THE PEACOCK MOTH. 287 



The moth is a lover of the woodlands, and as it flies in the 

 daytime, especially when sunny, will be almost certainly noted 

 on the wing by any one rambling through the woods in June, 

 or even late May. It is generally plentiful in the south and 

 west of England, but although its range extends through the 

 northern parts of the country, and widely over Scotland to 

 Sutherland, it is more or less local and often rare in the 

 northern area indicated. In North Wales and South-west 

 Ireland, it is local, but not uncommon. 



The Peacock Moth {Semiothisa {Macaria) nofata). 



Whitish, with an ochreous tinge, and clouded with ochreous 

 grey ; three indistinct cross lines on the fore wings, commencing 

 as brownish spots on the front margin ; a larger brownish spot, 

 inclining to reddish, on the front margin beyond the angle of 

 outer line, and a large blackish or brownish divided spot below 

 it ; a shallow notch under the tips of the wings, edged with dark 

 brown, and fringed with smoky brown. (Plate 119, Fig. 7.) 



The caterpillar is green, with brown markings on the sides, 

 or brownish with green markings ; head, black as a rule, but 

 occasionally green. It feeds, in late June and in July, on birch 

 and sallow ; there is a second brood in August and September. 

 The moth may be beaten out from birch bushes in May and 

 June, and again in July and August. Woods are its favourite 

 haunts, especially those where heather and small birch abound, 

 but it is very local in the south of England, although it occurs 

 in most of the counties from Kent to Cornwall. Barrett states 

 that it is rather common in heathy woods in Staffordshire and 

 Cheshire, and Forsythe gives it as local and uncommon in the 

 Lancaster district ; also recorded from Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, 

 Herts (Bentley Wood, 1901), and Gloucestershire ; Glamorgan- 

 shire, South Wales ; Inverness and Ross, in Scotland. 



