Caterpillar blackish with four wavy yellow lines along the back, the spaces between the lines powdered and freckled with yellow giving a grey appearance; raised spots on the back red, those on the sides greyish; a black cross on rings three, seven, and eleven; hairs grey mixed with black. Head black and glossy. It feeds, after hibernation, in May and June, on lichens, preferring those upon oak trees. In the breeding cage it is apt to eat its companions, especially when many are crowded into a small receptacle. (Plate 94, Fig. 3.) The moth emerges in July, and during that month, and sometimes in August, it may be seen on tree trunks; but it more often reposes on the branches, from which it may be dislodged by jarring the boughs with a stick, when it drops rather than flies towards the ground, but generally manages to arrest its downward course by catching hold of a spray of bracken or some other plant and there awaits capture. Night is the usual {180} time of flight, but it is on the wing at dusk. It is partial to "sugar" and has been known to visit flowers. This species has been recorded from a large number of localities in England extending from the Scilly Isles to the Scottish border. From the circumstances connected with many of such captures one is led to suspect that the insect has migratory habits. In England the most favoured locality is the New Forest in Hampshire, where it abounds in some seasons, but is quite scarce in others. It occurs, more or less regularly, in the larger woods in Dorset, extending into Devon; also in Sussex ranging into Kent, but is only occasionally common in either of these counties. Generally considered to be uncommon in the eastern counties, but has been reported to occur in large numbers at Aldeburgh in Suffolk. The localities given in Kane's catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland are Killarney, Timoleague, Co. Cork, Curraghmore (abundant), Lismore, Borris, Co. Carlow, and Clonbrock. To these may be added Dublin, and Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Distribution: Central Europe, Southern Sweden, Livonia, Dalmatia, Armenia, Amurland, Corea, and Japan. THE BUFF FOOTMAN (_Lithosia deplana_). Fore wings, ochreous grey, tinged with yellow on the basal half of the front margins; hind wings paler, becoming greyer on the outer area; fringes of all the wings yellow. The male is fairly constant in colour, but the female sometimes has a distinct yellow stripe on the front margin of the fore wings extending to the fringes (var. _ochreola_, Hübn.); more rarely in the New Forest (?), and in the Isle of Purbeck a form occurs with the fore wings orange buff, and the hind wings only slightly tinged with grey (var. _unicolor_, Bankes). (Plate 97, Figs. 1-3.) [Illustration] Pl. 98. 1, 1a. HOARY FOOTMAN: _caterpillar and chrysalis_. 2. DINGY FOOTMAN: _caterpillar_. 3. DOTTED FOOTMAN: _caterpillar_. [Illustration]