The Dotted Clay (Noctua baja).
This species, a male and female of which are shown on Plate [114], Figs. 7 ♂ and 8 ♀ is common in wooded districts throughout the British Isles, except the Orkneys and the Shetlands. The colour of the fore wings ranges from pale greyish brown, or reddish grey, to reddish brown or purplish brown. Sometimes the first and second cross lines are bordered, or represented, by pale bands.
The caterpillar is dingy ochreous brown, or reddish brown; three yellowish lines along the back, the central one edged with blackish; the others have blackish bordered yellow triangular marks between them, on each ring from three to eleven; spiracles and dots black; head pale brown, shining. It feeds in the autumn on various low plants, and in the spring on hawthorn, sloe, sallow, bramble, etc. September to May. The moth flies in July and August. Its range abroad extends to Amurland and to North America.
The Plain Clay (Noctua depuncta).
This species is represented on Plate [110], Fig. 5, by a female specimen. Sometimes the fore wings are more reddish brown in colour, and the markings are occasionally bolder. The caterpillar is pale or dark reddish brown above, and rather greyish below; the back is marked with dark outlined diamonds, and the dark edged white spiracles have a dark shade above them, and an ochreous stripe below; head pale brown marked with darker. Feeds on primrose, dock, sorrel, nettle, etc. from September to May. The moth flies in July, August, and the early part of September. It seems to be more frequently and regularly obtained in Scotland, especially in the woods of Perthshire, Aberdeen and Moray. In England the species is, or has been, found in Oxfordshire (rare in beech woods),
Berkshire, Wiltshire (Savernake Forest), Devonshire (Dartmoor), South Wales (near Swansea), North Wales (Mold), Cheshire (one specimen, Staley-brushes), Yorkshire (Scarborough), Durham (one at Bishop Auckland), Cumberland (Barrow Wood). The range abroad includes Central Europe (except Holland and Belgium), Southern Sweden, Lavonia, and South-east Russia, Armenia, and Northern Asia Minor. It may be noted that Stephens, writing in 1829, considered this to be a doubtful British species.
The Setaceous Hebrew Character (Noctua c-nigrum).
A male specimen of this often common and generally distributed species is shown on Plate [110], Fig. 8. The fore wings vary in colour, from pale reddish grey through bright reddish or pinkish brown to purplish brown; the costal mark may be whitish, ochreous, or pinkish tinged. The moth is most frequently obtained in the autumn, but it is sometimes met with from May to July.
The caterpillar is pale brownish or greenish grey, with two series of black streaks, and a dark-edged pale central line, on the back; below the black outlined white spiracles is a black-edged yellow ochreous, or whitish stripe; head ochreous brown streaked with darker brown. It feeds on dock, chickweed, groundsel, and other low plants. It is said to feed from September to April or May. Possibly, however, in favourable seasons, some may pupate either in the autumn or in the early months of the year, and so attain the moth state greatly in advance of the majority. The range of this species' distribution extends to India, Corea, Japan, and North America.