204 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



counties, on the coast, of Ireland from Cork to Sligo, and 

 from Wicklow to Derry, 



The Light Feathered Rustic {Agrotis {Eiuxoa) chierca). 



Both sexes are shown in their typical forms on Plate 105. 

 The fore wings of the male (Fig. 9) are generally pale greyish 

 in colour, with blackish cross lines and central shade ; the 

 claviform mark is absent, and the orbicular stigma usually so, 

 or represented by a dusky dot ; sometimes the ground colour is 

 brownish, occasionally purplish grey, and very rarely black. 

 The female (Fig. 10) is smaller, and always much darker. 

 ' The caterpillar is blackish green or dark greyish, with three 

 fine pale lines, the central one edged on both sides, and the 

 others edged above, with a darker tint ; a pale stripe along the 

 black spiracles ; head, and plate on first ring black. It feeds 

 on wild thyme, and is said to eat dock. It hatches from the 

 ^'g^ in late June or early July, and presumably hibernates when 

 full grown, as it does not seem to feed again when it reappears 

 in early spring. 



The moth flies in May and June, and is only to be found on 

 hills and downs in chalk or limestone districts. It occurs in 

 Surrey, Dorset, Isle of Wight, Devon, Gloucestershire, Here- 

 fordshire, North Wales, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Cambridge, 

 and Suffolk ; it seems to have been most frequently met with 

 in Kent and Sussex. The small form, with narrow and dis- 

 tinctly marked fore wings, and whitish hind wings, occurring 

 in the south of England, has been named var. tephrlna^ Stand. 



The Shuttle-shaped Dart {Agrotis (Enxoa) putd). 



As will be seen by the figures on Plate 10^, the sexes of this 

 species also differ greatly in colour. Usually the cross lines on 

 the fore wings of the male do not show up so distinctly as in 



