THE PLUMED PROMINENT. 79 



the moth having been found in any other part of England, except 

 Keswick and Windermere. In Scotland it has been reported from 

 Gilashiels, Clydesdale, the Tay district, Argyleshire, and Moray. 



The Plumed Prominent {Ptilophora plumigera). 



The thinly scaled fore wings are ochreous brown in the male, 

 and purplish brown in the female, and the markings, which are 

 most in evidence in the male, are yellowish. Hind wings, more 

 sparsely scaled than the fore wings, are pale ochreous brown in 

 the male and darker in the female. It varies in the tint of 

 general colour and in the intensity of the yellowish markings. 

 In the female the antenn^ie are simple, but in the male they are 

 very plume-like, hence the English name. Buckler describes 

 the caterpillar as whitish blue-green, with a broad deep green 

 stripe down the middle of the back, and a narrow yellow line on 

 each side of it ; spiracular line slender, white, and wavy ; head 

 rather small, glossy, yellowish green. When quite full grown 

 and mature it changes to a uniform semi-transparent green, like 

 the underside of a leaf of maple, upon which, and also sycamore, 

 the caterpillar feeds in May and early June. Maple bushes 

 growing in hedgerows are usually selected by the female moths 

 when laying their eggs. These arc placed on the twigs near a 

 bud, and may be searched for at any time from November until 

 April. The moth is shown on Plate 33. 



This species was figured by Stephens (1828) as Ptilophora 

 varieirata and the only locality then known to him was Darenth 

 Wood, where, he states, the caterpillar was obtained almost 

 every year. It still occurs in Kent and possibly in its old haunt ; 

 it is also recorded from Watergate, Sussex ; South Devon 

 (Torquay district); and Gloucestershire. In Bucks, Berks, and 

 Oxfordshire it is more frequent than in either of the counties 

 previously mentioned, and in all it seems to be found chiefly in 

 chalky localities. The moth, which is on the wing in November 



