uncommon, and I have taken it in the Malvern district. British specimens were first obtained near York. Porritt ("List of Yorks. Lep.," 1904) states that it is still abundant in Bishop's Wood, and is found in other Yorkshire localities; also occurs from Lancashire to Durham. In Ireland it has been reported from Clonbrock, Galway.
The Red Chestnut (Pachnobia rubricosa).
The fore wings of this moth (Plate [155], Figs. 5, 6) are purplish red and more or less suffused with greyish. Sometimes these wings are more distinctly reddish and without the greyish suffusion (var. rufa, Haw.). The egg is pale straw colour, with a reddish-brown girdled dot. The caterpillar (Plate [159], Fig. 3) is pinkish brown with three yellowish lines along the back, the central one rather obscure; a yellowish stripe along the sides; usual dots yellowish or whitish margined with blackish; head yellowish brown, lined with darker brown. It feeds from April to June on dock, dandelion, groundsel, and other low plants. The moth is out in March and April, and is often not uncommon at sallow and plum blossom. It seems to be pretty generally distributed throughout the British Isles, including the Orkneys.
The Hebrew Character (Tæniocampa gothica).
This species (Plate [155]) varies in the general colour of the fore wings from pale purplish grey to dark reddish brown. Figs. 7♂ and 8♀ represent the more usual form. The black markings, often very conspicuous, are in the somewhat smaller var. gothicina, reddish (Fig. 9). Sometimes in Scotch specimens they are very indistinct or absent (Fig. 10).
The early stages are figured on Plate [156]. The eggs (Fig. 1a) are laid in a batch, two deep towards the centre of the
heap. In colour they are whitish with a dark grey ring and dot. When five days old the young caterpillars were pale whitish green with black dots; head and plates on first and last rings of the body black. The nearly full-grown caterpillar (Fig. 1) is green above and yellowish green below; three whitish lines on the back and a yellowish stripe along the sides; usual dots black, ringed with whitish; head shining yellowish, dotted with black. Feeding on dock, dandelion, etc., it will also eat sallow and hawthorn, and the foliage of other trees and bushes, in April, May, and June. The moth is common at sallow bloom all over the British Isles. The range of the species abroad extends to Amurland.
The Blossom Underwing (Tæniocampa miniosa).
A portrait of this species will be found on Plate [158], Fig. 8. The fore wings are pinkish, or reddish grey, and the redder central area is often tinged with orange; the hind wings are whitish, faintly shaded or tinged with pink.
The full-grown caterpillar is bluish, inclining to black on the sides; three yellow lines on the back, the central one broad; and a white blotched yellow stripe along the sides; head shining black. (Adapted from Fenn.) The eggs are laid in batches on the twigs of oak, usually just below a bud. When the caterpillars hatch out they spin a web of silk under which they live in company for a time; later on they separate, and then either continue to feed on the oak or betake themselves to birch, hawthorn, bramble, or some low-growing herbaceous plant. The "nests" of young caterpillars are found chiefly on oak bushes rather than trees.