THE MOTHER SHIPTON. 75 



caterpillar is pale green, with white-edged dark -green > -shaped 

 marks along the back, most in evidence on rings 4-1 1 ; two 

 slender whitish lines on each side, only distinct on rings 1-4 ; 

 a white stripe low down along the sides, edged above with 

 dark green and with whitish streaks from it to the white edging 

 of the marks on the back. Head, green, rather shining, with 

 dusky marks on each cheek (adapted from Fenn). It feeds in 

 July, at night, on the common stinging nettle, from the foliage 

 of which it may be beaten out, or, by searching, found on the 

 undersides of the leaves. In some years there is a second 

 brood in September. 



The moth is out in June, sometimes late May, and, when 

 there is a second emergence, in August. Occasionally it is 

 seen on fences, etc., but at night it visits the blossoms of 

 various plants, both wild and cultivated ; the flowers of spur- 

 valerian {Centranthus rziber), honeysuckle, and woundwort 

 {Stachys) being especially attractive, as also they are to the 

 Dark Spectacle, and most of the species oi Phisia. 



Although apparently commoner in some counties than in 

 others, this species ranges over the British Isles to the 

 Orkneys. 



The distribution abroad extends to Amurland. 



The Mother Shipton {Endidia mi). 



The ancient fathers of British Entomology were sometimes 

 happy in their selection of names in the vernacular for those 

 of our moths that were known to them at the time, and the 

 present species is a fair example of this. Moses Harris first 

 dubbed it the Shipton Moth, but afterwards changed the 

 name to the " Mask Moth." Both names refer to the peculiar 

 shape of the markings which adorn the fore wings and bear a 

 more or less fanciful resemblance to a grotesque mask, and 

 even more closely to the profile of an historical dame yclept 



