244 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the outer margin may be pale. Sometimes these pale markings 

 are tinged with pink, and more rarely the whole surface is 

 pinkish suffused. The caterpillar is yellowish-green with reddish 

 V-shaped marks on the back ; a yellowish line along the black- 

 margined white spiracles. Buckler figures a reddish-brown 

 form, with a yello.vish stripe below the spiracles. -It feeds in 

 August and September on birch, oak, golden rod, bog myrtle 

 {My/ ica gale), dock, brake-fern {Pieris agnilina), etc. The 

 moth appears in June, and may sometimes be seen in the day- 

 time on tree trunks or palings. It is a woodland species, but 

 although it occurs in most southern and eastern counties, it is 

 not common in any of them j it becomes commoner in the 

 Midlands, but is scarce in, or absent from, the northern counties 

 of England, and in Wales. In Scotland it is more frequent in 

 some localities from Argyll to Ross. Kane notes it as local, 

 and sometimes abundant, but from the localities given it would 

 seem to be widely distributed in Ireland. The range abroad 

 extends through Northern Asia to Japan. 



The Broom Moth {Mamestra pisi). 



The moth shown on Plate 122, Figs, i, 2 varies considerably, 

 in the colour of the forewings ranging from purplish red to 

 dingy ochreous brown or greyish brown. The cross lines and 

 occasionally the stigmata and shades may disappear, but the 

 yellow submarginal line always remains, at least in part. The 

 caterpillar (Plate 129, Fig. 3) feeds on the foliage of a variety of 

 plants including brake fern or braken, sweet gale, broom, bramble, 

 wild rose, and sallow, and may be found, often in the daytime, 

 in August and September. It is usually of some shade of green 

 or brown, occasionally blackish, with yellow stripes. The moth 

 is out in June and July and is more or less common almost 

 throughout the British Isles. The range abroad extends to 

 Amurland. 



