The Common Footman (Lithosia lurideola).
Fore wings, leaden grey with a yellow stripe terminating in a point at the tip of the wing; the hind wings are pale ochreous yellow. It appears in July, sometimes at the end of June.
Caterpillar, dark greyish covered with blackish hairs arising from black warts on the back, and yellowish hairs from similar coloured warts on the sides; three black or blackish lines on the back, and an orange stripe along the sides from the fourth to eleventh rings; head black. August to June. Generally supposed to feed, in a state of nature, on lichen growing on trees and bushes. It has been reared on the foliage of sallow, apple, and oak; also known to eat buckthorn, clematis, dogwood, etc. I have occasionally beaten it from old hedgerows, and have frequently seen it on trunks of poplar and ash upon which not much in the way of lichen could be seen. Such caterpillars, when taken, have almost invariably spun up soon afterwards. The moth is shown on Plate [97], Fig. 6, and the early stages on Plate [96], Fig. 2.
This species is perhaps the commonest and most generally distributed member of the genus in England. It becomes much less frequent in northern pasts of Lancashire, and in Yorkshire it is local, but recorded as common in the south-east of that county. It occurs in Scotland, whence it has been recorded from Clydesdale, Aberdeenshire, and Moray. Kane
states that it is common near Galway, and also gives Castle Bellingham, Clogher Head (not rare), and Athlone as Irish localities.
Distributed over Europe, except the extreme north, Andalusia and Southern Italy; the range extending to Asia Minor and Armenia. In Amurland, Corea, and Japan, it is represented by coreana, Leech.
The Scarce Footman (Lithosia complana).
Very similar in appearance to the last species, the yellow stripe along the front edge of the fore wings, however, does not terminate in a point, but is continued through to the fringes; the hind wings are sometimes distinctly yellow, and with but little, if any, greyish shading on the front area. (Plate [97], Fig. 7.)
Caterpillar, brown or brownish grey above, and paler beneath; a white-edged black line along the middle of the back, and a row of orange spots, alternating with whitish ones, on each side of the line; the orange spots faint or absent on rings one to three; an interrupted yellow or orange stripe along the sides; the brownish warts are thickly studded with short greyish brown hairs. Head black and glossy (described from a skin). From August to June. The most usual food is probably lichens on trees, but it is said to eat moss, knot-grass, clover, and the flowers of bird's-foot trefoil, etc. (Plate [96], Fig. 3.)
The moth is out in July and part of August, and may be disturbed in the daytime from its resting-place among heather and low herbage. It is on the wing in the dusk of the evening, and when the weather is favourable, flies freely. As it has a weakness for sweets, it should be looked for at night, by the aid of a lantern, on the flowers of knapweed and thistle. It chiefly affects heaths, but it is also found in woods, and on sandhills by the sea, as in Norfolk. A local species, but usually to be more or less frequently met with in all the eastern