THE SCARCE FOOTMAN. 183 



States that it is common near Galway, and also gives Castle 

 Bellingham, Clogher Head (not rare), and Athlone as Irish 

 localities. 



Distributed over Europe, except the extreme north, Andalusia 

 and Southern Italy ; the range extending to Asia Minor and 

 Armenia. In Amurland, Corea, and Japan, it is represented by 

 coreana, Leech. 



The Scarce Footman {Lithosia complana). 



Very similar in appearance to the last species, the yellow 

 stripe along the front edge of the fore wings, however, does not 

 terminate in a point, but is continued through to the fringes ; the 

 hind wings are sometimes distinctly yellow, and with but little, 

 if any, greyish shading on the front area. (Plate 97, Fig. 7.) 



Caterpillar, brown or brownish grey above, and paler beneath ; 

 a white-edged black line along the middle of the back, and a 

 row of orange spots, alternating with whitish ones, on each 

 side of the line ; the orange spots faint or absent on rings one 

 to three ; an interrupted yellow or orange stripe along the 

 sides ; the brownish warts are thickly studded with short 

 greyish brown hairs. Head black and glossy (described from 

 a skin). From August to June. The most usual food is probably 

 lichens on trees, but it is said to eat moss, knot-grass, clover, 

 and the flowers of bird's-foot trefoil, etc. (Plate 96, Fig. 3.) 



The moth is out in July and part of August, and may be 

 disturbed in the daytime from its resting-place among heather 

 and low herbage. It is on the wing in the dusk of the evening, 

 and when the weather is favourable, flies freely. As it has a 

 weakness for sweets, it should be looked for at night, by the 

 aid of a lantern, on the flowers of knapweed and thistle. It 

 chiefly affects heaths, but it is also found in woods, and on 

 sandhills by the sea, as in Norfolk. A local species, but 

 usually to be more or less frequently met with in all the eastern 



