Although there is some variation in the colour of the fore wings (which ranges from pale greyish brown to dark reddish brown), and also in the intensity and clearness of the markings, this species is far less aberrant than that last referred to, and {232} from which it is at once separated by the black mark on the front margin, placed on the inner edge of the submarginal line. The caterpillar is distinguished from that of _comes_ by the black-edged broader ochreous central line, and a series of black oblong spots on each side of it; the stripe under the spiracles is broad, and ochreous. It feeds from September to April on grasses and various low plants. The moth flies in July and August. The species is widely distributed in Scotland, and occurs in Unst, the most northern of the Shetland Isles. In England it occurs, or has been found, in Durham, Yorkshire, Worcestershire (Malvern), Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk (not uncommon in the "Breck" district), Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, Hants (rather commonly in the New Forest), and the Isle of Wight. For Wales, Barrett states that it is rare in Pembrokeshire; and Kane mentions Co. Galway (four specimens), Killarney, and Lisbellaw for Ireland. The range abroad is somewhat similar to that of _comes_, but it extends further north in Scandinavia. THE LARGE YELLOW UNDERWING (_Triphæna_ (_Agrotis_) _pronuba_). The colour of the fore wings of this common, and often abundant, species ranges through various shades of brown to dark purplish. In the typical form (Plate 115, Fig. 3), the wings are of the paler shades, mottled with darker, and the thorax, except the pale front, agrees in colour with the darker mottling of the wings. Fig. 6 shows the plain form (var. _innuba_, Treitschke), and it is in this form that the darkest colours appear; the thorax is always of the wing colour, and without the pale front. The black mark at upper end of the submarginal line is rarely absent, but I have a pale reddish-brown example of the _innuba_ form without the mark. In the black-bordered yellow hind wings a central crescent is very {233} exceptional, but specimens in which it is more or less evident are not unknown. The eggs figured on Plate 118 were found in August, 1906, on a leaf of gladiolus in the garden. When first noticed they were of a pale creamy-white colour, but two days afterwards the upper half of the batch became purplish grey, and the caterpillars hatched out the following morning, when the other half had also changed colour, and the larvæ hatched next day.