THE

LEPIDOPTERA

OF THE

BRITISH ISLANDS
VOL. VI.

-

£763

T 1 1 E

LEPIDOPTERA

OF THE

BRITISH ISLANDS

A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE FAMILIES, GENERA, AND

SPECIES INDIGENOUS TO GREAT BRITAIN AND

IRELAND, THEIR PREPARATORY STATES,

HABITS, AND LOCALITIES

CHARLES G. BARRETT, F.E.S.

.1 ■ ED ! 01

HE " ENTOMOLOGIST'S MONTHLY MAG/

VOL. VI

HETEROCERA

NOC TUINA— Q.&OME TRINA

LnNl/OX

LOVELL REEVE AND CO. LIMITED
4Dubli0lirrs to tijr Home, Colonial, ffttfc lEirtian ffinbrntmrnts

HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
1900

343438

APR 8 - I9B2

LEPIDOPTEKA.

Division II.— HETEHOCEUA.

Group 3. NOGTUINA.
Family 2. TRIPID-ffi.
Genus 77. HOPORINA.

Antennas ciliated ; eyes naked, with front and back lashes ;
thorax helmeted or raised to a pointed and ridged cone ;
abdomen decidedly flattened, not crested ; costa of fore wings
arched at the base and apex, hind margin retuse, expanded
below ; hind wings thin and delicate, crossbar and vein 5
almost imperceptible.

We have but one species.

1. H. croceago, Schiff. — Expanse 1\ to 1| inch. Fore
wings with the costa a little hollowed in the middle, arched
at the base ; colour rich orange with a Y-shaped central
stripe ; hind wings white tinted with pink.

Antennas of the male simple, almost naked, orange-red ;
palpi porrected, conical, narrowly tufted, purplish-orange ;
eyes naked, brown ; head pointed, smooth, orange-yellow
dusted with brown ; collar erect, thrust forward in the middle
by an upright pointed conical tuft, single and slightly ridged
behind, whole thorax rich orange, having a few small black
dots along the margins of the shoulder lappets ; fascicles
white ; abdomen also white, broad and much flattened but

VOL. VI. A

2 LEPIDOPTERA.

short, lateral tufts spreading, anal tuft small and flat, white.
Fore wings retuse, costa arched at the base, and rounded
toward the apex, but faintly hollowed in the middle ; apex
angulated, almost squared ; hind margin below it straight or
slightly retuse, perpendicular, full at the middle, thence a
little rounded off, but with full anal angle ; dorsal margin
straight to near the base ; colour rich orange-yellow ; ex-
treme edge of the middle portion of the costa pure white,
and there is a tuft of white scales at the base of the dorsal
margin ; basal line slender, often hardly perceptible, curved,
leaden-black ; first line faintly indicated by a black dot each
on the subdorsal and median nervures, and an angulated
streak above ; second line by a regular series of black dots ;
before it is a more noticeable, slender central shade, very
oblique, forked round the reniform stigma so as to form a
long Y, and composed of leaden-black clouding or minute
dots ; the spiracular line is a mere thread of similar atoms,
rather bent in the middle and scarcely attaining the margins ;
orbicular and reniform stigmata obscure and very similar,
being mere rounded spots of rather paler orange than the
general colour ; cilia concolorous. Hind wings rather small
with sinuous hind margin ; white, with a small pinkish cen-
tral spot, followed and partly surrounded by an irregular
series of pink connected lunules and threads ; cilia white.
Female so accurately similar that it is difficult to separate
the sexes.

Underside of the fore wings silky white tinged with orange,
and dusted with brown along the costa, apex, and hind
margin ; the Y-mark of the upper side faintly visible ;
beyond it is a faint partial dotted brown line. Hind wings
white, the costal region dusted with orange ; central spot
lanate, pink, followed by a slender undulating pink trans-
verse line. Body and leg-tufts white tinged with orange ;
tibias orange, barred with white.

Very constant in colour, or only occasionally a little
paler, but there is some little variation in the distinctness

TRIFID&. 3

of the stigmata and the central shade. Some individuals
reared at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, by Mr. F. Norgate, are
of a very unusual reddish -orange colour.

