This moth (Plate 127, Figs. 8[male], 9[female]) has the fore wings greyish brown or reddish brown, sometimes tinged with ochreous in the paler forms, or with olive in the darker forms. There is also variation in the markings, and chiefly of the central forked streak which has been likened to the antler of the stag. In most British specimens of the greyish form this is white throughout its length, and it has three branches; the stigmata are whitish, and there is often a whitish bar below the central streak. A number of aberrations have been named, and of these the following seem to be the most important: var. _tricuspis_, Esp., reddish brown; branched streak, stigmata, and bar ochreous; var. _rufa_, Tutt = _tricuspis_, Hübn., as above, but the markings white; var. _ruficosta_, Tutt = _graminis_, Hübn., greyish brown, with reddish front margin, and ochreous markings; var. _hibernicus_, Curt., yellowish brown with the markings ochreous, and the stigmata more or less united with the central streak. In some specimens most of the markings are obscured or absent, and only the reniform stigma and the forked extremity of the central line remain distinct. [Illustration] Pl. 128. 1. FEATHERED EAR MOTH. 2, 3. STRAW UNDERWING. 4. SILVER CLOUD. 5, 6. FLOUNCED RUSTIC. 7. HAWORTH'S MINOR. 8, 9. HEDGE RUSTIC. [Illustration] Pl. 129. 1, 1a. BRIGHT-LINE BROWN EYE: _caterpillar and chrysalis_. 2. DOT MOTH: _caterpillar_. 3, 3a. BROOM MOTH: _caterpillar and chrysalis_. 4. BRINDLED GREEN MOTH: _egg, natural size and enlarged_. {257} The caterpillar, which is glossy, and the skin much wrinkled, is of a bronzy-brown colour, with black-edged pale lines; there is a brownish plate on the first ring and a blackish one on the last; the spiracles are black and the head is brownish, marked with darker. It feeds from March to June on grasses, and in some years and localities occurs in enormous numbers, denuding considerable areas of grass land. Rooks and other birds devour them readily, and where their feeding places are on hillsides, they are apt to be washed off by heavy rain, so that the drains and ditches become filled up in places by masses of these caterpillars. Even after such wholesale destruction, the moths may still appear in the autumn in countless numbers. The male moths are sometimes seen flying in the sunshine and visiting the flowers of thistles, ragwort, etc. Such flight usually takes place between eight a.m. and noon, but both sexes have been seen flying over grass and heather continuously from just before midday to four p.m. The moths are also on the wing at night, and the male is very susceptible to the attraction of light. The species has occurred in all parts of the British Islands, but its presence in the south of England would appear to be more casual than elsewhere. The range abroad extends through Northern Asia to Siberia. THE FEATHERED EAR (_Pachetra leucophæa_).