Its fore wings are light grey, often tinged with rose pink, and marked with dark grey. The orbicular and reniform spots are very distinct, and surrounded by a pale line; they are both united at their lower edges. Along the hind margin is a series of dark spots. The hind wings are pale yellowish grey, with a darker central spot, a central transverse darker line, and a darker line along the hind margin. The caterpillar is yellowish grey. The dorsal line is lighter, and passes through a brownish spot on the eighth segment. It feeds on the honeysuckle (_Lonicera Periclymenum_) in July and August, being full grown towards the end of the latter month. _The Shark_ (_Cucullia umbratica_) The Shark is a very common moth, to be found everywhere on palings in June, but the colour of its wings so closely resembles that of oak and other light-wood fences that detection is not so easy as with most other moths. [Illustration: FIG. 173.--THE SHARK.] 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 vigorously as if to repel its foe. Family--GONOPTERIDAE _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 hybernates in the perfect state, and the hybernated 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. The caterpillar is green and velvety, with a whitish stripe on the side, and yellow spiracles. It feeds on willow (_Salix alba_) and sallow (_Salix caprea_); and when full grown, about the end of June, it spins a white silken cocoon between leaves of its tree, and changes to a very dark chrysalis. Family--PLUSIIDAE