On the wing in September, October, and occasionally the
beginning of November, and after hybernation from March till
May, and even later. I have seen a specimen, undoubtedly
old and hybernated, which was captured in July.

Larva cylindrical, the twelfth segment slightly raised ;
head large, rounded and flattened in front, pinkish-brown
reticulated with darker ; body dull yellow, reddish-yellow,
dull orange, or pale yellow, irrorated with pale brown ; a
series of prominent V-shaped pale brown dorsal markings from
the fifth to the twelfth segments, and pointing backwards, is
intersected by an interrupted pale yellow dorsal line, and
frequently shaded externally with a brighter or paler tint of
the ground colour ; the V on the twelfth segment is abruptly
terminated by two lemon-coloured spots which cause it to
appear wedge-shaped; usual raised dots of the ground colour,
or paler, distinctly encircled with grey ; spiracles black,
each placed in a brown shade ; prolegs tinged with pink.
(C. Fenn.)

April to June or the beginning of July, on oak — apparently
preferring oak underwood.

Pupa highly polished, rounded, semi-transparent ; anal
extremity blunt, with a minute terminal bristle ; colour bright
orange or red-brown. In a soft compact cocoon of silk and
sand, on or close to the surface of the ground. In it the
larva remains for a considerable time before assuming the
pupa state. (C. Fenn.)

This exquisitely beautiful moth conceals itself during the
day among dead leaves, to which it bears a close resemblance.
At dusk it will come to sugar, ivy-bloom, hop-blossom, ripe
blackberries, or rotten apples, in the autumn ; and to sallow-
bloom in the spring, frequenting this favoured food as long

4 LEPIDOPTERA,

as it continues available. I know of no other Nodua of such
exceedingly gentle, placid habits as this : it continues to
move about until it fades to a pale yellow, and even until the
scales gradually wear off its wings, yet scarcely ever becomes
ragged or shows any indication of rough contact with leaves,
grass, or any substance likely to damage it. Moreover, it is
comparatively indifferent to weather, and will quietly visit its
favourite food during cold winds and heavy rain. Never
very common, but found in and near open woods in Kent,
Sussex, Surrey, Middlesex, Hants, Devon ; rarely in Dorset,
Cornwall, Somerset, and Gloucestershire ; also in Herts,
Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. In Wales it has been
taken in Glamorganshire, and by Col. Partridge at Dolgelly.
I have no knowledge of its occurrence elsewhere in the
British Isles. Abroad it is found throughout Central Europe,
Northern Italy, Spain, and Northern Turkey, but probably
has a far more extensive range, since it occurs in Japan.
Specimens from that country have received the name of
scricea.

Genus 78. DASYCAMPA.

Antennae ciliated ; eyes naked, with long front and thick
back lashes ; thorax faintly crested ; abdomen rather flat-
tened, without crests, but having colour-imitations; fore
wings truncate, spotted, but without definite markings ;
hind wings broad, blackened ; discal cell very broad, cross-
bar curved ; vein 5 very faint.

We have but one species.

1. D. rubiginea, Schif. — Expanse If to 1^ inch. Fore
wings truncate, smooth, orange-ochreous, abundantly dusted
with orange-red, and with black ; a black central spot and a
row of black dots along the hind margin being well marked ;
cilia also spotted. Hind wings black-brown with red cilia.

Antennae of the male thick, notched, thickly ciliated in
fine tufts, red-brown ; palpi strongty tufted, pointed, red-
brown ; eyes black-brown ; head densely tufted, pale fulvous

