324 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Common Heath {Ematurga atomarid). 



Four specimens of this variable species are shown on Plate 141 

 (Figs. 4, 5 5 , 6, 7 ? ). The general colour of all the wings in 

 the male is ochreous, inclining to whitish or to brownish. 

 Usually the wings are speckled with brown, and the cross 

 lines, or bands, are dark brown. Occasionally the cross 

 markings are absent ; but more frequently the three lines on 

 the fore wings are much broadened and more or less united, 

 sometimes forming a central band in which are a few ochreous 

 scales towards the front margin: ab. obsoletaria^ Zetterstedt. 

 Dark brown or blackish specimens (ab. unicolorata, Staudinger) 

 are captured now and then in the southern counties of England, 

 but such uniform dark varieties are more frequent in the north 

 (Staftbrdshire and Yorkshire). The female is white in colour, 

 and usually only lightly speckled with blackish ; the cross lines 

 are more conspicuous, as a rule, than in the male, but they are 

 subject to pretty much the same kind of aberration. Some- 

 times examples of this sex greatly resemble Fidonia carbojiaria^ 

 and have been confused with that species by Haworth and 

 other entomologists in the past. An abnormal specimen with 

 six wings has been recorded, and Barrett mentions a gynandrous 

 example— the right side like a small dark female, and the left 

 an ordinary male ; both antennas shortly pectinated. 



The caterpillar, according to Fenn, is variable in colour 

 and markings, all shades of brown, greenish brown, ochreous, 

 purple, and grey ; in some examples there are pale diamonds, 

 and in others whitish spots, along the back. It feeds on ling 

 and heath, and will eat clover, trefoils, broom, etc. : July and 

 August, and occasionally September. The moth is out in May 

 and June, and sometimes there are specimens on the wing in 

 August. Abundant on almost every heath throughout the 

 British Isles, except in the Shetlands. 



