THE ARGENT AND SABLE. 20I 



August and September. One of the mouse-ear chickweeds 

 {Cerastium glomeratmn) has also been mentioned as a food 

 plant, and for rearing the caterpillars this would perhaps be 

 useful, as common chickweed, unless in a growing state, is 

 difficult to keep in a suitable condition for larval requirements. 



The moth, which is partial to a hedgerow as a hiding-place, 

 is out in June and July, and may be sometimes reared as a 

 second generation in September. 



The species is somewhat local, but it is not scarce in many 

 parts of England ; its range does not appear to extend north- 

 wards beyond Worcestershire on the western side, although it 

 has been recorded from North Wales ; on the eastern side it 

 is found up to Norfolk. 



^t^^.c^'^V'f'The Argent and Sable {Enlype hastata). ji^uc^fut 



ftii" ^ About one hundred and sixty years ago Wilkes figured this T 7 '^ 

 ky^^ species as " The Mottled Beauty," but Harris in 1778 gave it 

 ,A<' its present English name. On Plate 82 are shown two examples 

 I^^" of the typical form (Figs. 7, 8), also two specimens of the small 

 ^•^•^•s form (Figs. 10, 11), var. stibhastata, Nolcken {= hashdata, 

 '**'***^ Hiibner) ; the latter form in Britain occurs chiefly in Suther- 

 '^^k.landshire and the Isle of Lewis. As regards variation there 

 lTa^ 1S5 in the small form, a tendency to an increase of black; 

 ^x»_ whilst in the typical form there is a considerable reduction of 

 the black marking— so much so occasionally that of the central 

 black band only a few dots remain around the discal spot, and 

 perhaps a speck or two below it, and a dot or two on the inner 

 margin (ab. demoUta, Prout). 



The rather stumpy caterpillar is dark olive-green, inclining 

 to blackish, and somewhat shiny ; the skin along the sides 

 puckered and marked with ochreous ; a black line along the 

 middle of the back; head, black and glossy. It feeds, in 

 July and August, later in the north, on birch, Vacciniiini, chiefly 



