
a Pe eee 
eS SST 




Biot well 

double, nearly straight, wavy fascia ; the succeeding space pale, but marked opposite the stigm 
116 BRITISH MOTHS 
s . . ! P” = ‘ Z 
wings, and the darker margin to the hind wings. Two females were taken in Kent, in September, 1840, 
agreeing with this species, but not with equa; so that more information is required before the identity of the 
bat =) 
species can be admitted. 

SPECIES 4.—AGROTIS SEGETUM. Puare XXIII., Fie. 3, 4, 5. 
Synonymes.—WVoctua segetum, Wien. Verz. ; Ochsenheimer (vol, Bombyx spinulus, Haworth. 
5, p. 155); Hiibner. Bombyx nigricornutus, Haworth. 
Noctua segetis, Fabricius; Htibner ; Stewart; Vieweg. Bombyx monileus, Haworth. 
Bombyx caliginosa, Esper. Bombyx subatratus, Haworth. 
V arieties.—Bombyx fuscosa, Esper. Bombyx pectinatus, Haworth. 
Bombyx catenatus, Haworth. 
Agrotis affinis, Stephens, MSS. olim. 
Bombyx corticus, Haworth. 
Bombyx connexus, Haworth. 
Bombyx venosus, Haworth. 
This most variable insect measures from 1} to nearly 2 inches in the expanse of the fore wings, which are of a 
brown colour, very inconstant in its hue, sometimes being nearly black, and considerably irrorated with darker 
shades ; near the base of the wing are several indistinct irregular darker fascize, one of which runs more distinctly 
across the wing at the base of the spear-shaped stigma ; the basal stigma is oval and rather small, circled with a dark 
line; the ear-shaped one is large and dusky, and followed by a double undulated fascia across the wing, and the margin 
is marked with a row of small semi-oval black spots: the position, form, and development of the fascia, beyond 
the posterior stigma, is very variable, the varieties arising therefrom having been regarded as distinct species ; 
as have also numerous others, produced by the general colour of the wings, the greater or less distinctness of the 
fascize and stigmata, &c. The female (fig. 5), is darker than the male, and both sexes have the hind wings 
nearly white with a purplish tint, and with the hind margin and veins dusky, especially in the female. 
The moth is extremely common and appears in June. The caterpillar is often extremely destructive to young 
wheat, of which it devours the roots in the autumn and spring ; it is of a dirty brown colour, with a pale dorsal 
and lateral line, the latter with a reddish tinge and black dots. Mr. H. Doubleday also informs us that it is 
very troublesome in gardens, often destroying anemones, &c., and eating into the roots of dahlias, &c. It is 
also the larva of this, or one of the closely allied, species, which often injures the turnip crops in the autumn to a 
very great extent, in different parts of the country. 

SPECIES 5.—AGROTIS SUFFUSA. Puare XXIII, Fie. 2. 
Synonymes.—Woctua suffusa, Wien. Verz. ; Ochsenheimer ; Fa- Noctua Upsilon, Hufnagle. 
bricius; Haworth; Wood, Ind. Ent., pl. 9, fig. 130. Bombyx spinifera, De Vill; Haworth. 
Bombyx spinula, Esper ; Donovan, vol. 10, pl. 345, fig. 2, 3. 
This species measures from 13 to 2 inches in the expanse of the fore wings, which are of a light buffish 
brown, with the costal portion much darker, and marked with several whitish specks ; near the base are several 
indistinct dusky waves, followed by a double dark very much waved line, united with the very small teliform 
stigma; the basal stigma is small and pointed behind, dusky in the middle, and edged with a dark line ; the 
second stigma is large, but almost confounded with the dusky costal patch, which here extends nearly across the 
wings ; this stigma is followed by a short, slender, clear, black streak, pointed at the tip, behind which is a 
a with two other 
short, black, acute, longitudinal streaks, beyond which is a dusky marginal patch, and behind these a series of 
The hind wings are white, with a purple gloss margined with brown ; 
the frontal crest of the thorax has two brown arches ; the wings vary 
acutely angled marks, not very distinct. 
considerably in colour, as well as in 
the greater or Jess distinctness of the stigmata and fasciee. 

