THE SCARCE TISSUE. 1 59 



darker green stripes and lines. In another form there are four 

 pale yellowish lines along the back and a yellow stripe low 

 down along the sides. It feeds on buckthorn {Rhmnftus), the 

 leaves of which it fastens together with silk, and so forms a 

 retreat. It will also eat sloe and bird-cherry {Priaius padics). 



The moth is out in August and through the autumn, when it 

 sometimes visits the flowers of ivy, ragwort, etc. ; after hiber- 

 nation it is again seen, perhaps even more frequently, in April 

 and May, and is then occasionally found at sallow catkins. The 

 species seems to have been noted from nearly all the English 

 counties, but becomes rare from Yorkshire northwards. In 

 Wales, and in Ireland, it is apparently widely distributed, but 

 in Scotland it seems confined to southern localities, and is only 

 rarely met with. 



Abroad, the distribution spreads to Amurland, China, and 

 Japan. 



The Scarce Tissue {Encosfnia {CalocalJ>e) certata). 



This species is very similar to the last, but the wings are not 

 glossy, only reddish on the outer margin, and the black marked 

 lines edging the central band of the fore wings are less irregular 

 the inner ones usually being much straighten On the under 

 side of the hind wings of the male is a fold enclosing hairs ; 

 this is on the inner margin, just above the anal angle. (Plate 

 60, Fig. 3 ? .) 



The thickset caterpillar (Plate 62, Fig. 3, after Hofmann) 

 is greyish inclining to greenish ; four white lines along the back, 

 the central pair enclosing a dark line, the others are bordered 

 below with dark greyish ; the black spiracles are set in yellowish 

 blotches, and the plates on first and last rings are brown; 

 head, reddish-brown, glossy (adapted from Fenn). It feeds on 

 the barberry {Berberis vulgaris) and the holly-leaved barberry 

 (^. aqiiifolhiin) grown in gardens, in June and July. The moth 



