86 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Ireland it is found in almost every well-wooded locality, but is 

 not generally common. The moth hides among the foliage of 

 the bramble and also creeps under the withered leaves on the 

 ground. It comes freely to sugar, and is often the earliest to 

 attend the banquet, but is rather skittish at first and should be 

 given time to settle down. 



The fore wings are pale olive grey with two whitish streaks 

 across them, the first oblique approaching the second towards 

 the inner margin ; the space between the streaks is clouded with 

 brownish buff and there is a whitish cloud on the costal area, 

 and some strongly waved cross lines before the second streak. 



The caterpillar, which is rusty brown, with a blackish central 

 line on the back, a black edged yellowish spot on ring four, a 

 smaller one on ring five, and sometimes a tiny one on ring seven, 

 feeds in August and September, sometimes later, on bramble, and 

 is said to eat hawthorn and hazel. It hides during the day and 

 comes up to feed at night. The chrysalis, which is enclosed 

 in an earthen cocoon below the surface of the ground, or some- 

 times among moss^ is purplish black with the ring divisions 

 reddish ; the anal spike is furnished with hooks. As a rule the 

 moth does not emerge until June or July following the year of 

 pupation, but it has been found on the wing in September and 

 October. 



Distributed over Central Europe, extending into Southern 

 France, and Northern Italy, Southern Sweden and Livonia, and 

 eastward to the Himalayas, Corea, and Japan. 



y^^- / The Peach = Blossom (^Thyatira batis). 



The olive brown fore wings of this moth are adorned with five 

 pink-tinged whitish spots, and clouded with brown ; the pink 

 tinge varies in amount and in brightness, and sometimes gives 

 place to pale ochreous. The moth is figured on Plate 36, and 

 the early stages on Plate yj. 



