The Smoky Wainscot (Leucania impura).
The range of this common species (Plate [147], Figs. 3♂, 4♀), in the British Isles is almost the same as that of L. pallens, but it does not extend further north than Moray in Scotland. The hind wings are greyish or blackish grey. A form with reddish
fore wings is var. punctina, Haw., which sometimes has a row of black dots on the outer margin. The caterpillar is greyish ochreous above, greenish tinged beneath; a brown stripe along the middle of the back is intersected by a very fine white line; above the reddish black-edged spiracles is a brownish stripe; usual dots black; head pale brown, shining, netted with brown and lined with blackish. It feeds on grasses from August to May. The moth is out in July and August; rather later in the north. Distribution abroad extends to Amurland and Japan.
The Southern Wainscot (Leucania straminea).
In its more usual form this species (Plate [147], Fig. 5) has pale whity-brown or pale straw-coloured fore wings, and the black dots forming the second line not infrequently absent, at least as regards some of them. Var. rufolinea, Tutt, has the fore wings reddish ochreous, the rays whitish, and the shade under the median nervure reddish. Var. nigrostriata, Tutt, has the ground colour of the fore wings obscured by a thick powdering of black scales. The hind wings in all forms are whitish, sometimes greyish tinged. Generally there is a central black dot, and a more or less complete series of black dots beyond it; but some, or all, of these dots may be absent. The caterpillar, which feeds on the leaves of reeds, Phalaris, and other coarse grasses from October to May, is ochreous with an orange tinge, and dusted with grey; three white lines on the back are broadly shaded with bluish grey; on the sides are two grey shaded white lines; head shining brownish ochreous (Fenn). The moth flies in July and August, sometimes earlier.
Hammersmith Marshes, a once noted locality for this, the Obscure Wainscot, and other good species, have long since been built over; but the present insect, and perhaps some of the other ancient inhabitants of the said marshes, possibly still occur along the banks of the Thames. Anyhow, it does lower
down in the Kentish marshes. It is found in most of the eastern counties from Essex to Huntington and Lincoln, and also, but less frequent, in Sussex, Devon, and Cornwall. Kane gives Dromoland, Co. Clare, and Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Ireland.
The Striped Wainscot (Leucania impudens).
This is a rather larger insect than either of the last four species. The fore wings are whitish ochreous, powdered with blackish scales, and often tinged with pinkish. The black shading along the median nervure is sometimes very conspicuous. The caterpillar is ochreous brown, with three blackish-edged whitish lines on the back and dark stripes along the sides; head pale brown marked with darker. It feeds on the leaves of the reed (Phragmites) in June. The moth flies in July and August in fens, boggy heaths, and marshy ground, and is found in such places in most of the eastern counties, in Yorkshire, and from Berkshire and Kent to Devon, also in South Wales and in Galway, Cork, and Kerry, Ireland. Abroad the range extends to Siberia and Amurland. (Plate [147], Fig. 6.)