TRIFID&. 5

with a black bar across the face below the antennae ; thorax
fulvous, the collar edged with dark red and having on each
side a black dot ; fascicles dusky- white ; abdomen much
flattened, pale ochreous with a dusky-black band across each
segment, and on the basal segments long dull yellow hair-
scales in which are one or two dorsal orange-red dots
imitating crests ; lateral tufts small but continuous ; anal
tuft broad and flat, pale ochreous. Fore wings truncate ;
costa very faintly arched ; apex squarely angulated ; hind
margin perpendicular and straight to below the middle,
thence rounded off ; dorsal margin faintly rounded ; colour
smooth orange-ochreous or pale orange-red abundantly dotted
with black, and dotted and clouded with orange-red, but the
normal pattern of markings is thereby confused and rendered
obscure or scarcely noticeable ; basal line indicated by pairs
of black dots ; first line in the same manner, but toward the
dorsal margin these coalesce into two pairs of crescents ;
second line indicated by a row of black dots which is toler-
ably direct and not very oblique, followed by two more
parallel rows ; subterminal line also a row of deep black
dots obscured by an edging of red clouds, but two of the dots
placed just above the middle are large and conspicuous ;
stigmata not very perceptible, mere pale clouds, except that
a large and conspicuous black spot is placed in the basal
portion of the reniform ; sometimes the orange-red clouding
forms a sort of central shade ; extreme hind margin edged
with small black lunules ; cilia purplish-ochreous, spotted
with reddish-black. Hind wings not large, having a sinuous
hind margin ; colour smoky-black ; cilia orange-red. Female
quite similar, the anal tuft narrower.

Underside of forewings dull pale ochreous, the middle area
clouded with smoky black, in which is a deep black spot ;
some of the nervures are streaked with glossy pink; hind
margin dotted with black. Hind wings also dull pale
ochreous ; central spot large, lunate, black ; beyond it is a
slender orange-red transverse line ; hind margin dusted with

6 LEPIDOPTERA.

red, and preceded by two or three small smoky-black clouds
toward the apex. Body and legs pale ochreous ; tibia3 barred
and tipped with purple-red.

Slightly variable in the degree of black dottiug over the
surface of the fore wings and rather more so in the orange-
red dappling; sometimes this colour in a great measure
suffuses the whole surface, in which case the black dots are
diminished in number or almost obliterated, and in one form,
well known on the Continent, the colour is smooth orange-
chestnut without other markings except small black dots in
the reniform stigma and along the hind margin. The nearest
approach to this variety which I have seen here has been
obtained in Somersetshire ; as also has a somewhat similar
but deeper red form, almost unicolorous, but having one or
two white dots on the costa ; and another suffused with red-
brown.

On the wing in October and November, going into hyber-
nation only when the cold becomes severe, appearing again
from the end of February till April ; but when reared in
captivity almost every individual seems to emerge in August
or September.

Larva 1£ inch in length when at rest, but more than \\
when in motion, having unusual power of self-extension and
contraction ; stoutest at the twelfth segment and thence
tapering regularly to the head, which is the smallest ; the
thirteenth tapering rapidly behind, the anal pair of prolegs
remarkably close together ; the skin is soft, and each seg-
ment swells out plumply in the middle. When full grown
the head is intensely black ; the body purplish-brown,
glistening in certain lights with a faint, violet, mealy gloss ;
dorsal region curiously freckled with very fine blackish-
brown curved marks which do not touch the other markings
but allow them to stand out quite distinctly ; dorsal vessel
visible as an indistinct paler dorsal line ; down the back from
the fourth segment are transversely oval blackish-brown

TRIFID^E. 7

blotches, which in some instances assume the form of a thick
clumsy X, or a pair of curved blotches, on each segment;
subdorsal and spiracular lines to be distinguished rather by
the absence of the blackish -brown freckles than by any
decided line of another tint ; spiracles small, black, and
shining ; the whole body covered with very fine silky hairs
of a beautiful golden-brown ; undersurface paler than the
back, and somewhat tinged with green.

