THE DRINKER. I23 



days in early spring, put each caterpillar into a separate paper 

 box about two inches square, and keep them on a shelf over the 

 kitchen fire, where they would duly pupate. Various methods 

 for keeping these caterpillars through the winter have been 

 described, and all appear to have been fairly successful. The 

 most simple would seem to be the following : Bore a number 

 of holes in the bottom of a roomy box, and fasten wire gauze on 

 a close fitting frame to serve as a top. Cut a tuft or two of 

 heather to cover the floor space of the box. Caterpillars 

 collected in the autumn may be put into this receptacle and 

 supplied with food, such as bramble or sallow, as long as they 

 seem inclined to feed. Do not crowd too many into the box, 

 and let it stand out in the garden, preferably on the soil. 



The moths emerge in May or June. The males are very 

 active on the wing in the afternoon sunshine, and later on, and 

 may often be seen in numbers dashing hither and thither in an 

 apparently erratic flight over heaths and open spaces, in search 

 of the females. The latter do not fly till night, and occasionally 

 they are attracted to a bright light. 



Except that it has not been noted in the Shetlands, the 

 species occurs throughout the British Isles. Abroad its range 

 extends over Europe, and it is found in Amurland. 



The Drinker {Cosmotriche potatoria). 

 The male is reddish brown, more or less clouded on the fore- 

 wings with ochreous ; and the female is yellow, or whitish 

 ochreous. Sometimes this colour distinction of the sexes is 

 reversed, and the males are pale whilst the females are dark. 

 In the fens of Cambridgeshire notably, pale or yellowish males 

 are not altogether uncommon. Such specimens would seem to 

 accord better with the Linnean type than the more usual form 

 indicated above. Barrett mentions, among other aberrations, 

 male specimens from South Wales with the whole of the fore 

 and hind wings deep rich glossy purplish chocolate. 



