The ground colour of this species, three specimens of which are shown on Plate [122], Figs. 7, 8♂, 9♀, ranges from the normal pale grey through various shades of brownish grey. The markings, usually well in evidence, are sometimes obscured in the darker specimens. The caterpillar is brownish with three white lines and a series of grey-brown diamond-pattern blotches on the back; the outer lines with blackish spots upon them; the stripe along the black spiracles greyish; head pale brown marked with blackish; plates on first and last rings of the body glossy. Feeds in July and August on dandelion, knotgrass, chickweed, hawk's-beard (Crepis), hawkweed (Hieracium), etc. The moth flies in May and June and appears to be found throughout the British Isles. Represented in Siberia by the dark form latenai, Pierret.
The Stranger (Mamestra peregrina).
This species, which is an inhabitant of Asia Minor, Southern Russia, Turkey, Dalmatia and Northern Italy, occurs in Southern, Western, and Northern France; and three specimens
have been recorded as taken in England—all at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight—the first in 1858, the second in 1859, and the third about 1876. The specimen depicted on Plate [122], Fig. 10, was received from abroad.
Barrett's Marbled Coronet (Dianthœcia luteago, var. barrettii).
The type, which is of ochreous coloration, does not occur in the British Isles, although in one example of var. barrettii, reared by Mr. Kane, a faint ochreous tinge was apparent, but this faded out in a few weeks. Fig. 2, Plate [123], represents a specimen, kindly lent by Mr. R. Adkin, of var. barrettii, Doubleday, a form discovered in Ireland, at Howth, by the late Mr. C. G. Barrett, in June, 1861. In 1879 a specimen was taken on the coast at Ilfracombe, North Devon; one example was reared from a caterpillar found at Tenby, South Wales, in 1884, and one was captured in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, in 1897. In the last mentioned year specimens were taken by the late Major Ficklin on the coast of Cornwall, and as the Cornish form differs from the Irish form in being grey instead of brown, it has been named var. ficklini, Tutt. A second specimen was obtained in North Wales in 1899. Since its first detection at Howth the insect has been taken in limited numbers almost every year; and in 1906 Major C. Donovan recorded it as widely distributed along the coast of Co. Cork, the specimens being large, of a dark slate colour with distinct light whitish grey markings.
The caterpillar is pale ochreous with a pinkish tinge; the central line is greyish brown and the spiracles black; head reddish brown marked with darker. It feeds on the roots of seaside campion (Silene maritima), July to September. The moth flies from June to August. Like most of the species in this genus, it does not care for the collector's sugar, and except
that an occasional specimen may be found resting on the rocks, the moths must be netted as they fly at dusk to the flowers of Silene. Staudinger considers that var. barrettii is identical with var. argillacea, Hübn.
The Grey (Dianthœcia cæsia).
The obscurely marked slate grey insect shown on Plate [124], Fig. 5, was first found at Tramore, Ireland, and in the Isle of Man about the same year (1866 or 1867). Kane mentions that he has found the insect at Tramore, and also in eleven other localities on the rocky coast line of the South of Ireland, from Hook Point to Dingle Bay. Our form of the species, var. manani, Gregson, differs from the greyish blue continental type in its darker coloration, and this is intensified in the south-west corner of Ireland where specimens of a uniform bluish black occur.