PLATE XXIII.

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NOCTUA MELICERTA.

Plate XXIII. fig. 1.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: NoctuidÆ.

Genus. Noctua, Auct.

Noctua Melicerta. Alis anticis variegatis, posticis nigris, fasci maculisque tribus marginalibus albis. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 6 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Melicerta, Drury, Append. v. 2. Cramer, tab. 62. fig. C. D.?

Noctua mercatoria, Fab. Ent. Syst. III. 2. p. 62. No. 175.? Gmelin, Linn., S. N. 2544. 1039.

Noctua tigrina, Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 2. p. 40. No. 105. Oliv. Enc. MÉth. 8. 277. 131.

Noctua vulpina, Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 2. p. 39. No. 102.

PhalÆna Melicene, Cram. tab. 323. fig. C. D.

Habitat: India, Bombay (Drury).

Upper Side. AntennÆ filiform. Tongue small and spiral. Thorax and abdomen light brown. Anterior wings light greyish brown, and, when held in some particular directions, having a hue like mother-of-pearl. Several irregular bars, of a deeper brown, cross the wings, and the external margin is bordered with pale purple or pearl colour. Posterior wings dark liver-coloured, grey-brown at the base, and hairy. In the middle is a broad bar, of purplish white, running across the wing. On the external edge are three white square spots. The anterior wings are a little dentated; the inferior ones entire.

Under Side. Palpi remarkably long and pointed. Anterior wings dark brown; the external edge being purplish grey, with a whitish separated bar, running from the middle of the anterior edge to the interior angle. Posterior wings light greyish brown, palest at the base, and grey at the external edge, having a dark spot at the anal angle, and a smaller faint one near the shoulders; with several indented lines crossing the wings in different places.

Fabricius appears to have described this insect in his Entomologia Systematica, under three different names. It probably forms the type of a distinct subgenus in the family NoctuidÆ.

CATOCALA EPIONE.

Plate XXIII. fig. 2.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: NoctuidÆ, Steph.

Genus. Catocala, Schrank. Blephara, HÜbn. PhalÆna (Noctua), Linn.

Catocala Epione. Alis anticis fuscis, strigis transversis dentatis ferrugineis et atris, posticis nigris, cili albÂ. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 6 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Epione, Drury, App. vol. 2. Oliv. Encycl. MÉthod. 8. 288. No. 190.

Habitat: New York (Drury). Philadelphia (I. O. W.).

Upper Side. Thorax and abdomen of a sooty ash colour. Anterior wings dark chocolate, with an undulated ferruginous line, running from the anterior edge to the posterior, and near the middle of the wings; with several other lighter not very distinct marks thereon. Posterior wings black; cilia white.

Under Side. Anterior wings, at the base, dark ash colour, which as it extends further on the wings, becomes black; and next the tips is soot-coloured. Seven white spots run along the external margin. Above them is a white line, running from the anterior edge, narrowing as it goes, and ending near the posterior; between which and the shoulders is a rather large oblong white spot. Posterior wings, next the shoulders and abdominal edges, very dark ash colour, which deepens along the wings to black; cilia white. A faint white streak runs also a little way down the wing from the anterior margin. All the wings are a little dentated.

NOCTUA PALES.

Plate XXIII. fig. 3.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: NoctuidÆ.

Genus. Noctua, Auct.

Noctua Pales. Alis luteis, anticis strig transvers punctoque apicali fuscis. (Expans. Alar. 1 unc. 9 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Pales, Drury, App. vol. 2.

Habitat: St. Christopher's.

Upper Side. AntennÆ filiform. Tongue spiral. Head small. Thorax, abdomen, and wings light orange clay-coloured, without any markings, except on the anterior wings, where a faintish bar crosses the middle; and, near the tips of the wings, is a small dark spot. The wings are entire.

Under Side. The same colour as the upper, immaculate.

CALLIMORPHA? VINOSA.

Plate XXIII. fig. 4.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: ArctiidÆ.

Genus. Callimorpha? Latr. Sphinx p. Drury.

Callimorpha? Vinosa. Alis nigris subdiaphanis, anticarum marginibus anticis et posticis rufo fulvis macul magn extern (in medio alb margine nigro); posticis fasci submarginali rufo-fulvÂ. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. fere.)

Syn. Sphinx Vinosa, Drury, App. vol. 2.

Habitat: Antigua.

Upper Side. The antennÆ are black, small, and pectinated. The tongue not discoverable. Thorax and base of abdomen yellow orange; the remainder of the abdomen rusty grey, with a black stripe down the top of it. Anterior wings black and transparent, like gauze; the anterior and posterior margins bordered with orange. The tips of the wings are likewise broadly orange, through the middle of which runs a broad bar of white, from the anterior to the middle of the external edge, where it is narrowest, being edged with black. Posterior wings black, and like gauze; the external edge having a narrow orange stripe running from the anal margin, half way to the exterior angle. The wings are entire.

Under Side. The abdomen is grey, with a black line running from the thorax to the tail. Anterior wings not edged with orange; the tips are black, where the white bar is plainly seen, having an orange spot on the edge, near the external and lower corners. Posterior wings as on the upper side.

This insect seems to form the type of a distinct subgenus between Nudaria and Callimorpha.

NOCTUA NUMERIA.

Plate XXIII. fig. 5.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Diurna. Family: NoctuidÆ.

Genus. Noctua, Auct.

Noctua Numeria. Alis fuscis, anticis vitt longitudinali albÂ, anticÈ strigis undulatis transversis; posticis macul extern albÂ. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc. 3 lin.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Numeria, Drury, App. vol. 2.

Habitat: Jamaica.

Upper Side. AntennÆ filiform. Tongue spiral. Head, thorax, and abdomen fine brown. Anterior wings fine brown, through the middle of which runs a small longitudinal bar of white or pearl, beginning just below the shoulders, and losing itself just below the tips. Above this bar the wings are watered with various marks of dark and light brown. Behind it they are of a darker shade, except a spot near the middle of a yellowish brown. Posterior wings dark brown, with two white marks on the edges, about a third of an inch long; beginning on the anterior edge, and crossing the corner to the external edge.

Under Side. Breast, legs, abdomen, and wings greyish brown or russet, with some faint, dark indented lines running across all the wings in different parts. The white marks on the edges of the posterior wings are very visible on this side. The wings are entire.

CATOCALA AFFINIS.

Plate XXIII. fig. 6.

Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Nocturna. Family: NoctuidÆ.

Genus. Catocala, Schr. Blephara, HÜbn. PhalÆna (Noctua), Linn.

Catocala Affinis. Alis anticis fuscis maculis ordinariis discoidalibus strigisque dentatis obscurioribus; posticis fulvis fasci centrali margineque postico latÈ nigris. (Expans. Alar. 2 unc.)

Syn. PhalÆna (Noctua) Paranympha, Drury, App. vol. 2. (excl. syn. LinnÆan.)

Habitat: New York; taken on the 27th day of July.

Upper Side. The thorax and anterior wings dark chocolate, with a small, narrow, irregular black line crossing the wings, near the external edge; having near it, just above the fringe, a row of seven small grey spots. Posterior wings pale orange; having a deep black border. A rather broad black line runs in a circular direction from the anterior edge, through the middle of the wings, to the lower part of the interior margin. At the outer angle is a small spot of a pale orange.

Under Side. Anterior wings at the base of a dark clay colour, with a large yellowish cloud occupying all the middle part; in which is a large black streak running across the wing. Posterior wings marked as on the upper side, but all the colours fainter.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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