The eighth family, LITHOSIIDAE Stephens, is of small extent, and difficult location, having the body slender (fig. 107. 10. Lithosia quadra), the antennæ generally slender and setaceous, and occasionally pectinated or ciliated in the males; the mouth is considerably more developed than in many of the preceding moths (fig. 107. 11. head of Deiopeia pulchella after Savigny), the maxillæ being long (with the maxillary palpi exceedingly minute and biarticulate in Deiopeia pulchella, according to Savigny) and spiral, and the labial palpi of moderate size and 3-jointed (fig. 107. 12. labial palpi and base of the maxillary of D. pulchella), the third joint being small, and in some cases apparently soldered with the preceding; the thorax is not crested; the wings comparatively of delicate structure, elongated, and when at rest carried horizontally, the inner margin of one of the fore wings lapping over the same margin of the other. The larvæ (fig. 107. 9. larva of Lith. quadra) are cylindrical, often somewhat hairy, with six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal feet; they are solitary in their habits, never residing either in a case or in a general tent-like web. In their habits the perfect insects are weak and inactive; they fly rarely by day, although the brilliant colours of some of the species would seem to indicate a contrary habit. Their flight is short and feeble.

This family is closely related to such of the aberrant Arctiidæ as have an elongated spiral tongue, such as the scarlet tiger moth, Hypercompa Dominula; indeed Latreille places them as genera in one and the same group without any sectional division; they, however, make a very near approach to the Yponomeutidæ, as is evident from such insects as Eulepia cribrum and Yponomeuta Evonymella (Latreille, Consid. Général. p. 81.): hence, in some of his works, Latreille places his Tineites after this family, and preceding the Noctuidæ. Mr. Stephens considers them so closely allied to the lastnamed family, that he unites them together to form his section Nocturna; but this relation appears to me to be too slight to warrant such a step. Many very splendid exotic species appear to me to constitute a passage between these insects and the aberrant Anthroceridæ.

The larva of the beautiful Deiopeia pulchella offers a remarkable agreement with the imago in its colours being whitish with red and black spots; that of Callimorpha Jacobææ, which feeds in considerable numbers upon the ragwort, is quite different from its imago, in being dark golden coloured with black rings.

Mr. Curtis introduces into this family the genus Nudaria, placed by Stephens near Psyche; in its ample wings, however, it differs from the habit of this family, although its hirsute larva, and its transparent cocoon, in which the hairs of the larvae are worked, agree therewith. Réaumur (vol. i. pl. 36.) and Schäffer (Abhandl. vol. iii. pl. 2.) have published the history of this genus with figures, overlooked by Mr. Curtis, who has also given figures of the transformations. See also Der Naturforscher, st. 28.

The ninth family, NOCTUIDE Steph., is one of very great extent, and tolerably well defined in its characters, having the body robust,

the antennæ almost constantly simple (fig. 108. 7. antenna of Plusia), being but very rarely pectinated or ciliated in the males; the thorax stout, and often crested; and the wings of moderate size, with strong nerves (fig. 108. 1. Plusia Gamma), and generally with peculiar ear

Beckwith.

BIBLIOGR. REFER. TO THE NOCTUIDE.

Hist. and Descr. of four N. Sp. Phalana, Linn. Trans. vol. ii.

Paykull, in Trans. Swed. Acad. 1786. (Noctua telifera.)

Eversmann, in Bulletin Soc. Nat. Moscow, 1837.

Rambur, in Annales Soc. Ent. de France, tom. iii. (Cucullia.) Ditto, tom. iii. (New Noctua.)

Boisduval, in Silbermann's Rev. Entomol. vol. ii. (New Noctuæ.)

Guenée. Classification of the Noctuidæ, in Annales Soc. Ent. de France, 1837. Boisduval, Duponchel, Pierret, Guenée, Donzel, Rambur, Memoirs on various detached species in ditto.

And the general works of Ochsenheimer and Treitschke, Hubner, Haworth, Esper, Fabricius, Stephens, Curtis, &c. &c.

shaped spots on the disk of the fore wings; the mouth is also well developed, the spiral tongue or maxillæ being greatly elongated (fig. 108. 2. front of head of Noctua (Strigina) Poa Sav. Egypt. ; 3. labrum; 4 4. mandibles; 5. maxilla; 6. labium and its palpi, one denuded). The wings in repose are ordinarily deflexed at the sides of the body; the labial palpi are of moderate length, terminated suddenly by a small or very slender joint, the preceding being very long and compressed. The body is clothed with scales, rather than with a coating of a woolly nature. The abdomen is of an elongate conical form, rarely so robust as in the Bombycidæ.

*

The larvæ exhibit several modifications, but in the majority they are naked, with sixteen feet; in some the first, and in others the first and second, pairs of the ventral feet are wanting; the anal feet are never wanting. These larvæ ordinarily undergo their transformations under ground in cocoons, often formed of particles of earth mixed in with the silk. Mr. Stephens observes, that the typical groups of this family, as their name imports, fly only by night, and repose during the day in the crevices of the bark of trees, old walls, palings, &c.; though others not only fly by night, but also during the afternoon and at twilight. The position of the wings during repose varies much; in some groups (as Triphana, &c.) they are placed horizontally, and closely applied to the body, giving the insect a somewhat cylindrical form; in others (Catocala, &c.), they are also placed horizontally, but somewhat expanded, and forming a triangle; in others (as Plusia), they are considerably deflexed, and the thorax is greatly crested. There is also considerable diversity in the form of the wings, though in general the anterior ones are elongate-triangular, and the posterior somewhat triangular-orbiculate: some few have the posterior margins denticulated, and the anterior wings are mostly adorned with two stigmata, one more or less circular, the other reniform, a character rarely observed in any other family in this order. The larvæ are usually solitary, not residing in a web, neither are they subcutaneous; but those of the genus Ceropacha twist up leaves similarly to those of the Tortricidae. (Illustrations Haustell. 2. p. 102.)

