Some eggs laid August 8th, hatched on September 1st; the infant caterpillars were long and thread-like, the colour was black, and there was a whitish stripe low down along the sides. They would not feed on knotgrass and other plants offered to them, and I failed to rear them. Moths have, however, been bred, as a second generation, in the autumn from caterpillars reared from the egg, on bramble and knotgrass.
The moth occurs in July and August on bush-sprinkled heaths, or heathy ground, where it may be disturbed from the herbage in the daytime, or netted as it flies in the evening. South of England from Kent to Dorset; also in Berkshire, Cheshire (one specimen, Whitegate Heath, 1901, one ab. circellata in Delamere Forest, July, 1903); Yorkshire (Thorne Moor, and rather plentiful on Skipton Common in 1900 and subsequent years; ab. circellata also occurred).
The Dwarf Cream Wave (Acidalia (Ptychopoda) interjectaria).
This moth (Plate [45], Figs. 15, 18) is said to be referable to fuscovenosa, Goeze, and as this is an earlier name than interjectaria, Guenée, it may have to be adopted. For many years it was known in England as osseata, and was described by Haworth, Stephens, and others, under this name. It is also the dilutaria of some authors, but not of Hübner. Hübner's dilutaria is considered by some writers to be the holosericata of Duponchel, and therefore an earlier name for the species generally known by the latter name.
The present species, to which Haworth gave the English name here used, is whitish straw-coloured, and silky in appearance; the wings have a central black dot and four or five dusky cross lines, some of which are more distinct than others; the front edge of the fore wings is tinged with reddish brown, in which is often a dark dot at the ends of the first and central lines; a series of linear blackish dots at the base of the fringes, most distinct on the fore wings.
The somewhat stumpy caterpillar is dull smoky brown, marbled and variegated with ochreous, the darker colour most in evidence in front, and the ochreous behind; an ochreous line along the middle of the back, and one along the region of the spiracles; white spots on rings 5-7. (Adapted from Porritt.) It feeds from August to April on dandelion and other low-growing plants, and especially on the withered leaves. The moth occurs among weeds growing on banks, and hedgerows, and the outskirts of woods, in greater or lesser plenty throughout the South of England; but it becomes local, and more or less rare in the north of the country. In Scotland it is said to be uncommon in Clydesdale, but has not been noted from Ireland, or from Wales.
Isle of Wight Wave (Acidalia (Ptychopoda) humiliata).
This species (Plate [45], Fig. 16) is the osseata of Fabricius, but not of Haworth and other British authors. It is very similar in general appearance to the species last considered, but the wings are somewhat less ample, and rather yellower in tint. It is most readily recognised, however, by the distinctly reddish stripe on the front edge of the fore wings. Previous to 1891, when specimens were obtained by Mr. A. J. Hodges in the Isle of Wight, the species was not certainly known to be an inhabitant of the British Isles, although it seems to have been represented in many collections. The
insect is still found by those who know where to look for it on the sea cliffs of its island home, but so far as appears to be known at present, it does not occur in any other part of Britain. For this reason, it does not seem desirable to indicate the exact locality more definitely; but it may be added that the moth flies in July.