224 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



it appears to be more widely spread, but has not been noted in 

 Ireland. 



The Purple Clay (Noctua bmnned). 



The fore wings of this moth (Plate 113, Figs. 3, 4) range in 

 colour from purplish brown to reddish brown, or pale reddish 

 brown ; some of the darker forms are suffused with greyish, 

 and the central area is occasionally ochreous tinged. There 

 is also variation in the markings, especially the reniform stigma 

 which is usually more or less filled in with ochreous or whitish 

 tint, but not infrequently it is merely outlined in one of these 

 colours, and the centre is then dark grey brown, sometimes 

 enclosing a whitish or ochreous crescent. These remarks are 

 of general application, but refer to a long series I obtained in 

 North Devon. 



The caterpillar (Plate 112, Fig. 2) is reddish brown with a 

 yellowish tinge and with black dots and ochreous markings. It 

 feeds on bilberry, wood-rush {Liizula), various low plants, 

 bramble, sallow, and in the spring it attacks the buds and young 

 leaves of the birch saplings, etc. August to May. The moth flies 

 in June and July, and is often common in woods over almost 

 the whole of the British Isles, including the Hebrides and the 

 Orkneys. The range abroad extends to Amurland. 



The Ingr ailed Clay {Nodua piimulcB). 



This species, long known as fcstlva^ but for which Esper's 

 earlier name /W//w//^ will have to be adopted, is exceedingly 

 variable. Specimens of the more or less typical form and also 

 of the forms known as confliia and thiilei are portrayed on 

 Plate 113. The fore wings range in colour from pale ochreous 

 to chestnut brown, and from grey to smoky grey brown. The 

 cross lines are distinct in some specimens, but in others are 

 hardly visible ; the discal cell is often no darker than the 



