The fore wings of the species shown on Plate [35], Fig. 7, are greyish brown, crossed by three darker lines, the outer one almost parallel with the hind margin, and edged with whitish.
The caterpillar feeds on the dead leaves of oak and birch, and has almost attained full growth when it retires for the winter. In the spring it has been known to eat birch catkins. The general colour is reddish ochreous, with diamond-shaped markings, forming a series along the back and two series along each side.
The moth, which is out from late May until early July, frequents the more open parts of woods, and in the daytime may be induced to show itself by tapping the lower branches of trees or brushing the bushes and undergrowth as we pass along.
The species is widely distributed over England, from Staffordshire southwards, but it is apparently most frequently met with in some of the woods of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex.
The distribution abroad extends to Amurland.
The Beautiful Snout (Bomolocha fontis).
The portraits of this species on Plate [35] show each sex in its most usual form: Fig. 8 representing the male, and Fig. 9 the female. The outer and inner areas of the fore wings are generally ashy grey, more or less brownish tinged, in the male; and the same parts are whitish in the female. Although some examples of the male have the outer and inner areas whitish, as in the female, they can be distinguished by their darker hind wings and the blackish central crescent thereon. A form of the female in which the large central patch of the fore wings is reddish brown has been named rufescens, Tutt; there may be males also of this form, but I have not seen any. In both sexes, the brown patch extends nearer to the inner margin in some specimens than in others, and not infrequently there is a spur from the lower edge of the patch to this margin.
The caterpillar is green, with darker green lines, one along the middle of the back, and two along each side; the usual raised dots are green or brownish, and each emits a fine hair; the head is green and rather glossy. It feeds on bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) in August and September. (Plate [37], Fig. 1; after Hofmann.) The moth, which is out in June and July, hides by day among heather, bilberry, etc., especially where these plants overhang the edges of banks or trenches. It may be found locally in most of the southern counties of England from Kent to Cornwall; also in Berks, Stafford, and Leicester. It has been recorded from Suffolk, Worcester, Cheshire (one at electric light, Chester, July, 1900), and North Wales. In Ireland it is widely distributed, and is not uncommon in Co. Kerry.