RANNOCH BRINDLED BEAUTY. 



297 



The caterpillar is brown, inclining to blackish or purplish, 

 the raised spots are black, and occasionally the sides are freckled 

 with orange (Plate 126, Fig. 2, 

 from a coloured drawing by 

 Mr. A. Sich). It feeds in May 

 and early June on oak, and 

 will also eat hawthorn, birch, 

 and elm. 



The moth, which is out in 

 February and March, appears 

 to be local, but has a wide dis- 

 tribution through England from 

 Durham to Hampshire, and 

 even Devonshire. It has also 

 been recorded from Denbigh- 

 shire, North Wales. A well- 

 known locality is Richmond 

 Park, in Surrey, and here it is 

 found resting on oak trunks 

 or on the grass stems, etc., 

 under or around the trees. The male is attracted by light. 



Fig. 16. 

 Small Brindled Beauty at rest. 



(Photo by H. Main.) 



Rannoch Brindled Beauty {Nyssia lappotiarid). 



The sexes of this species are shown on Plate 134, where Fig. 3 

 represents the male, and Fig. 5 the female. It was not known 

 to occur in the British Isles until 187 1, when a male specimen 

 was captured in Perthshire, on April 20 of that year. Mr. 

 William M. Christy, in 1895, bred some moths from larvse 

 obtained in the Highlands of Scotland, and he sent eggs to Mr. 

 F. W. Frohawk, who worked out the life history, and described 

 and figured all the stages from ^%g to perfect insect {E?ttom. 

 xxviii. 237). In July, 1900 and 1901, Mr. E. A. Cockayne found 



