{229} The caterpillar is brownish, varying from ochreous to reddish, freckled with darker; the broken lines on the back are pale, with dark edges, and there is a brown freckled, pale ochreous stripe along the sides; the usual spots are black, and the spiracles whitish, edged with brownish; head brown marked with darker. It feeds on various low plants, and also on lettuce, beet, etc., in gardens; there are certainly two broods in most years, one in the summer and the other in the autumn. The moth is out in May and June, and again in August and September. Specimens have also been taken in July, and occasionally in April. The species has a very extensive range abroad, extending to India, Corea, Japan, and North America. THE FLAME (_Axylia putris_). This species, which is depicted on Plate 132, Fig. 13, is pretty constant in its pale coloration and darker markings. It is often common, and is widely spread throughout England, Wales, Ireland, and in Scotland up to Ross. The caterpillar is greyish brown, mottled and dusted with blackish, chiefly so on the sides; the central line is darker but indistinct, and there is a yellow spot on each ring; a whitish line on each side of the central one is edged above with curved black dashes, and these are most distinct on rings four to ten; {230} the eleventh ring is edged behind with ochreous; head dark brown; spiracles and raised dots blackish. (Adapted from Fenn.) It feeds on hedge bedstraw (_Galium mollugo_), dock, plantain, nettle, and many other low plants; also on lettuce. July to October. Generally the winter is passed in the chrysalis stage, and the moth comes out in the following June or July. Sometimes the moth has emerged in September. THE LESSER YELLOW UNDERWING (_Triphæna_ (_Agrotis_) _comes_ = _orbona_). This very variable species, of which the typical forms and two varieties are represented on Plate 115, is to be found, often abundantly, almost everywhere in the British Isles, except the Shetlands.