On Plate [117], Fig. 3 represents the typical grey form of this species, and Fig. 4 the black var. passetii, Thierry-Mieg. Intermediates occur connecting the melanic form with the type, and sometimes specimens are found of a paler hue than the type. Bred specimens occasionally have a rosy tinge, and this is then usually most in evidence between the first and second cross lines. The caterpillar is brown, with three ochreous lines on the back, the outer with dark oblique dashes on each ring; a whitish stripe along the spiracles is blotched with reddish, and edged above with black. It feeds in the autumn on dock, plantain, primrose, dandelion, etc., and in the spring on bramble, bilberry, sallow, heather, and birch, among other things. Usually it hibernates when small, but when kept indoors, and fairly warm, it can be induced to complete growth, and attain the moth state in October or later, sometimes even earlier. In the open the moth flies from the end of June to August.

Scotland appears to be the British home of the species, and it is found in most woods throughout that country, including the isles, but it is rare in the Shetlands. It occurs in Durham (rare), and in Yorkshire was not uncommon at Everingham in 1897, and several were obtained at Middlesbrough in 1900. Further south its occurrence is even more casual, and the most recent captures I have any note of are, two specimens in Lincolnshire, August, 1896, and one each in Norfolk and North East London, August, 1900. Also recorded from Essex. Only two specimens are known from Ireland.

The range abroad extends to Amurland, Corea, and to North America.

Pl. 116.
1, 2, 5, 6.Broad-Bordered Yellow Underwing.
3.Lesser Broad-Bordered Yellow Underwing.
4.Least Yellow Underwing.

Pl. 117.
1, 2. Green Arches.3, 4. Great Brocade.5. Silvery Arches.6. Pale Shining Brown.

The Silvery Arches (Aplecta (Mamestra) tincta).

The moth represented on Plate [117], Fig. 5, has the fore wings silvery grey clouded with brownish on the central area; or occasionally spreading over a larger portion of the wings, and sometimes purplish in tint. The caterpillar is brownish inclining to reddish, clouded on the back with paler and darker brown. The central line, which has a broken blackish edging, is only distinct on the front rings. Spiracles black; head pale brown marked with darker brown. In the autumn it feeds on low plants such as dock, plantain, etc.; but in the spring it is found at night on the young growth of birch and sallow bushes, and more rarely on hawthorn, and I believe, on bilberry. The moth which occurs in birch woods in June and July, is not uncommon in the south of England from Essex to Hampshire, and has been found in Dorset and Devonshire. It has also been obtained more or less frequently in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire (once), Huntingdon, Worcestershire (Wyre Forest and Malvern), Staffordshire (north), Lancashire (Witherslack), Yorkshire (Huddersfield, once), and Westmoreland. In Scotland it ranges on the west from Ayr to Argyllshire, but although local is more frequent in Perthshire, Moray, and Sutherland. Var. obscurata, Staud., is a form of this species occurring in Amurland and Southern Siberia.