THE ALDER. 193 



The Poplar Grey {A crony da me^^accphala). 



This moth is somewhat hke that last noticed, but the fore 

 wings are darker grey ; the whitish orbicular mark is margined 

 with black, and has a dark central dot. Sometimes the fore 

 wings are clouded with blackish, and occasionally entirely 

 suffused with black. In se\-eral species of Acronycta newly 

 disclosed specimens have a faint pinky tinge, but this is 

 especially noticeable in the present species. (Plate loo, Fig. 6.) 



The caterpillar is ochreous or grey brown, marked with 

 blackish; a conspicuous character is a black-edged whitish 

 or ochreous patch on ring ten ; the hairs are whitish, those 

 on the sides rather long. It feeds from July to September on 

 the fohage of poplars. (Plate loi, Fig. i). 



This well-known cockney species is on the wing from late 

 May to mid-August. A few years ago a moth was bred on 

 September lo from a caterpillar taken on July ii. It is often 

 abundant 'on poplars (especially the caterpillars) in London 

 and suburbs. Common all over the southern parts of England, 

 except perhaps in Devon and Cornwall ; its range extends 

 through Northern England to Ross in Scotland ; and it is 

 found in the south of Ireland. 



^7 ha^/f t6 X The Alder {Acronycta alni). 



The sexes of this black-clouded grey moth are shown on 

 Plate I GO, Figs. 8 and 9 ? . Except that the black clouding 

 sometimes spreads over a greater area of the fore vv^ings, there 

 is little to note in aberration, at least in a general way. In 

 1906 a melanic specimen was bred from a chrysalis taken from 

 akler in Delamere Forest, Cheshire ; this is probably referable 

 to var. steincrti, Caspar! . 



The caterpillar (Fig. 26) is black, marked with yellow; the 



