92 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The moth, which is out from late May until early July, fre- 

 quents the more open parts of woods, and in the daytime may 

 be induced to show itself by tapping the lower branches of trees 

 or brushing the bushes and undergrowth as we pass along. 



The species is widely distributed over England, from 

 Staffordshire southwards, but it is apparently most frequently 

 met with in some of the woods of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. 



The distribution abroad extends to Amurland. 



The Beautiful Snout {Bomolocha fontis). 



The portraits of this species on Plate 35 show each sex in its 

 most usual form : Fig. 8 representing the male, and Fig. 9 

 the female. The outer and inner areas of the fore wings are 

 generally ashy grey, more or less brownish tinged, in the male ; 

 and the same parts are whitish in the female. Although some 

 examples of the male have the outer and inner areas whitish, 

 as in the female, they can be distinguished by their darker hind 

 wings and the blackish central crescent thereon. A form of 

 the female in which the large central patch of the fore wings is 

 reddish brown has been named ntfescens^ Tutt ; there may be 

 males also of this form, but I have not seen any. In both 

 sexes, the brown patch extends nearer to the inner margin in 

 some specimens than in others, and not infrequently there is a 

 spur from the lower edge of the patch to this margin. 



The caterpillar is green, with darker green lines, one along 

 the middle of the back, and two along each side ; the usual 

 raised dots are green or brownish, and each emits a fine hair ; 

 the head is green and rather glossy. It feeds on bilberry 

 ( Vaccinium myrtilliis) in August and September. (Plate 37, 

 Fig. I ; after Hofmann.) The moth, which is out in June and 

 July, hides by day among heather, bilberry, etc., especially 

 where these plants overhang the edges of banks or trenches. 

 It may be found locally in most of the southern counties of 



