Fig. 250.—Noctua musiva.
Fig. 251.—Noctua brunnea.
The bodies of these moths are robust and sometimes massive, and are scaly rather than woolly. The thorax is sometimes bristling with hairy tufts.
This genus includes 800 species, of which there are about 300 in France. The caterpillars of the Noctuina are smooth or very slightly covered with hair, usually of a pale colour, and live on low plants, of which they devour, some the leaves, others the roots; then it is they are most destructive to agriculture. There are some of them which eat any caterpillars they may chance to meet, and even those of their own species, leaving nothing but the skin. Some of them surround themselves with a light cocoon before becoming chrysalides; others bury themselves in soft, well-pulverised soil.
Fig. 252.—Catocala fraxini.