326 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



uncommon, and I have taken it in the Malvern district. British 

 specimens were first obtained near York. Porritt (" List of 

 Yorks. Lep.," 1904) states that it is still abundant in Bishop's 

 Wood, and is found in other Yorkshire localities ; also occurs 

 from Lancashire to Durham. In Ireland it has been reported 

 from Clonbrock, Gal way. 



The Red Chestnut {PacJmohia ruhrkosd). 



The fore wings of this moth (Plate 155, Figs. 5, 6) are 

 purplish red and more or less suffused with greyish. Some- 

 times these wings are more distinctly reddish and without the 

 greyish suffusion (var. rufa^ Haw.). The ^g'g is pale straw 

 colour, with a reddish-brown girdled dot. The caterpillar 

 (Pla*e 159, Fig. 3) is pinkish brown with three yellowish lines 

 along the back, the central one rather obscure ; a yellowish 

 stripe along the sides ; usual dots yellowish or whitish margined 

 with blackish ; head yellowish brown, lined with darker brown. 

 It feeds from April to June on dock, dandelion, groundsel, and 

 other low plants. The moth is out in March and April, and is 

 often not uncommon at sallow and plum blossom. It seems 

 to be pretty generally distributed throughout the British Isles, 

 including the Orkneys. 



The Hebrew Character {Tcmiocampa gothica). 



This species (Plate 155) varies in the general colour of the 

 fore wings from pale purplish grey to dark reddish brown. 

 Figs. 7 J and 8 5 represent the more usual form. The black 

 markings, often very conspicuous, are in the somewhat smaller 

 var. gothicina, reddish (Fig. 9). Sometimes in Scotch specimens 

 they are very indistinct or absent (Fig. 10). 



The early stages are figured on Plate 156. The eggs (Fig. 

 la) are laid in a batch, two deep towards the centre of the 



