AND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS. 251 
distinction between them ; the labial palpi are very short, and differ from those of all the previously-described 
genera of Noctuidz in being thickly clothed with long diverging hairs ; the wings, when at rest, are horizontal ; 
the hind ones brilliantly coloured ; the body and abdomen are slender. The caterpillars are slender, cylindrical, 
sixteen-footed, the two anterior pairs of the pro-legs being small. In their motions they closely resemble those of 
the following family ; like them, also, when alarmed they drop from the twigs, suspending themselves by a 
thread spun from the mouth. 

SPECIES 1.—BREPHA PARTHENTAS. Puare LVI., Fie. 5, 6. 
Synonyme.—Phalena Noctua Parthenias, Linneus; Ochsen- Noctua Notha, Hiibner. 
heimer ; Haworth; Donovan, 7, pl. 246, fig. 1; Harris, Aurelian, Bombyx vidua, Wien. Verz.; Fabr. 
pl. 35, fig. 1; Stephens ; Wood, Ind. Ent. pl. 17, fig. 444. 
This species measures from 1 to 1} inch in the expansion of the fore wings, which are brown, with several 
rather obsolete, ashy, or whitish strigee, variable in intensity, of which two towards the apex are more distinct, 
arising from two paler marks on the costa ; and preceding these is a rather indistinct paler stigma, with a dusky 
margin. The hind wings are dull orange, with the inner and apical margins (the latter dentated) and a 
slender interrupted striga in the middle, black ; the male has the antennz bipectinated, but those of the females 
are simple. On the under side this species is distinguished by having the dull colour which suffuses the orange at 
the base of the fore wings extending to the costal spot in the middle; the tips are entirely black, and the black 
on the hind wings extends beyond the middle, from the inner margin. The caterpillar is yellowish-green, with 
a dark grayish black line down each side; it feeds on poplars and willows, and the moth appears at the end of 
March, flying about the blossoms of willows. Itis not very uncommon in woods, being a widely-dispersed species. 
Brepua PUELLA (Esper; Treitschke ; Stephens; Wood, Ind. Ent. pl. 17, fig. 445. Noctua spuria, 
(Hiibner) is in the British Museum Collection supposed to be from Dr. Lettsom’s cabinet, and of unknown 
habitat. The male has pectinated antennz, but the fore wings are nearly of an uniform brown, and the hind 
wings are luteous, with dark markings nearly as in the preceding species. 
SPECIES 2—BREPHA NOTHA. Puarr LVI., Fie. 7, 8, 9. 
Synonymes.—Hemigeometra Notha, Haworth; Ochsenheimer; Curtis, Brit. Ent., pl. 121; Stephens; Wuvod, Ind. Ent., pl. 446 ; 
Noctua Parthenias, Hiibner. 
This species measures about 11 inch in the expanse of the fore wings, which are dirty ferruginous, with the 
base dark, terminated by an irregular, slender, black, transverse fascia; beyond the middle is a pale ochreous 
bar, attenuated towards the hind margin, edged with a black curved line, and enclosing a small round black spot, 
with the middle whitish; the apical portion with a slender, dentated, black line, terminating in a black dot on 
the costa ; the hind wings bright orange, with the inner margin, a dentated apical margin, and central, rather 
slender lunule of black ; the antennz in both sexes are simple and nearly alike ; beneath, the fore wings are 
dull-coloured at the base of the orange, the tips pale, and the hind wings have the dark markings of the inner 
margin not extended beyond the middle. The caterpillar is green, with a yellow line town the back, and gray 
lateral stripes; it feeds on the birch, oak, &c., and the moth appears towards the beginning of March. It 1s 
rarer than the preceding species, and is found in woods, hovering over the sallow blossoms. It has been taken 
in the woods round London, also in Yorkshire and Essex (Entomologist, p. 374). 
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