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| Pl. 70. |
| 1. Oak Hook-tip: caterpillar. |
| 2, 2a, 2b, 2c. Barred Hook-tip: egg, enlarged; caterpillar, chrysalis and cocoon. |
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| Pl. 71. |
| 1. | Oak Hook-tip, male; 2 female. | 3. | Barred Hook-tip, male; 4 female. |
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| 5, 7. | Scalloped Hook-tip, males; 6, 8 females. |
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| 9. | Chinese Character, male; 10 female. |
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NOLIDÆ.
Some thirteen or fourteen species occurring in Europe are referred by Staudinger to this family. Only five of these occur in the British Isles. The moths are of rather small size, less, in fact, than some of the so-called "Micros," among which they have been placed. Probably they may, for this reason, be overlooked. They mostly sit head downwards on the trunks, branches, or leaves of trees, sometimes on palings, but the rarer ones hide themselves among the thick, low herbage. The time of flight is after dark, and the moths occasionally visit the sugar patch. The caterpillar has only eight false legs (prolegs), the first pair being the absent ones; the body is clothed with tufts of hair, the hairs of the front and rear tufts longer than the others. When full grown it spins a more or less spindle-shaped, toughish cocoon of silk mixed with the larval hairs, which is usually coated with particles scraped from the surface of twig or stem upon which it is spun up.
The Short-cloaked Moth (Nola cucullatella).
The fore wings are whitish or greyish, with a dark, almost black, patch at the base; this patch is marked with whitish, and is limited by the first cross line, which is black and curved; the second line, also black, is wavy and curved inwards towards the front margin; between these lines is a dusky central shade, commencing in a blackish spot on the front margin, and sometimes forming an inward border to the second line; a raised tuft of white, grey-capped scales on the basal patch, and two other tufts beyond it and in a line with the front margin; hind wings dark grey, paler towards the base (Plate [73]).
The caterpillar is reddish brown, clothed with short greyish hairs; the spots and central line on the back are whitish. It