MOTTLED UMBER (_Hybernia defoliaria_). A female (Fig. 3) and four examples of the male of this variable species are shown on Plate 122. The ground colour of the fore wings in the male varies from whitish, through ochreous brown to dull russet brown; the cross bands (when present) range in colour from reddish brown to dark purplish, almost blackish, brown; in all the paler specimens the ground colour is more or less sprinkled or suffused with brownish; the darker specimens are sprinkled with dark purplish or blackish. Ab. _obscurata_, Staud., is almost uniformly dull brownish, and an example approaching this form is represented by Fig. 4. When deposited the eggs (Plate 125, Fig. 1b) were deep straw yellow. {294} The caterpillar (figured on Plate 125, Fig. 1, from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich) has various shades of reddish brown on the back, and yellowish on the sides and beneath; the line above the red-marked white spiracles is black, and this has an interrupted edging of white. Fig. 1a shows a pale form. It feeds on the foliage of birch, oak, and other forest trees, also on fruit trees, rose, honeysuckle, etc. It often occurs in great abundance, and is largely responsible for the leafless condition of the trees, sometimes noticed in May. The moth appears from October to December, and occasionally in January, February, or March. Generally abundant throughout England and Wales; widely distributed, and often common in Ireland; not uncommon in the south of Scotland, but becoming less frequent northwards to Perthshire and Aberdeen. MARCH MOTH (_Anisopteryx aescularia_). [Illustration: FIG. 12. MARCH MOTH, MALE.] [Illustration: FIG. 14. MARCH MOTH, FEMALE X2.] [Illustration: FIG. 13. MARCH MOTH, FEMALE.] (Photos by H. Main.) Examples of each sex are shown on Plate 122, Figs. 7 and 8 [male], 6 [female]. The male varies in the general colour from pale to dark grey; the central area being sometimes smoky tinged. In the north of England, chiefly in Yorkshire, blackish specimens occur in which the markings are more or less obscured. [Illustration] 2 Pl. 124. 1-3. SMALL BRINDLED BEAUTY. 4-6. BELTED BEAUTY. 7, 8. BRINDLED BEAUTY. [Illustration] 2 Pl. 125. 1. MOTTLED UMBER: _egg, natural size and enlarged, and caterpillars_. 2. SCARCE UMBER: _egg, natural size and enlarged_. 3. DOTTED BORDER: _caterpillar_. 4. MARCH MOTH: _caterpillar_. {295} [Illustration: FIG. 15. PALE BRINDLED BEAUTY. (Photo by H. Main.)] The caterpillar is pale green with a rather darker line along the back, and yellowish lines along the sides. It feeds on hawthorn, sloe, privet, lilac, currant, plum, cherry, rose, etc., also on oak, hornbeam, and some other trees: April to June. The figure of the caterpillar on Plate 125, Fig. 4, is from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich.