The Poplar Grey (Acronycta megacephala).
This moth is somewhat like that last noticed, but the fore wings are darker grey; the whitish orbicular mark is margined with black, and has a dark central dot. Sometimes the fore wings are clouded with blackish, and occasionally entirely suffused with black. In several species of Acronycta newly disclosed specimens have a faint pinky tinge, but this is especially noticeable in the present species. (Plate [100], Fig. 6.)
The caterpillar is ochreous or grey brown, marked with blackish; a conspicuous character is a black-edged whitish or ochreous patch on ring ten; the hairs are whitish, those on the sides rather long. It feeds from July to September on the foliage of poplars. (Plate [101], Fig. 1).
This well-known cockney species is on the wing from late May to mid-August. Has been bred in September from a caterpillar taken in July, also in October from August larvæ. It is often abundant on poplars (especially the caterpillars) in London and suburbs. Common all over the southern parts of England, except perhaps in Devon and Cornwall; its range extends through Northern England to Ross in Scotland; and it is found in the south of Ireland.
The Alder (Acronycta alni).
Fig. 26.
Caterpillar of the Alder-Moth.
(Photo by W. J. Lucas.)