour, light 

 drab, greenish -ochreous, full green, brilliant yellowish- 

 green, rather glaucous-green, olive-green, rose-pink, 

 and deep purplish-brown having all occurred ; but in 

 each individual the design has been the same in 

 details as follows : — The head, often green but some- 

 times pinkish, is freckled with black or brown on the 

 crown of each lobe; the dorsal line is the finest 

 thread of ground-colour enclosed by a pair of much 

 darker lines, which commence on the third segment, 

 and thicken gradually as they approach the middle of 

 the body, from whence they by degrees narrow 

 again towards the end of it ; on either side of the 

 back run two pairs of longitudinal, rather meandering, 

 lines, a little darker than the ground-colour ; the sub- 

 dorsal stripe of uniform width is either white through- 

 out, or white on the second segment and afterwards 

 pale yellow, or becoming faintly tinged with ground- 

 colour, or else greenish throughout; when viewed 

 sideways, it is seen to rise upwards a little in its 

 course along the twelfth segment, and to form an 

 angle by its sudden return to its former direction on 

 the side of the anal flap, where it ends in a point ; 

 immediately beneath this conspicuous stripe is a 

 broad longitudinal band of ground-colour greatly 

 filled up with darker colour than that of the back, its 

 upper edge the darkest ; next below comes the spira- 

 cular line, either whitish, greenish, or pale yellow, 

 and on it the circular white or pale ground-coloured 

 spiracles, outlined with black, are placed ; then comes 

 a stripe of ground-colour, or else ochreous or green, 

 followed by a line of white, which runs down the front 

 of the anal leg ; the belly is of the ground-colour, with 

 a darker rather interrupted band above the legs, 

 which are of the ground-colour, or else greenish. 

 The texture of the skin in the darker lines and parts 

 is rough, being composed of extremely short and 

 minute bristly blackish points ; while in the intervals, 

 and on all the pale stripes, it is smooth. 



