Five examples of this variable species are shown on Plate 72, Figs. 8-12. The ground colour of the fore wings is usually greyish, more or less ochreous tinted, but sometimes inclining to whitish; the basal patch and the central band are reddish brown, the latter usually entire in southern specimens, but {183} frequently broken up (ab. _spadicearia_, Borkhausen), especially in northern examples. A bright, ochreous form, with the central band much streaked, occurring in Scotland, has been referred to ab. _salicaria_, Haworth. Occasionally the central band is dark purplish. The hind wings are whitish, more or less suffused with smoky grey, and lined with the same; the outer margin is bordered with smoky grey. The caterpillar is ochreous brown, mottled with greyish, and marked with pale diamonds and black spots on the back of the middle rings; there are wavy lines along the sides. It feeds in June and July, and also in September and October, on various low plants: knotgrass, dandelion, bedstraw, garden marigold, and ground ivy (_Nepeta_) being especially useful in captivity. The moth is usually double-brooded, at least in the southern half of England, the first flight occurring in May and June, and the second in July and August. The species is generally distributed, and often common, over the greater part of England and Wales, but somewhat local north of the Midlands and through Scotland to Aberdeen; widely spread in Ireland. FLAME CARPET (_Coremia_ (_Ochyria_) _designata_). The ground colour of this rather common woodland species (Plate 75, Figs. 4-6) is pale grey, varying to whitish, or sometimes faintly brownish tinged. The purple band on the fore wings is always broadly edged in front with black, but the black outer edging is irregular, and sometimes only distinct towards the front margin of the wings; it varies in width, and in tint, being, in some specimens, faint purplish grey. The caterpillar is ochreous, inclining to greyish on the back, which is marked with whitish lines on the front rings, and with ochreous diamonds and black dots on the other rings; there is also a row of black spots low down along the sides; head, {184} brownish, freckled with black. It feeds, in June and July, probably, in a wild state, on some kind of "cress," growing in the moister parts of woods; in confinement, it will eat cabbage, horseradish, and wallflower, among other kinds of Cruciferae. There is a second brood in August and September. (Plate 74, Fig. 3, after Hofmann.) The moth is out in May and June, and again in August. It is fond of resting on tree-trunks in woods, especially where the ground is moist, but it may also be beaten out of hedges and bushes. It is most plentiful in the southern half of England, but is spread over the greater part of the British Isles, including the Orkneys. Abroad, its range extends to Eastern Siberia, Amurland, Japan, and North America. THE BEECH-GREEN CARPET (_Amoebe olivata_).