The general colour of this species (Plate [102], Fig. 8) is pale brown, with a tendency to reddish in some specimens, and to greyish in others.
Caterpillar, pale brownish inclining to ochreous; on each side of an irregular blackish line along the centre of the back is a pale yellowish line, and there are white spots on the back of the middle rings. It feeds on Clematis, in August and September. The moth is out in June and July, and will be found in similar localities to those mentioned for the previous species, and, except that it has not been recorded from Lancaster, its range in England is much about the same.
The distribution abroad extends to Japan.
Oblique Carpet (Coenocalpe vittata).
This species, also known as lignata, Hübner, is usually pale brown in ground colour, tinged with ochreous or pinkish; the darker oblique stripes vary in width and in intensity. (Plate [102], Figs. 9 ♂, gen. 1; 10 ♂, gen. 2.)
The caterpillar is of a yellow-green colour, inclining to
ochreous brown on the upper portions of the middle rings; a darker irregular line along the back, and a whitish line on each side, the latter edged above and below with a fine black line; below the spiracles is a pale pinkish brown stripe. Varies in the tint of ground colour and in the markings. It feeds, after hibernation, on bedstraw (Galium palustre, G. saxatile, etc.), and caterpillars from eggs laid in June may be reared on clematis, wild or cultivated.
The moth is out in May and June, sometimes later, and a second generation appears in August and September; the individuals of the later brood are often smaller than those of the first brood. Its haunts are fens, marshes, and water-meads, but in Middlesex I have taken a specimen or two flying along a weedy ditch. Widely distributed throughout the British Isles, but not noted in Scotland north of Moray.
The Gem (Percnoptilota fluviata).
Also known in the vulgar tongue as "The Narrow-barred Carpet." As will be seen on reference to Plate [102], the male (Fig. 12) is pale brown with a dark central band; and the female (Fig. 11) is purplish brown, the central band rather blackish, and on it is the discal mark, a black centred white spot. The specimens figured are rather small.