92 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



apparently does not occur in Ireland. Abroad it is found in 

 Central Europe, Belgium, North Germany, North Italy, and 

 North-east Asia Minor. 



The Yellow Horned {Polyploca flavicomis). 



In the South of England this species is greenish grey, some- 

 times speckled or dusted with darker grey ; the reniform and 

 orbicular marks are generally clear and distinct, but in some 

 examples they are united and form a whitish blotch outlined in 

 blackish ; the cross lines are usually well defined, but in the 

 dark grey dusted form are very obscure. Specimens from 

 Scotland are generally larger, there is less green, if any, in the 

 ground colour, and the markings are often more pronounced 

 and brighter. This form is the var. scotica, Tutt., and may be 

 more or less identical with the var. JiJimarchia^ Schoyen, from 

 Norway and Lapland (Fig. 7, Plate 39, shows the English form, 

 and Fig. 8 the Scotch form). 



The caterpillar is greenish, light olive green, or dark olive 

 green above, and yellowish beneath ; a line along the middle of 

 the back is paler, and on each side there is a row of black spots 

 and finely black-edged white dots ; a line above the brownish 

 outlined spiracles is yellowish : the head is yellow brown with 

 blackish jaws and black mark on each cheek. It feeds in June 

 and July on birch, preferring the foliage of bushes. During the 

 daytime it resides in a leaf neatly folded in half; when quite 

 young, the caterpillar then being blackish, a small leaf or just 

 the turned-over edge of a large one answers its purpose. The 

 chrysalis is reddish, enclosed in a flimsy cocoon among leaves, 

 moss, or roots of grass, etc., sometimes just under the surface of 

 the soil. The early stages are figured on Plate 38, Figs. i-2c. 

 The moth emerges in March or April of the year following 

 pupation, as a rule, but it may remain in the chrysalis for two 

 winters. It is often obtained in birch woods, or wherever there 



