2l6 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



moth, which was not known to occur in the British Isles until 

 1839, when a single specimen was taken on Cairn Gowr in 

 Perthshire. No other example seems to have been noted up to 

 1854, when one was found on a rock in the same part of Perth- 

 shire. Up to the year 1876, only a few specimens had been 

 obtained, but in that year, which was a hot and dry one in the 

 Highlands, quite a number were secured. A female was also 

 detected laying her yellowish white eggs on crowberry {Einpctj'um 

 nigrum) and thus gave a clue which led to the subsequent 

 discovery of caterpillars and chrysalids ; and these have been 

 obtained in some quantity. The caterpillar is reddish, inclin- 

 ing to pinkish brown, freckled with darker ; three whitish lines 

 on the back, the central one irregularly black dotted, edged on 

 both sides with black, and the others with black bars along their 

 inside edge ; head pale brown freckled and lined with darker 

 brown. It feeds from August to June (of the second year 

 following hatching from the Q^g, it is said), on crowberry, 

 bilberry {Vacchiiiim)^ and bearberry {Arctostaphylos iiva-iirsi). 



The moth is out from late June until about the middle of 

 August. It only occurs with us on the higher mountains in 

 Perthshire, notably those to the south of Loch Rannoch ; and at 

 lower elevations in Unst, the most northern isle of the Shetland 

 group. It has also been recorded from the Orkneys. Kane 

 mentions a specimen bred at the end of February, 1893, at 

 Clonbrock, Co. Galway, from a caterpillar found at a bog in 

 the vicinity, where crowberry grows abundantly. Abroad 

 the species in its typical form is found on mountains in Central 

 and Southern Scandinavia, and in modified form in Silesia, 

 Hungary, and Switzerland. 



Ash worth's Rustic {Agrotis {EpisUia) asJmwrthii). 



This moth, which is figured in Plate no, is considered by 

 some entomologists to be a form of A. candelariim peculiar 



