The caterpillar is pale green clothed with long white, and a few black hairs; these fall downwards, and on the one side curve forwards, and on the other side backwards. Sometimes in the {192} south of England, more frequently in the north, the ground colour and hairs are yellow, and there are more or less distinct reddish brown bands on the back and sides. It may be found from July to September, or even later, on birch or alder, rarely on oak and poplar. The moth occurs in May and June, as a rule. In 1904 I took a freshly emerged specimen on July 23, at Byfleet in Surrey, and some half-grown caterpillars were obtained on the same day, and very near the same spot. The species is found in woods, and on heaths and mosses, where birch or alder flourishes, from Devonshire in England to Sutherlandshire in Scotland. It is not common anywhere in our islands, but is perhaps most frequently met with in the south and east of England. In Ireland it appears to have been found only in the southern counties. THE SYCAMORE (_Acronycta aceris_). The dark mottled grey moth on Plate 100, Fig. 5, is not much given to variation, but occasionally brownish suffused forms occur (var. _candelisequa_, Esp. = _infuscata_, Haworth). The caterpillar (Plate 102, Fig. 3) feeds in August and September upon sycamore, maple, and sometimes plum and chestnut. It has some black-edged white marks along the middle of the back; the pointed tufts of long hairs are yellow or reddish. When it is at rest on the underside of a leaf, or coils in a ring on being disturbed, the hair tufts gave the creature a somewhat prickly appearance. The moth is out in June and July. The species is more or less common pretty well through the southern and eastern counties, and fairly so in and around London. Its range extends to Warwickshire and Herefordshire; but it is scarce in both counties. The Irish localities for it are Claring Bridge and Ahascragh, Co. Galway; Glandore and Timologue, Co. Cork; Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. [Illustration] Pl. 102. 1. KNOT GRASS: _caterpillar_. 2. SCARCE DAGGER: _caterpillars_. 3, 3a, 3b. SYCAMORE: _caterpillar, chrysalis and cocoon_. [Illustration] Pl. 103. 1, 2. LIGHT KNOT-GRASS. 3. SCARCE DAGGER. 4. SWEET GALE MOTH. 5. CORONET MOTH. 6, 7. KNOT-GRASS MOTH. 8. MARBLED GREEN, _male_; 11 _female_. 9. MARBLED BEAUTY, _male_; 12 _female_. 10. POWDERED WAINSCOT. {193} THE POPLAR GREY (_Acronycta megacephala_). This moth is somewhat like that last noticed, but the fore wings are darker grey; the whitish orbicular mark is margined with black, and has a dark central dot. Sometimes the fore wings are clouded with blackish, and occasionally entirely suffused with black. In several species of _Acronycta_ newly disclosed specimens have a faint pinky tinge, but this is especially noticeable in the present species. (Plate 100, Fig. 6.)