When just hatched the young larva is of a semi-transparent
purplish tint with shining brown head and the usual dots
black and distinct, each emitting a long wavy whitish hair.
The first food eaten is the empty egg-shell, but as soon as
leaves begin to be consumed the larva becomes pale green.
After a few days it changes to brown, and the hairs appear
golden in the sunshine; after another moult the general
colour becomes darker brown, and the transverse rows of
raised dots appear to the naked eye like dark bands. When
about three-fourths of an inch in length it assumes a waxy,
shining appearance, with the head and collar shining black ;
after the next moult it is nearly black all over, but this does
not last ; in a day or two the skin becomes paler and of an
ochreous-brown, with rather paler dorsal, subdorsal, and
spiracular lines ; the head dark brown ; a dull dark brown
plate on the second segment, and another on the tip of the
anal segment ; raised dots black and distinct ; the oval
blotches on the dorsal region visible or replaced by oblong
dots ; the hairs brown, very fine and silky. It is not till
near full growth that the darkness of the dorsal and anal
plates, and of the raised dots, disappears and the adult
colouring is assumed. (Adapted from a description by the
Rev. J. Hellins.)

April to June on plum, sloe, apple, knot-grass, dandelion,
and apparently other trees and low plants. Mr. E. R. Bankes
found that larvae, which he was feeding up upon dandelion,
eagerly seized upon an opportunity of devouring dead and
dried alder leaves; while Mr. W. Holland discovered that

8 LEPIDOPTERA.

those which were fed up to half-growth upon apple leaves,
and from that to full growth upon dandelion, became full
grown a month earlier than those fed wholly upon apple.

Pupa moderately stout, cylindrical, but a little depressed
at the junction of the back of the thorax with the abdomen ;
thence rather swollen for two-thirds of the length of the
abdomen, which tapers to a somewhat obtuse point, where
are two hooked spines arising from a rather thickened base,
and surrounded by a few short bristles ; surface shining,
dark purplish-brown. In a thin cocoon composed of
particles of earth, lined very smoothly with silk, and
having two or three threads of silk in which the anal hooks
are inserted.

The moth has been found, though very rarely, sitting upon
the trunks of trees in the daytime ; doubtless it usually hides
among the leaves. At dusk it will visit sugar, ivy-bloom in
the autumn, sallow-bloom and the blossoms of plum or black-
thorn in the spring, and has been known to come to light.
Always a very scarce species in these Islands, and found more
frequently in Devon and Somerset than elsewhere ; but also
taken occasionally in various localities in Surrey and Sussex ;
at Christchurch, the New Forest, and the Isle of Wight,
Hants ; the Isle of Purbeck and elsewhere in Dorset ; not
very rarely near Reading and elsewhere in Berks ; and in
Wilts, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire, and
even at Cambridge, where two were taken in the year 1873
by Dr. F. D. Wheeler. This appears to be its northern limit
here. In Wales it has been found in Monmouthshire. In
Ireland the late Mr. E. Birchall took it near Dublin, at Tul-
lamore, and at Killarney ; it is also recorded from Wicklow
and Galway. Abroad its distribution seems to be through
Central Europe and the temperate portions of Northern
Europe, Northern Italy, and Corsica.

TRIFID^E. 9

Genus 79. CERASTIS.

Antennas threadlike ; eyes naked, with short front and back
lashes ; thorax rather flattened, faintly crested at the back ;
abdomen broad and much flattened, without crests ; fore
wings horizontal when at rest, short and truncate, or very
blunt, with expanded hind margin ; hind wings broad, cross-
bar very faint ; vein 5 hardly perceptible except close to the
hind margin.

Larvae elongate, cylindrical, but attenuated in front, with
a well-marked dorsal plate. Feeding on trees and also on
low plants.

PuPiG subterranean.

We have three species, rather closely allied :

A. Fore wings very broad with the apex bluntly angulated.

B. Fore wings drab, liver-coloured, or red-brown, several

black dots in the base of the reniform stigma.

C. crythrocephala.
B-i. Fore wings chestnut-red, with a black or brown spot
filling the base of the same stigma. C. vaccinii.

A2. Fore wings narrower, apex pointed, hind margin refuse.

C. ligula.

1. C. erythrocephala, Schiff. — Expanse 1^ to 1| inch.
Fore wings broad behind and very blunt ; pale purplish-brown
rippled with purple-red, or else dark purple-red ; in the base
of the reniform stigma is a cluster of dark dots ; hind wings
smoky-brown with a purplish gloss.

