THE SMALL BLOOD-VEIN. 129 



rings four to eight ; undersurface bluish-grey with a central white 

 stripe. (Adapted from Fenn.) When reared from the egg, the 

 caterpillar will feed on knotgrass, chickweed, birdsfoot trefoil, 

 etc. The moths sometimes appear in August or September, 

 but the more usual habit of the larva is to hibernate when small 

 and complete growth in the following spring. 



The moth, which is out in July and early August, conceals 

 itself by day among the vegetation growing in its somewhat 

 restricted haunts. These are chiefly the marshes on the east 

 coast, and similar spots in Kent and Sussex; also the bogs of 

 Hampshire and Dorset, but especially those between Lyndhurst 

 and Brockenhurst in the former county. It is not readily put up 

 during the day, but towards evening it becomes active on the 

 wing, and after its flight may be found sitting about upon the 

 herbage. 



Abroad, it seems to be pretty much confined to Southern 

 Europe and North-west Africa. 



^yv>>v'v'\^ The Small Blood-vein {Acidalia {^Leptomeris) imitaria). 



^ sJJ^ ' All the wings of this pale reddish-brown species are angulated 



^ (Plate 49, Figs, ii and 12). A conspicuous character is the 



reddish or purplish-red stripe crossing both the wings, and to 



which its English name no doubt refers. It varies somewhat 



in the amount of reddish in the general coloration, also in the 



tint and the width of the prominent oblique cross stripe. 



• The early stages are shown on Plate 48, Figs. 2-2^. The eggs, 



when laid on June 18 and 19, were whitish-green, but soon turned 



pinkish, inclining to coral red. The caterpillars hatched July 



3 to 6, and were reared on a diet of privet leaves — a food that I 



have always found they preferred to any other that has been 



offered to them, and upon which I have found them in the open. 



They are exceedingly easy to rear, and if, as sometimes happens, 



they refuse to feed up and get through to the moth state in 



Series II, ^ 



