2C2 



COMMON BEITISH MOTHS 



that of oak and other light-wood fences that detection is not so 

 easy as with most other moths. 



The fore wings are grey, and marked with longitudinal dark 

 lines, the principal of which is a line from the middle of the base 



to about the centre of 

 the wing. The wing 

 rays are also darker 

 than the ground 

 colour. The hind 

 wings are greyish 

 white or brownish 

 grey. 



The caterpillar is 

 very dark brown, with 

 orange spots on the 

 back and along the 

 spiracles. It feeds on 



sow-thistles (Sonchus oleraceus, S. palustris, and S. arvensis) and 

 sleepwort (Lactuca virosa) at night from July to September, and 

 hides during the daytime among the leaves that lie close against 

 the ground. When disturbed it does not roll into a ring or feign 

 death like many others of its kind, but wriggles about most vigor- 

 ously as if to repel its foe. 



FIG. 173. THE SHARK. 



Family GONOPTERID^ 

 The Herald Moth (Gonoptera Libatrix) 



The above-mentioned family is so called on account of the 

 angular margins of the wings, especially the fore pair. It contains 

 only one British species, the Herald (Plate XII, fig. 1), a moth 

 that is common everywhere in August and September. It hyber- 

 nates in the perfect state, and thejiybernated specimens may be 

 seen in the spring time, from March up to the end of May or the 

 beginning of June. 



Its fore wings are reddish grey, thickly spotted and streaked 

 with brown. Transverse whitish lines divide the base into three 

 parts of nearly equal widths. The basal and central divisions are 

 tinged with orange ; and there is a small white spot in the base 

 close to the thorax, also another near the centre of the wing. The 

 hind wings are brownish grey. 



