THE BEAUTIFUL BROCADE. 243 



July, and occasionally in the autumn. Its haunts are marshy 

 places, especially on the coast, and mosses ; and it is found 

 in most of the seaboard southern and eastern counties, and 

 more rarely inland. Recorded from Ayr and Kirkcudbright in 

 Scotland ; is widely distributed in Ireland, and not rare in 

 Louth and Kerry. 



The Pale -shouldered Brocade {Mamcsira ikaiassim). 



The whitish or creamy-white patch at the base of the 

 reddish-brown fore wings is a noticeable feature of this moth 

 (Plate 121, Fig. 7), and is almost always present, even when the 

 wings are darkened and the other markings more or less 

 obscured. The W-like angles of the white submarginal line 

 run through to the fringes. In some specimens the general 

 colour is purplish brown, and in others greyish brown. 

 The caterpillar is greyish-brown with a slight reddish tinge, 

 and freckled with darker brown ; the usual dots are black ; 

 central line dusky, a series of darker oblique dashes on 

 each side of it ; the line along the spiracles is rather broad 

 and sometimes edged above with blackish. It feeds in August 

 and September on dock, groundsel, honeysuckle, broom, sallow, 

 hawthorn, apple, etc. The moth is out in June, earlier or later 

 according to the season ; sometimes it appears again in August 

 or September, It may be found, commonly as a rule, in most 

 woods over the greater part of the British Isles. 



The Beautiful Brocade {Mamcsfra contl^ua). 



The moth (Plate 12 r. Fig. 6) has a pale patch at the base 

 of the fore wing, but this is not so conspicuous as is the pale 

 orbicular stigma, which is often united with a pale mark at its 

 lower edge ; another pale patch lies at the inner angle, and the 

 whole area between the second cross line and the clouding on 



