WOOD TIGER-MOTH. 
217 
wise two spots of the same colour on the anterior 
margin, varying much in size, and sometimes con- 
fluent. The hinder wings are ochreous-yellow 
(sometimes reddish) with two black stripes at the 
base, and a nearly continuous series of black spots 
along the hinder margin, in the male ; the whole 
base black in the other sex. The head, thorax, and 
biick of the abdomen are black ; the former >vith a 
yellow tuft on each side, and the thorax with lateral 
streaks of light-coloured hair, which, however, are 
granting in the female. In the latter sex the abdo- 
men is reddish, with a black dorsal line. 
The caterpillar, which feeds on the broad and 
narrow leaved plantain, chickweed, &c. is black 
and hairy, the six middle segments reddish on the 
back and sides. It is w'ell figured by Rosel, vol. iv. 
t. 24. 
The moth is found in June and July, and is not 
unfrequent in certain localities, although it does not 
seem to be generally distributed. We have seen 
several examples from Roxburghshire and some 
other of the border counties of Scotland, and it has 
been taken in Darenth Wood, as w'ell as in seve- 
ral places in the north of England. It has also 
been found plentifully in Shetland and the Orkney 
Islands. 
