THE WHITE SPOT (_Dianthoecia albimacula_).
The moth shown on Plate 124, Fig. 1, is "The Beautiful Coronet" of some writers. Although a specimen was taken in Kent in 1816, nothing further was heard of the species in England until 1865, when one example was captured in the Portsmouth district. Then in 1873 caterpillars were found in the Birchwood locality where the first moth was secured. The next year the species was found to occur at Folkestone, and subsequently at other places along the Kentish coast. Since { 250} 1889 it has been obtained, not uncommonly, at Seaton on the South Devon coast. The caterpillar, which is somewhat similar to that of the last species, feeds in July and August on the seeds of the Nottingham catchfly (_Silene nutans_), but will thrive on those of other kinds of catchfly, campion, or even sweet-william and garden pinks. The moth flies in May and June.
THE VARIED CORONET (_Dianthoecia compta_).
In Europe this species has a less northerly range than _D. conspersa_, and its eastward range extends to Japan. The caterpillar feeds on the seeds of _Dianthus_.
In his list of the lepidoptera of Ireland (_Ent. Mo. Mag._, 1866), Birchall remarks: "A pair of this well-known species, taken in Ireland by Mr. Tardy, are in the collection of Trinity College, but I am unable to indicate the exact locality of their capture." This is probably all the evidence we have of the occurrence of this species in the British Isles. The specimen represented on Plate 124, Fig. 2, is from the Continent.
Except that the brown ground colour is sometimes of a reddish shade, or greyish in tone, there is not much to notice in the variation of this species. Occasionally the outlines of the reniform and orbicular marks are usually white and distinct, and now and then the black markings are intensified. Two specimens are shown on Plate 124, Figs. 3 [male], 4 [female]. The caterpillar is brownish ochreous freckled with darker, and with a pale central line and a series of dusky V-shaped marks on the back; a paler stripe along the whitish spiracles; head pale reddish brown, marked with darker brown. It feeds in July, sometimes in September, on campion, ragged robin, catchfly, and sweet-william and pinks. Fig. 3, Plate 130, is from a coloured drawing { 251} by Mr. A. Sich, and represents the caterpillar, as seen when making the sketch, holding a seed between its front pair of legs and up to its mouth. The moth is out in May and June, and in some years there is a second flight in the autumn. The species is more or less common over the greater part of the British Isles.