THE BARRED CHESTNUT. 225 



general colour, but sometimes there is a reddish square spot in 

 place of the usual black one : the reniform and orbicular marks 

 may be only faintly outlined, and the latter sometimes cannot 

 be traced ; the brownish band-like shade between the outer 

 and submarginal lines is frequently only indicated by a short 

 dash from the front margin, and even this is occasionally absent. 



The smaller moorland and mountain form, var. couflua^ 

 Treitschke, and in the vulgar tongue The Lesser Ingrailed, 

 varies on somewhat similar lines. (Plate 113, Figs. 8, 9.) Var. 

 tlmlei^ Staudinger, also varies greatly in colour and in marking. 

 Some specimens are dark reddish brown, or occasionally smoky 

 brown ; others are pale reddish brown, grey brown, reddish 

 grey, or grey ; the pale cross lines are generally distinct, in the 

 darker specimens especially. This form, which is pecuhar to 

 the Shetland Isles, is shown on Plate 113, Figs. 10, 11. In the 

 foregoing remarks reference has been made only to the general 

 trend of variation ; many other forms of aberration in this 

 species might be mentioned if space permitted. 



The caterpillar is pale or dark reddish or olive brown inclining 

 to pinkish between the rings ; the lines are yellowish, the 

 central paler edged with brown, and the outer ones edged with 

 blackish marks ; oblique darker dashes on the sides ; spiracles 

 black, ochreous ringed, with a pale stripe below them ; head 

 pale brown marked with darker. It feeds on primrose, bilberry, 

 dock, sallow, hawthorn, bramble, etc. August to May. (Plate 

 112, Fig. I-) The moth flies in June, but specimens of a second 

 generation have been obtained, in confinement, from August 

 to October. The species in one form or another occurs in 

 woods, on moorlands, etc., over the whole of the British Isles. 



The Barred Chestnut {N'octua dahlii). 



The sexes of this species are depicted on Plate 114. It ^^^ll 

 be noted that the female (Fig. 2) is darker in colour than the 



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