The whitish fore wings of this species (Plate [45], Figs. 3 and 6) are crossed by a blackish central band, and there is a blackish patch at the base of the wings, with an extension along the front margin, almost or quite to the central band; the hind wings have a central dot, and three or four dark grey wavy lines, the space between the first and second darkened, and appearing to be a continuation of the fore wing band. The thick set, pale ochreous-brown, or grey-brown, caterpillar (Plate [48], Fig. 1, drawn from a skin) has three more or less distinct pale lines along the back, and a series of darker diamonds along the central area; head, brown. In the open, its food probably consists of decaying or withered leaves, but when treated in captivity it will eat and thrive upon growing knotgrass, groundsel, dandelion, etc. August to May. Mr. Mera mentions that some caterpillars he reared on dandelion produced moths that were larger in size than most captured specimens.
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| 2 Pl. 44. |
| 1. | Small Grass Emerald: caterpillar. |
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| 2. | Little Emerald: caterpillar. |
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| 3, 3a. | Small Emerald: caterpillar, chrysalis and cocoon. |
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| 2 Pl. 45. |
| 1, 4. | Purple Bordered Gold. | 2, 5. | Weaver's Wave. | 3, 6. | Least Carpet. |
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| 7, 10. | Rusty Wave. | 8, 11, 14. | Small Dusty Wave. |
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| 9, 12. | Dotted Border Wave. | 13. | Silky Wave. | 15, 18. | Dwarf Cream Wave. |
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| 16. | Isle of Wight Wave. | 17. | Satin Wave. |
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The moth is out in July, and specimens have been bred in September from eggs laid in July of the same year. To obtain this species, a journey will have to be made to one or other of its special haunts in Kent, lying between Greenhithe and Sheerness. Other localities from which it has been recorded are Kingsdown, Dover, Folkestone (Kent); Brighton, Lewes, West Horsham (Sussex); Isle of Portland (Dorset); Rame Head, Torquay (Devon); and single specimens have been reported from Stowmarket and Felixstowe (Suffolk).
The Rusty Wave (Acidalia (Ptychopoda) herbariata).
In The Entomologists Annual for 1856, two species of Acidalia were brought forward as new to the British list. One of these has been referred to under A. contiguaria, the other was the present species, which at the time was wrongly referred to circuitaria, Hübner. The specimens depicted on Plate [45], Figs. 7 and 10, are of continental origin.
Although other specimens were then known to exist in at least two British collections, the first recorded example was that mentioned above. This was captured in Bloomsbury Street,