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Feathered Thorn (Himera (Colotois) pennaria).
A more or less typical but rather small male specimen is shown on Plate [114], Fig. 4, but the ground colour is frequently more tawny in tint, and sometimes it is much paler inclining to yellowish; the cross lines may be either wider apart, or closer together, and the inner one is often clouded with blackish; sometimes both lines become almost bandlike; the submarginal, usually interrupted, line is occasionally well defined. The female, often browner than the specimen depicted (Fig. 5) is frequently tinged with purple, and occasionally with pink.
The batch of eggs, as deposited, was photographed by Mr. Main. The egg is olive green with a ring of pale specks around the micropylar end. The caterpillar is slaty grey inclining to purplish, with a series of not clearly defined ochreous diamonds on the back and a row of ochreous dots on each side; the raised points on the last ring are tipped with reddish (Plate [116]). It feeds on oak, birch, poplar, sallow, apple, hawthorn, sloe, etc. April to June. The moth is out in October and November, but is seldom noticed in the daytime; at night, the males are frequently seen at gas and electric light. The species is generally common in woodlands, especially as caterpillars, over the southern half of England and Wales, and occurs more or less frequently over the rest of the country, also in Scotland to Moray, and in Ireland.
Scalloped Oak (Crocallis elinguaria).
Fig. 6 on Plate [114] shows the usual form of this species, in which there are blackish dots on the outer margins of all the wings. Fig. 7 depicts a form with the ground colour paler, and the outer marginal dots absent (ab. trapezaria, Boisduval). The ground colour varies to almost whitish on the one hand and to reddish buff on the other; the cross lines on the fore wings are distinct as a rule, but may be faint, and occasionally are entirely missing; the central space between the lines is most often brownish, sometimes tawny, but not infrequently this area is but little darker than the general colour. The blackish discal spot on the hind wings varies in size and somewhat in shape, but this and also the line beyond, are sometimes absent. Porritt (List of Yorkshire Lepidoptera) mentions two gynandrous specimens. Eggs, pale grey, with darkish grey marking (Plate [116], Fig. 2b). The caterpillar, of which two figures from coloured drawings by Mr. A. Sich are given on Plate [116], Figs. 2, 2a, varies from ochreous grey to dark grey tinged with purple; the front rings are often paler above, and the back has diamond-shaped marks upon it; the elevation on the last ring is edged with black. It feeds on the leaves of most trees and bushes during the spring. The moth is out in July and August, sometimes earlier. A pretty generally distributed species throughout the British Isles, but so far it has not been noted from the Hebrides, Orkneys, or Shetland.