) 
) 
: 
AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 211 
XANTHOLEUCA, Srepunns. IODIA, Hisner. LAMPETIA, Curns, HOPORINA, Boispvvat. 
The Noctua croceago having been considered by several recent Lepidopterists as the type of a group distinct 
from the other Xanthiz, it is here adopted with the name given to it by Mr. Stephens in the Appendix to the 
third volume of his Illustrations, an act of justice to that gentleman, who sufficiently pointed out its structural 
distinctions in p. 36 of the same volume; whilst the name Lampetia, subsequently given to it by Mr. Curtis 
(Entomol. Mag. i. p. 189), is rejected, having been twice previously used. Notwithstanding this recognition of 
the genus in this country ten years ago, it is not creditable to the researches of our Continental neighbours to 
find it in 1840 again proposed as a new genus with a new name. Its chief characters consist in its elongated 
palpi, forming a kind of beak ; its subconically crested thorax, its very flattened abdomen, decumbent wings 
truncated along the apical margin, with the tip acute, and caterpillar glabrous, scutellated, feeding on the leaves 
of trees, and marked with dark oblique lines. In several of these respects it forms a close approximation to 
the genus Glea (Cerastis Guén). 
SPECIES 1.—XANTHOLEUCA CROCEAGO. Puarte XLV., Fie. 9, 10. 
Synonymes.— WVoctwa croceago, Wien. Verz. ; Fabricius; Albin, pl. Noctua fulvago, Esper. 
15, fig. 22, e—h; Hubner; Haworth ; Treitschke ; Stephens; Wood, Noctua aurantiago, Donovan, 5, pl. 150, fig. 2, 3. 
Ind. Ent. pl. 15, fig. 392. 
This species varies from 1 to 1, inch in the expanse of the fore wings, which are of an orange or yellowish 
red colour, with strigee and spottings of brown; the costa of the fore wings marked with six distinct, white, 
nearly equidistant spots ; the two basal strigz: are almost obsolete ; the portion of the wing bearing the stigmata 
is dark ; the stigmata large and concolorous ; a distinct brown oblique striga running from the hinder part of the 
outer stigma to the inner margin of the wing ; beyond the outer stigma is a curved row of dark dots, and the 
apical margin’ of the wing is dark-coloured, bearing an undulated, somewhat indistinct, subapical striga ; the 
hind wings are whitish, with a dusky spot and central striga, often tinged with rosy, but which is, however, 
often obsolete. Varieties occur in the intensity of the ground colour of the fore wings, and in the depth and 
extent of their markings. 
The caterpillar is yellowish, coloured with white dots and angulated dark markings along the back, and 
oblique ones on the sides. Itfeeds onthe oak. The moth is produced in the autumn, and appears to survive the 
winter, having been taken in February and April. It is not a very rare species in oak woods in the south of 
England. 


ORBONA (ORBONA & SIDERIDIS v.), Huser. 
This group, which Boisduval forms into a section of Xanthia, is considered by Mr. Stephens as intermediate 
between Xanthia and Gortyna, but not strictly referable to either ; differmg from the true Xanthia in the 
acuteness and general form of the fore wings, and the elongation of the abdomen; from Gortyna by the larve 
not being radicivorous, and from both by having the thorax scarcely crested. 

SPECIES 1.—ORBONA RUFINA. Puare XLV., Fie. 11, 12. 
Synonymes.—Phalena Bombyx rufina, Linneus; Fabricius ; Noctua punica, Borkhausen. | 
Hiibner ; Treitschke ; Stephens; Wood, Ind. Ent. pl. 19, fig. 376. Phalena Noctua nelvola, Linn. F. Su. ; Haworth ; Curtis. 
Noctua catenata, Esper. sah ele 
: . : : i i . red colour 
This species measures from 14 to 13 inch in the expanse of the fore wings, which are of a brownis ; 
with two fascize, and a striga of a darker shade ; one of these fascize is basal and waved, representing the second 
striga (the basal one being almost obsolete). The stigmata are very pale and inconspicuous; the outer one 
EE 2 
= te we 


