London. In June, 1868, three or four examples were found in a herbalist's shop in Holborn; one occurred on a shop window in Oxford Street in 1873; one example was taken from a door-post in Cannon Street, July 21, 1879; and two others have been noted from the same street, but dates were not given. The latest record, that of a specimen on July 21, 1898, in a shop in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, closes the list; it then appears that all the British specimens known to us have been taken in London.
The eggs are laid on dry or withered plants, upon which the long brownish or greenish caterpillars feed throughout the autumn, winter, and following spring. They pupate towards mid-May, and the moths appear in June and July. According to Guenée, caterpillars seem to have been found only in herb or drug stores, and the moths occur in gardens and houses in July and August.
The Small Dusty Wave (Acidalia (Ptychopoda) virgularia).
In most parts of the southern half of England this species, of which three specimens are shown on Plate [45], Figs. 8, 11, 14, is more or less common, and is often to be seen on garden walls, pales, and other kinds of fences. Although apparently infrequent in the Midlands, it has been recorded as common at Rugely in Staffordshire; in several parts of Cheshire it is not uncommon, and its distribution is known to extend to Northumberland. Possibly the species is more widely spread over England than the records show it to be. In Wales, it has been found in the North; in Scotland, it occurs locally from Berwick to Aberdeen; and it is doubtfully recorded from Ireland. The long, thin caterpillar is ochreous-brown, with a pale stripe on each side. It feeds on the leaves of various low plants, and seems, at times, to like its food best when withered. Some
that I reared from eggs deposited in September, 1904, fed for a time on fresh dandelion, but on the approach of winter they apparently ceased feeding, and were allowed to remain in the box with the food last supplied. In March it was found that they had been, and were then, eating the old provender. Some fresh dandelion was added, but this was not touched until all the old had been consumed. The same thing was repeated until the caterpillars were nearly full grown, when the fresh food was eaten as well as the stale. The moths resulting from them emerged during the last week in April, 1905, and were all well above the average size, and considerably larger than the female parent. One example is represented by Fig. 11 on the plate.
There are certainly two generations of the moth during the year; in some years possibly more.
Dotted Border Wave (Acidalia (Ptychopoda) straminata).
In its ordinary form this moth (Plate [45], Figs. 9, 12) is greyish white, sometimes with a tinge of brown, especially on the fore wings; the darker cross lines are slightly wavy; each wing has a central black dot, and there is a more or less distinct series of black dots on their outer margins. Ab. circellata, Guenée (Plate [61], Fig. 3), has the first and second lines of the fore wings strongly defined and deep brown, and the first is united with the central shade above the inner margin; the corresponding lines on the hind wings are also deep brown. This form, which occurs on the Lancashire and Cheshire mosses, and is known as the Obscure Wave, has been considered a distinct species, but it is connected with typical straminata by intermediate aberrations which occur together with circellata and the ordinary form on the same ground. Similar intergrades also occur in the New Forest, Hampshire, the Dover district of Kent, and probably elsewhere.
The rough-looking, long and slender caterpillar is pale greyish, with a black-edged pale line along the middle of the back, the black edging interrupted on rings 4-9; on each side of the central line, and lower down along the sides, are other black streaks; head, notched on the crown, and marked with brown.