The sexes of this species are shown on Plate [150], Figs. 3 ♂, 6 ♀. The general colour of the fore wings may be paler or darker than in the specimens shown. Sometimes the central area enclosed by the black cross lines is darker than the other parts of the fore wings; var. obscura, Tutt, has the fore wings obscure smoky grey, with a dull coppery tinge, much suffused with dark scales; markings indistinct.
The caterpillar is pale brown freckled with darker; a whitish line along the middle of the back is edged on both sides with blackish merging into black at the ring divisions; a rather wavy, but less distinct, whitish line on each side of the central one edged above with blackish; spiracles black ringed with pale brown and set in a broad dark brown line below which the colour is pinkish; head shining pale brown, freckled with darker on the cheeks. It feeds on cocksfoot and various other grasses occurring in woodlands. August to May. The moth, which inhabits woods and well-timbered parks, is out in June and July. It is, perhaps, most frequent in the New Forest, Hampshire, thence it is found more or less sparingly to Cornwall. Sometimes not uncommon in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, and occurs in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex (Epping Forest, etc.), Surrey (Richmond Park). Recorded from Cheshire and from South Wales. In Scotland it is said to have been taken at Newfield, Ayrshire. The only records from Ireland are Clonbrock (1), and Merlin Park, Galway (2). Abroad it ranges to Amurland, China, Corea and Japan.
Treble Lines (Meristis (Grammesia) trigrammica).
The fore wings range in colour from whitish or greyish brown to ochreous brown; the cross lines are usually distinct,
and the central one is often broad. (Plate [151], Fig. 1.) In var. approximans, Haw., the cross lines fall nearer together on the inner margin; and in var. semi-fuscans, Haw., the basal half is greyish or reddish grey, and the outer half is suffused with brownish (Fig. 2). Then there is a somewhat rarer form, with dark grey, brown, or blackish brown fore wings, with the cross lines more or less distinct, as in Fig. 3; or with the central one absent (var. bilinea, Hübn.); or all the lines may be obscured by the dark colour. Kane states that var. obscura, Tutt (= bilinea, Haw.), is pretty common at Howth and other places in Ireland, and, according to Barrett, it is not infrequent in Wales. The caterpillar is greyish or dingy reddish brown; three pale lines on the back, the central one partly edged with black, and the outer ones are broken and inwardly edged with blackish marks; the stripe along the black spiracles is ochreous brown; head brownish. From July to April on plantain and other low plants. The moth is out in June and July. In Scotland it is local and rare, but has been recorded from Clydesdale, Arran, and once from Perthshire. Local but widely distributed in Ireland.
The Anomalous (Stilbia anomala).
A local species, but sometimes not uncommon on heaths, or in rocky places by the sea. It is found from Surrey westward to Cornwall; and from Staffordshire, in which county it has been seen in abundance on Cannock Chase, it ranges into Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Wales (North and South), Lancashire, Yorkshire (commonly at Saltaire), Durham (once), and Cumberland. Generally distributed in Scotland, including the Orkneys. It occurs in the Isle of Man, and seems to be pretty widely spread in Ireland, but found chiefly on the coast. Abroad it seems to be only found in France and in Central and Western Germany. In Southern Spain it is
represented by var. andalusiaca, Staud., and in Syria by var. syriaca, Staud. A typical male is shown on Plate [151], Fig. 4.
The caterpillar is green, inclining to yellowish between the rings of the body; three lines on the back are whitish, edged with dark green; a stripe low down on the sides is whitish, shaded above with dark green merging into the ground colour; head shining bright green, obscurely mottled with darker. In other forms the general colour is reddish or pinkish brown, with the lines edged and shaded with darker brown; the head is ochreous brown, mottled with darker brown. The green form is figured on Plate [152], Fig. 6, but the browner forms are more frequent. It feeds on grasses from the autumn until about March.