124 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



There is variation in the two whitish or silvery marks on the 

 fore wings, the upper one is often very small, sometimes quite 

 absent, and the lower one reduced to a crescent. The chocolate 

 brown cross lines, of which there are usually two on the fore 

 wings, are sometimes faint or entirely missing. Tutt has 

 recently named nine forms, chiefly colour aberrations, and two 

 others were previously named. (The moth is figured on 

 Plate 6i, and the early stages on Plate 60.) 

 The eggs, which are white v/ith bluish grey markings , are 

 ^\fi laid in clusters on grass stems, etc. 



^ The caterpillar is slaty grey inclining to blackish ; the 



^ lines on the back are formed of yellowish dots and dashes ; two 



^„ rows of tufts of short black hairs on the back, with longer brown 



" hairs between ; low down on the sides are shaggy tufts of white 



^ and yellowish hairs and longer brown hairs ; an erect pointed 



tuft of brown hair on second ring, and a similar one on ring 



eleven but the latter inclines backward. Head greyish, striped 



and lined with brown and yellowish brown, and clothed with 



brown hair. It feeds on coarse grasses, including the ribbon 



grass grown in gardens, in August to September or October. 



In the latter month it goes into hibernation, being then but 

 little over an inch in length. About April it resumes feeding 

 and becomes full grown in June or thereabouts. The long 

 yellowish or whitish brown cocoon in which it changes to a 

 brown chrysalis is more or less pointed at the lower end, and 

 generally attached to a culm of grass or a reed. A showery 

 season seems to suit these caterpillars better than a hot, dry one. 

 The partiality of the caterpillar for a drop of dew, mountain or 

 otherwise, has frequently been noted. The old English name 

 of The Drinker Caterpillar (1682) is therefore not only an 

 appropriate one but shows that this larval habit was observed 

 even at that early date. The specific name potatoria given to 

 the moth by Linnc is of similar significance. 



The moth emerges in July. It seems most addicted to damp 



