This common, often abundant species (Plate [147], Figs. 1, 2) is pretty generally distributed over the British Isles. The typical coloration is pale ochreous; ab. arcuata, Stephens, is pale brownish ochreous; ab. ectypa, Hübn. = rufescens, Haworth, is reddish; and ab. suffusa, Stephens, is also reddish, but powdered with blackish scales between the veins, and chiefly so under the median nervure. The hind wings in all forms are white in both sexes; but sometimes slightly tinged with greyish on the outer margin in the female. The caterpillar (Plate [152], Fig. 1) which feeds on grasses from August to May, is pale whity-brown freckled above with pinkish brown; three whitish lines along the back, the central one narrowly edged on each side, and the others on the inner side only, with blackish; a greyish stripe along the sides with two pinkish brown lines above it; dots, minute, black; head freckled with dark brown. Distribution abroad extends to Amurland.
Mathew's Wainscot (Leucania favicolor).
This species (Plate [149], Figs. 1, 2) has been mainly found on the coasts of North-east Essex and South-east Suffolk, but it has also been taken at Hemley in Suffolk, and has been recorded from near Southend in Essex, and Rochester in Kent. In 1906 six specimens were captured in the Isle of Sheppey. So far as is known at present this is its range in England, and it does not seem to occur anywhere abroad. It was first discovered by Paymaster-in-Chief G. F. Mathew, in 1895, and was described by the late Mr. C. G. Barrett in 1896.
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| Pl. 148. |
| 1, 1a. Brown-veined Wainscot: egg and chrysalis. |
| 2. | Twin-spotted Wainscot: egg, enlarged. | 3. | Bulrush Moth: chrysalis. |
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| 4, 4a. | Fenn's Wainscot: caterpillar and chrysalis. | 5. | Reed Wainscot: chrysalis. |
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| 6. | Webb's Wainscot: chrysalis. | 7. | Devonshire Wainscot: caterpillar. |
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| Pl. 149. |
| 1, 2. | Mathew's Wainscot. | 3. | The Delicate. |
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| 4. | The White Speck. | 5. | The White Point. |
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| 6. The Cosmopolitan. |
In the typical form the fore wings are of a smooth soft honey colour, or colour of the honeycomb, having the nervures faintly perceptible, but not paler; a black discal dot, and two more dots with some faint blackish dashes indicate the usual second line. Tutt has named several forms, the most important being ab. lutea, bright yellow buff with discal dot and two dots beyond; and ab. rufa, deep reddish with discal dot and two others beyond. Besides these there are ab. ænea, Mathew, deep orange, with only one dot representing second line; and ab. obscura, Mathew, cinnamon-brown, with smoky shading between some of the nervures. The hind wings vary from whitish with darker nervures, to smoky grey; but the fringes always remain whitish.
The caterpillar is a warm putty colour, or pinkish brown, mottled and shaded with darker shades; three pale whitish brown lines on the back, the central one bordered on each side by a darker shade, and the outer ones shaded inwardly with darker and edged below by a darker line; a brown or pinkish stripe above the spiracles, and a pinkish yellow stripe below them; head yellowish-brown, shining, and dotted with darker colour. It feeds on grasses from July to April (adapted from Mathew). The moth flies in June and July, and frequents the flowers of the large grasses growing on salt marshes. Sometimes specimens of a second brood appear in August or September.