

ie 


154 BRITISH MOTHS 
rumex, &c. ; the individuals found on the elm being of a yellowish tint, whilst they are glaucous which are found 
on the rumex. They go underground to effect their transformations. Guénée unites it with Orthosia instabilis, 
° hd AMh a) IyYTA ; ‘va) ic 
stabilis, &c., to form his genus Tzeniocampa (Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1839, p. 477). The perfect insect is 
vernal in the term of its appearance. 
SPECIES 1.—SEMIOPHORA GOTHICA. Prare XXVII., Fie. 1., & Puare XXIX., Fie. 19 (Larva). 
Synonymes.—Phal. Noct. gothica, Linn. ; Fab.; Treitschke ; Haworth; Stephens; Wood, Ind. Ent., pl. 10, fig. 170. 
Noctua Nun-atrum, Wien. Verz. ; Fabr. ; Hiibner. 
This pretty species varies from 11 to 14 inch in the expansion of the fore wings, which are of a greyish 
brown colour, with two black dots near the base, a black central patch, on which is placed the anterior stigma, 
forming a deep emargination in front ; near the base of this patch is a small black dot on the eosta, and from its 
hinder edge runs a slender pale striga, edged with brown; the outer stigma is almost obsolete, but the 
supplemental one is indicated by a black short dash behind the fore stigma, the space between it and the large 
black patch being of a rich brown colour ; beyond the second stigma is a purplish brown bar, terminating before 
and behind in a slender, pale, irregular striga ; the costa near the tip is dark-coloured, and marked with several 
short, oblique, pale lines ; the hind wings and body are of a uniform dull palish brown colour. 
The caterpillar is yellowish-green, dotted with paler colour, with a white stripe on each side and a yellow back. 
The head is spotted with white. It feeds, according to Treitschke, on Galium aperine, Quercus Robur, various 
species of Lonicera, and other low herbs. The moth appears in April, but Boisduval gives both the spring and 
autumn as its period of flight. 

ORTHOSIA, Ocusenuermer. 
The species of which this genus is composed, in the works of English Lepidopterists, are characterised by the 
thickness and woolly clothing of the thorax, the shortness of the body, the slight marking of the wings, and the 
porrected palpi, with the last joint clothed with scales. The hind wings are rather small, and the antennz long 
and setaceous, being, however, pectinated in the males of some species, and simply serrated in others. The 
thorax is not crested ; the fore wings are either rounded or slightly acuminated at the tips. 
The caterpillars are smooth and naked, with longitudinal pale stripes ; they feed either on the leaves of trees 
or upon low-growing plants, and the moths are either vernal or autumnal in the period of their appearance. 
Those species of which Mr. Stephens has composed his first section with the character—‘ Anterior wings 
somewhat rounded at the tip, antenne of the males more or less pectinated ”—O. instabilis, gracilis, stabilis, &c., 
have been separated by M. Guénée, under the generic name of Teeniocampa, the caterpillars having all the 
longitudinal strige very distinct. He has, however, added to these Semiophora gothica, and Glea rubricosa. 
Boisduval, on the other hand, forms two sections in the genus Orthosia, characterised by the characters, Larve 
herbicole, and Larvee arboricole, placing the two last-mentioned species in the former section, whilst the other 
comprises the rest of M. Guénée’s species of Taniocampa. 

SECTION I—TAZNIOCAMPA, Guétnéz. 
SPECIES WHICH ARE VERNAL IN THE TIME OF THEIR APPEARANCE IN THE WINGED STATE. 
SPECIES 1.—O. (TAANIOCAMPA) INSTABILIS. Puare AXVIT., Fre. 2, 3, 4. 
Synonymes.— Noctua instabilis, Wien. Verz. ; Fabr.; Hubner ; Noctua subsetacea, Haworth (variety). 
Treitschke ; Boisduval; Stephens; Wood, Ind. Ent. pl. 10, fig. 171; Noctua nebulosa, Haworth (variety). 
Albin pl. 76, fig. a—d. Noctua fuscata, Haworth (variety). 
Noctua contracta, Esper. Voctua angusta, Haworth (variety). 
This very variable insect measures from 1+ to 1} inch in the expanse of the fore wings, which vary from a 
