Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/257

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201

TRIPHÆNA MATERNA.

PLATE XXV. Fig. 2.

Phal. Noctua materna, Linn.—Noctua hybrida, Fabr., Cramer, Pap. Exot., pl. 267, fig. E.; Drury, Exot. Ins., vol ii. pl. 13, fig. 4.

Triphæna may be briefly defined as having the fore wings bistigmatiferous, the palpi ascending, the wings incumbent and entire, the thorax not crested, the body flat, and the antennæ simple. It contains a considerable number of well known and conspicuous British moths, which are commonly called yellow under-wings; and it will be seen from the specimen here figured, that the foreign species bear a striking resemblance to them.

T. materna expands about three inches and a half; the antennæ are setaceous, the palpi yellow, with blue tips; the head is likewise tinged with blue. The anterior wings are light brown, mottled with grey and green, the surface glossy, and the tints changing according to the direction in which the light falls on them. Posterior wings yellow, each of them with a round black spot in the centre; the posterior border likewise edged with black, the inner margin of the band dentate, and the exterior