COMMON CARPET. 197 



marks enclosing white ones ; sometimes there is a V-mark 

 instead of lines on ring 4 ; head, large, pale brown sprinkled 

 with blackish, and marked with a blackish V, the apex of which 

 appears to meet the central line of the body. It feeds, at 

 night, in July and August, on bedstraw {Galium mollugo^ and 

 G, veruin), but will thrive very well on cleavers or goose-grass 

 {G. aparine). The chrysalis, which is enclosed in a cocoon of 

 silk coated with earth, is reddish brown, thorax and wing-cases 

 paler, shining. A coloured drawing of the caterpillar, kindly 

 lent, with others, for this volume, by Mr. A. Sich, has been used 

 for the figures on Plate 79, Figs. 2, ia \ but the description of 

 the caterpillar, and also of the chrysalis (Fig. 2^^), are from 

 material that Mr. Pope, of Exeter, was good enough to furnish. 

 In captivity a second brood may be reared in August. 



The moth is out in July and early August, and although local, 

 is not uncommon in bushy places on downs, etc., also in lanes, 

 in chalk districts, in most of the southern and eastern counties. 

 In the north of England it is far more local and uncommon, 

 but is known to occur in Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Cumberland, 

 and has been recorded from Durham. It is found in Wales, 

 and in Scotland has been noted as very local in Roxburgh- 

 shire and rare in Clydesdale and Arran. Kane states that in 

 Ireland it is " very rare and local." 



Common Carpet {Xanthorhoe {Epirrhoe) sociata). 



The white ground colour of this species is nearly always 

 obscured, to a greater or lesser extent, by greyish markings and 

 suffusions on the basal area ; the outer margin is broadly 

 bordered with dark grey, and the white band between this and 

 the dark-grey central band is intersected throughout its length 

 by a grey line. As shown on Plate 81, Figs. 6, 7, the central 

 band varies in width ; it is often contracted below the middle, 

 sometimes completely severed at this point, and in ab. degenerata^ 



