


140 BRITISH MOTHS 
margined with a red line, and a very slender bright red striga towards the apical margin of the wing, outwardly 
edged with whitish, and angulated near the costa. The hind wings are brown. The anterior stigma is 
also occasionally marked with a dusky patch, as in Wood’s figure, and there is also a black dot at the base of 
the wings. 
The caterpillar is described by Fabricius as being of an ashy colour, with black and white lines, and whitish 
dots. It feeds upon the willow in the spring, and the moth is found in the autumn. It is rare in the woods 
round London, but occurs in various other parts of the country. 

SPECIES 15.—ORTHOSIA UPSILON. Puate XXVII., Fie. 12. 
Synonymes.— WVoctua U psilon, Wien. Verz.; Hithner; Treitschke; Noctua corticea, Esper. 
Stephens ; Wood, Ind. Ent. pl. 10, fig. 187. Noctua fissipuncta, Haworth. 
This species measures from ]1 to 13 inch in the expansion of the fore wings, which are of an ashy brown 
colour, slightly clouded with darker shades; the costa interrupted with pale and dark dots indicating the origin 
of the ordinary strigee, which are obsolete, except the submarginal one, which is pale and much waved, marked 
on the inside, particularly in the middle, with brown patches ; the stigmata are concolorous, with a slightly paler 
margin, preceded and followed by black markings, the space between them forming a triangular patch, open in 
front; towards the base of the wing is a blackish dash, occasionally obsolete ; and in the place of the supplemental 
stigma are two blackish lines, united in the middle, but becoming wider apart towards the base of the wing ; 
along the apical margin of the wing is a row of small black dots. The hind wings are paler brown, rarely 
marked with a central lunule and a dusky margin. All the markings of the fore wings are, however, liable to 
obliteration, except the subapical pale striga, and occasionally the ground colour is almost black. The antennz 
are simple. The caterpillar is dusky brown, with pale longitudinal stripes down the back, and darker dots on 
the sides; it feeds under the bark of willows and poplars, and the moth appears in July (Boisduval). It is by 
no means a rare species in the south of England, occurring in marshy places. 
SPECIES 16. —ORTHOSIA MACILENTA. Purare XXVIIL., Fic. 9. / 
Synonymes.— Noctua macilenta, Hiibner ; Ochsenheimer ; Treit- Noctua flavilinea, Haworth; Curtis; Stephens, Ill, 2, p. 148, 
schke ; Steph. Il]. H. (3. p. 68) (but not the macilenta of Haworth). pl. 19, fig. 2; Wood, Ind. Ent. p!. 10, fig. 185. 
This species measures about 14 inch in the expansion of the fore wings, which are of a reddish ground-colour, 
with the ordinary strigze very indistinct, and with the stigmata slightly distinct and rather distant, obsoletely 
flavescent, with a black spot on the hind part of the posterior one in most specimens, a black dot near the base of 
the wings, and a nearly straight subapical reddish slender streak, angulated near the costa, where it is rather more 
obscure and outwardly edged with a pale yellow line. The hind wings are dark brown, with the cilia reddish. 
The antenne of the males are “ hirto-pectinated,” without elongated rays. The caterpillar feeds on plantain and 
chickweed, and the imago appears at the end of the autumn, but is rare; it, however, occurs in the southern 
part of the country, where it is widely distributed, and was also captured in Norfolk by Mr. Burrell. 


DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXIX. 
Insrcts.—Fig. 1. Mythimna turea (the doubie line). 2. The Caterpillar. 
a5 Fig. 3. Mythimna conigera (the brown line bright eye). 4. The Caterpillar. 
4: Fig. 5. Mythimna grisea (the bright eyed clay). 
‘ Fig. 6. Mythimna lithargyria (the ochraceous brown). 7. The Caterpillar. 
as Fig. 8. Mythimna imbecilla, 