The colours of these insects are ordinarily very sombre, agreeing with their nocturnal habits; but in some which are accustomed to fly

• Calophasia Linariæ (De G. t. pl. 8. f. 1—6.) and the Cuculliæ have the tongue case of the pupæ greatly elongated.

more by day, we find the wings, and occasionally the hind wings, more gaily ornamented. This is the case with the Catocala, or scarlet underwing moths; whilst the Plusiæ are adorned with patches of silver or gold. Some of the latter may occasionally be observed during the day darting about and hovering over long-tubed flowers into which they insert their long spiral tongue.

M. Dumeril (Ann. Sci. Nat. Sept. 1830) has published an account of two larvæ belonging to species of this family, which had been voided by a person in ill health; and in the Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscow, No. 5., is a notice, by M. Gomerthall, of one of these larvæ, which had been observed to be luminous. In the Mag. Nat. Hist. 1st ser. No. 15., is a notice, by the present Bishop of Norwich, of the occurrence of an unusual number of individuals of Noctua typicoides (Heliophobus popularis St.). I regret that want of space will prevent me from doing more than referring to an interesting memoir on the habits of Nonagria Typhæ, in the Entomol. Mag. vol. i. p. 455. (by Mr. E. Doubleday *), and in the Ann. Soc. Ent. France, tom. ii. p. 448. 451.; to notices of the habits of Agrotis Segetis, in ditto, 1834, App. p. 19.; Bryophila, ditto, 1836, App. p. 3., and 1837, p. 123.; to Loschge's memoir on Achatea piniperda, in Der Naturforscher, st. 20.; and to Mr. Wailes's memoir on Charæas graminis, in Entomol. Mag. No. 18. p. 232.

This family corresponds with the Linnæan section Phalana Noctua, and comprises nearly 800 European, and 400 British species, mostly of a large or moderate size, divided by Mr. Stephens into about 80 genera, often resting upon minute structural differences. In the work of Ochsenheimer, the family comprises 42 genera, most of which correspond with the sections in the family proposed in the Weiner Verzeichniss (vide antè, p. 326.). The classification of the family is certainly a matter of great difficulty, owing to the “extreme similarity in general appearance" of the species, and which is greatly increased by the exotic species having been almost entirely neglected, although it is evident, from the figures of many species given by Drury, Cramer, Abbott and Smith, &c., that the extraEuropean species exhibit even greater diversity of form than those of Europe. Dr. Horsfield, we have seen (antè, p. 328.), proposes to divide the family into five stirpes (one of which agrees with the

* This gentleman has also published an extensive list of the species of this family captured by him, and which had been attracted by the swcets of an empty sugar hogshead.

Lithosiidae); but these stirpes, being established upon the larvæ, are evidently more numerous than proposed by Dr. Horsfield. Latreille, after separating the exotic genus Erebus (in which the wings are always extended and horizontal, and the last joint of the palpi long and naked, and which comprises some of the most gigantic insects in the order), proposes to divide the remainder into two extensive and parallel series. In the first, the larvæ are geometrical in their mode of progression, some of which have 16 feet, but with the 2 or 4 anterior ventral feet shorter than the others, and the others have only 12 feet (fig. 108. 9. larva; 10. pupa of Plusia Gamma). The second series comprises the genera Calyptra, Xylina, Cucullia, &c., all of which have 16 feet, the anterior ventral ones being of the ordinary size, and their progression is rectigrade.

Chrysoptera concha

(Fischer, Ent. Russ. Lepid. i. iv.) in the former series, and Erastria in the latter, appear equally to lead to the Pyralides. Catocala, Ophiusa, and Brepha, on the other hand, appear most nearly allied to Erebus.

One of the chief difficulties connected with the arrangement of the order already alluded to in p. 361., is especially evident in the present family. In the Sphingidæ and Geometridæ, for instance, we find the larva state affording the best characteristics of the families; but here the case is quite different. Plusia is in effect as truly a good type of the family as Polia, Miselia, Acronycta, or Agrotis, and yet the larvæ of all these genera are strikingly distinct, some being Geometrideous, others Arctiideous, and others Noctuideous, if we consider the latter to be characterised by a naked fleshy larva, without inequalities on the surface of the body, and 16 feet. Of these, many are radicivorous, but they are easily distinguished from the Hepialideous larvæ, although the resemblance between the latter and those of Gortyna is very close. Some of these naked larvæ are external feeders, and have the body more coloured, and others have the eleventh segment of the body more or less angulated above (Miselia, Phlogophora, Trachea, &c.; fig. 108. 11. larva of Mamestra Persicaria; 12. front of the head; 13. ocellar region; 14. mandible; 15. labium and maxillæ, with a thread issuing from the spinneret; 16. antenna). Acronycta varies in its larvæ, being strongly hairy in A. Menyanthidis, and having an elevated horn near the extremity of the body in some of the other species. That of Dipthera Orion nearly resembles that of an Arctia. Ophiusa has a naked larva, greatly attenuated at each