THE ]U>OSS()M UNDKRWING. 327 



heap. In colour they are whitish with a dark grey ring and 

 dot. When five days old the young caterpillars were pale 

 whitish green with black dots ; head and plates on first and 

 last rings of the body black. The nearly full-grown caterpillar 

 (F'ig. f^ is green above and yellowish green below ; three whitish 

 lines on the back and a yellowish stripe along the sides ; usual 

 dots black, ringed with whitish ; head shining yellowish, dotted 

 with black. Feeding on dock, dandelion, etc., it will also eat 

 sallow and hawthorn, and the foliage of other trees and bushes, 

 in April, May, and June. The moth is common at sallow bloom 

 all over the r>ritish Isles. The range of the species abroad 

 extends to Amurland. 



The Blossom Underwing {Tuniocampa viiuiosa). 



A portrait of this species will be found on Plate 158, Fig. 8. 

 The fore wings are pinkish, or reddish grey, and the redder 

 central area is often tinged with orange ; the hind wings are 

 whitish, faintly shaded or tinged with pink. 



The full-grown caterpillar is bluish, inclining to black on the 

 sides ; three yellow lines on the back, the central one broad ; 

 and a white blotched yellow stripe along the sides ; head 

 shining black. (Adapted from Fenn.) The eggs are laid in 

 batches on the twigs of oak, usually just below a bud. When 

 the caterpillars hatch out they spin a web of silk under which 

 they live in company for a time ; later on they separate, and 

 then either continue to feed on the oak or betake themselves to 

 birch, hawthorn, bramble, or some low-growing herbaceous 

 plant. The "nests " of young caterpillars are found chiefly on 

 oak bushes rather than trees. 



The moth flies in March and April, and generally occurs only 

 in oak woods. It is most frequently met with in the South of 

 England — from Middlesex and Essex to Hampshire ; but it 

 occurs in most of the southern counties, and also northwards 



