l66 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



with reddish ; another white hne along the region of the 

 spiracles. It feeds, in May or June (earlier or later in some 

 seasons), on sallow and birch. The moth is out in July and 

 August, and frequents heaths and bogs more especially, but is 

 also found in or around woods, and I have captured male speci- 

 mens as they flew along hedgerows bordering fields, at dusk, in 

 Middlesex. The female is rarely seen on the wing. 



The species, which ranges through Central and Northern 

 Europe to the Ural and Altai, is generally distributed throughout 

 the British Isles ; it is found also in the Atlantic States of 

 America. 



Northern Spinach {Lygris populata). 



The fore wings are yellow, with a reddish or purplish-brown 

 basal patch, central band, and small patch on outer margin 

 below tip of the wing, the central band more or less clouded or 

 mottled with yellow. Hind wings, whitish, tinged with yellow. 

 The female is usually smaller, the colour generally paler, and 

 the markings frequently only represented by cross lines. Speci- 

 mens from the Isle of Arran have the ground colour of fore 

 wings more or less dappled with brown of the same tint as that 

 of the central band and other markings ; the hind wings are 

 tinged with a smoky hue. In other parts of Scotland the brown 

 colour becomes more and more general, until the fore wings are 

 uniformly brown, and the hind wings dusky. On the mountains 

 in the north nearly black specimens occur, and these seem to be 

 referable to ab. mtcsaiiaria, Freyer. (Plate 63, Figs. 8-10.) 



The long caterpillar is variable in general colour, brown, 

 mottled with greyish, pale grey, reddish brown, or yellowish 

 green ; all have darker or whitish lines along the back, and 

 whitish or pinkish triangles or X-marks. It feeds, in May and 

 June (earlier in some localities, and later in others), on bilberry, 

 crowberry, and sallow ; it may also be reared on willow. 



