THE BLACK RUSTIC. 283 



Freyer, the hind wings in the male, have the veins more or less 

 blackish and dotted with, black beyond the middle; \^r. sedt, 

 Guenee, has the fore wings pale greyish with the markings 

 distinct, and the central area blackish. 



The caterpillar is green, sometimes tinged with pink on the 

 first three rings ; three brownish broken lines along the back, and 

 a violet edged white line along the spiracles. It feeds on grasses, 

 yarrow, groundsel, dock, plantain, gromwell {Lithospenman)^ 

 and other low herbage ; also on buds of hawthorn and sloe in 

 the spring. October to April. The moth is out in August and 

 September, sometimes later. It is found most frequently on the 

 coast, perhaps, but occurs in Cambridgeshire, Hunts, Oxford- 

 shire, Gloucestershire, Berks, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hants, and 

 Isle of Wight ; from Somerset to Cornwall ; North and South 

 Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, and apparently in 

 all counties northward except Westmoreland. Widely dis- 

 tributed in Scotland from the border to the Hebrides and 

 Orkneys. It is found only on the coast in Ireland, and chiefly 

 in the north-west. 



The Black '^xx.^ixo, {Aporophyla nigra). f\^^ju^\b'^ 



This black or brownish black moth (Plate 137, tig. 8) has 5^/9; 

 the outer edge of the reniform stigma ochreous, and the cross ' 

 lines are sometimes dotted with the same colour. The cater- w 

 pillar is green, yellowish-brown, or dull purplish ; first three 

 rings often tinged with reddish ; three darker, often broken, 

 lines along the back ; line along the black edged white spiracles 

 yellowish. It feeds on bedstraw {Galii(?n niollugo), dock, 

 plantain, grasses, etc. October to May. (The cg^ is figured 

 on Plate 139, Fig. 3.) The moth is out in September and 

 October. Chiefly a northern species, but it occurs in some of 

 the southern counties. It is, however, most frequent in North- 

 ampton, Huntingdon, and Cambridgeshire ; in Gloucestershire, 



1^ 



