THE BEAUTIFUL BROCADE. 243 



July, and occasionally in the autumn. Its haunts are marshy 

 places, especially on the coast, and mosses ; and it is found 

 in most of the seaboard southern and eastern counties, and 

 more rarely inland. Recorded from Ayr and Kirkcudbright in 

 Scotland ; is widely distributed in Ireland, and not rare in 

 Louth and Kerry. 



The Pale -shouldered Brocade {Mamcstm i/ialassina). 



The whitish or creamy-white patch at the base of the 

 reddish-brown fore wings is a noticeable feature of this moth 

 (Plate 121, Fig. 7), and is almost always present, even when the 

 wings are darkened and the other markings more or less 

 obscured. The W-like angles of the white submarginal line 

 run through to the fringes. In some specimens the general 

 colour is purplish brown, and in others greyish brown. 

 The caterpillar is greyish-brown with a slight reddish tinge, 

 and freckled with darker brown ; the usual dots are black ; 

 central line dusky, a series of darker oblique dashes on 

 each side of it ; the line along the spiracles is rather broad 

 and sometimes edged above with blackish. It feeds in August 

 and September on dock, groundsel, honeysuckle, broom, sallow^, 

 hawthorn, apple, etc. The moth is out in June, earlier or later 

 according to the season ; sometimes it appears again in August 

 or September. It may be found, commonly as a rule, in most 

 woods over the greater part of the British Isles. 



The Beautiful Brocade {Mamestra cojiHo^na). 



The moth (Plate 121, Fig. 6) has a pale patch at the base 

 of the fore wing, but this is not so conspicuous as is the pale 

 orbicular stigma, which is often united with a pale mark at its 

 lower edge ; another pale patch lies at the inner angle, and the 

 whole area between the second cross line and the clouding on 



