l62 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The foliage of pretty well all low plants, and tall ones, such 

 as the hollyhock and sunflower, too, seem to be equally 

 acceptable to this larva. It is not often seen before hiberna- 

 tion, but in the early days of spring it will be noticed sunning 

 itself on walls and fences that have a good crop of nettles, dock, 

 or other weeds at their base or around them ; or it may be 

 searched for on the undersides of dock, etc. Mr. Frohawk 

 records these caterpillars as swarming from mid-May to mid- 

 June, 1904, in the Scilly Isles. He states that they occurred in 

 such myriads that no vegetation escaped them, and that they 

 devoured anything from stonecrop to the foliage of shrubs of 

 various kinds. Every path and roadway was dotted all over 

 with their crushed bodies. 



In the open the moth is on the wing in July and sometimes 

 in August. When kept indoors the caterpillars, or at least 

 some of them, will feed up quickly and attain the moth state 

 in September or October. 



The species is distributed over the whole of Europe, except 

 Andalusia, Sicily, and the southern part of the Balkan 

 Peninsula, and its range extends through Asia to Amurland, 

 Corea, and Japan. 



The Cream spot Tiger {Arctia villica). 



Although this moth does not vary to the same extent as its 

 cousin the Garden Tiger, it is still subject to considerable 

 aberration in the size, number, and position of the yellowish- 

 white, or cream-coloured spots on the fore wings and of the 

 black spots and hind marginal markings of the hind wings. 

 The former are often much reduced in size, rarely perhaps so 

 greatly as to leave the fore wings almost entirely black ; but 

 they are sometimes so greatly enlarged and united that these 

 wings appear to be cream coloured with black markings. On 



