AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 
1135 
costa is darker brown, and bears an oval and an oblong stigma ; and there is also a pale oblong oval patch behind the 
first stigma, towards the inner margin of the wing. Within the apical margin is a series of cuneated black spots ; 
the hind wings are brown, darkest at the apex. Varieties occur with the fore wings of a uniform colour, except 
the pale yellow marks and stigmata, and others have the latter markings edged with black on a plain ground. 
The moth appears in July and August, occasionally in great numbers in certain districts ; indeed it is recorded 
that in Sweden, towards the middle of the last century, the ravages of its larv 
meadows appeared white and dry—as though a fire had passed over them. 
é were so extensive that whole 
In some parts of England “ spots 
of a mile square have been observed totally covered by them, and the grass devoured to the root; and Mr. Wailes 
has recorded in the Entomological Magazine that in one year at least fifty acres of grass upon Skiddaw were so 
completely devastated, and the line of devastation so clearly marked, that even from the town of Keswick the 
progress of the larvee down the mountain could be distinctly noticed. Vast quantities of rooks flocked to the 
spot to feed upon the delicious repast afforded by these caterpillars ; but so greatly was the vegetation destroyed, 
that even several years afterwards the extent of their ravages was distinctly visible.” ‘Of course,” adds 
Mr. Wailes, “ the quality of the newly-grown herbage was materially improved, thus affording another instance 
of indirect advantages derived from insects.” The insect seems to frequent mountain districts by preference, as I 
have taken it both on the Wrekin, in Shropshire, and on Snowdon, in Wales; and, contrary to the general 
habits of the family, I noticed it flying with great velocity in the middle of the day. Mr. Wailes, however, 
mentions that it is about eight o’clock in the morning that they chiefly fly, as he observed them at that time 
flying in swarms over old pastures ; but on returning to the spot a couple of hours afterwards, with his butterfly- 
net, not one was to be seen. ‘The next morning he was early on the spot, but then, also, not a solitary moth 
was to be seen ; at half past seven he was about to return, “ when suddenly the whole field, as far as the eye 
could reach, was once more the scene of their gambols; the eye became bewildered with their motions; they 
were lost in the mazes of their evolutions. Sudden, however, as their appearance had been, their disappearance 
was equally so, as, with one general consent, at about half past eight, they again settled, and their flight for the 
morning being over, scarce a solitary specimen was anywhere to be seen. They flew about three or four inches 
from the ground, and apparently very seldom alighted, but threaded their way most dexterously amongst the 
long culms of the grasses.” 
RUSINA, Sreruens, Boispuvat, Guiénéz. 
The antenne in the males are strongly pectinated, but ciliated in the females; the palpi are slender, and 
extend beyond the forehead, they are compressed and rather bent upwards; the thorax is not crested; the 
abdomen scarcely extends beyond the hind wings; the fore wings are rather obtuse at the tip, shining, with the 
two middle lines distinct, as well as the reniform stigma. The caterpillar has sixteen feet; it is attenuated at 
each end, with longitudinal stripes, it feeds on a variety of low herbs, and keeps itself concealed by day. The 
chrysalis is smooth, shining, cylindric-conic, inclosed in a slight cocoon of earth. In various respects this genus 
comes very near to Caradrina. It is of difficult location, being arranged by Boisduval in his Amphipyrides, and 
by Guénée in his Noctuelidi. ° 
SPECIES 1.—RUSINA FERRUGINEA. Puare XXII, Fic. 9. 
Synonymes.— Bombysx ferruginea, Esper; Stephens, Il. (Rusina f.) Noctua obsoletissima, Haworth (variety ). 
Noctua tenebrosa, Hiibner; Boisduval; Guénée. (Rusina t.) Noctua nigricans, Hiibner ? ? (referred by Boisduval and Guéneé 
Noctua phea, Haworth. to Chareas AAthiops, Ochs.—nigra, Haworth —). 
This species measures rather more than 14 inch in the expansion of the fore wings, which are of a reddish 
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