Antennas of the male simple but ciliated with regular tufts
of fine bristles almost resembling minute pectinations, brown ;
palpi short, so broadly tufted as to obscure the apical joint,
purple-brown ; eyes smooth, brown, with dense black back
lashes ; head tufted, pale chestnut ; thorax similar, smooth,
with a faint flattened tuft at the back ; fascicles smoky-

io LEPIDOPTERA.

white ; abdomen broad, much flattened, pale purplish-brown ;
lateral tufts small but placed on a distinct ridge ; anal tuft
squared and very flat, dusky pale yellow. Fore wings short,
broad and very blunt ; costa gently rounded ; apex very
bluntly and squarely angulated ; hind margin below it filled
out and rounded, even expanded, slightly crenulated, very
oblique toward the anal angle ; dorsal margin slightly rounded ;
colour pale purple-brown, with a considerable frosting of white
scales which produce an ashy-brown appearance ; basal and
first lines both indistinct but duplicated, the pairs widely
separated, broken up into obscure purple-red crescents ;
second line similarly composed of a double series of very
obscure crescents and waved lines ; subterminal line a series
of cloudy purple-brown dots, preceded on the costal margin
near the apex by a similar triangular spot ; orbicular stigma
only indicated by the lower half of a slender red margin ;
reniform stigma also visible by its red margin, but open on
its upper side, and having its lower portion occupied by three
or four red-black dots of different sizes ; cilia pale purple-
brown with a rather darker undulating line along the base.
Hind wings rather broad ; hind margin a little hollowed
below the apex ; smoky-brown with darker nervures ; cilia
pale brown tipped with white. Female accurately similar,
but with the body a little stouter.

Underside of the fore wings purplish-drab ; the middle
area occupied by a smoky cloud in which is a suggestion of
a darker reniform stigma ; beyond this is a smoky transverse
line. Hind wings smoky- white dusted along the costal area
with purple-brown ; central spot large, lunate, smoky-black ;
toward the hind margin is a slender undulating smoky-black
transverse line. Body and legs purplish-brown.

There is a well-known recurrent variety — var. glabra — in
which the pale purplish-brown ground colour is replaced by
deep glossy rich purple-brown or dark chestnut-brown, but
with the stigmata and an incomplete submarginal stripe ashy-
brown or ashy-white, and the lines faintly similar. This is

TRIF1D&. 1 1

a very different-looking insect from the type and decidedly
more rare. It occasionally varies more in the direction of
purplish-umbreous.

On the wing in October and November. In its usual
haunts it hybernates and reappears in the spring, but I find
no record of such an occurrence with us.

Larva paler or darker brown-grey or yellow-brown with
three slender paler dorsal lines, of which the two sub-dorsal
are often invisible ; raised dots on the dorsal region white ;
spiracles black ; undersurface pale grey ; dorsal plate pale
brown or black with two white or yellow lateral streaks ;
anal plate similar ; head black-brown. (Hofmann.)

June and July on low plants; but Iiossler fed the young
lame at first on oak leaves, later upon snowberry and herba-
ceous plants, and it is not improbable that, as in some other
species, the leaves of trees are at first preferred, but after-
wards forsaken for low-growing plants.

Pupa red-brown, in a thick cocoon in the earth. Not
further described.

Very little is known here of the habits of this extremely
rare moth, but it has been taken at ivy-bloom, at sugar and
once at a gas lamp. The first specimen known to have
occurred in this country was secured in November 1847,
near Brighton, by Mr. H. Cooke ; this proved to be of the
var. glabra. In 1858 he met with a second, and one was
taken by the Kev. J. Image, both in the same neighbourhood.
In the meantime, in 1856, a specimen also of the var. glabra
had been taken near Plymouth by Mr. J. J. Eeading ; and
soon after (1859) one was secured near Marlow by Mr. A. H.
Clarke. Mr. S. Stevens, one of our oldest entomologists,
still active, and always willing to help me in this work, says :
" I have a fine series which I obtained from time to time,
taken under the South Downs between Brighton and East-
bourne, and again inland between Dover and Canterbury."

12 LEP1D0PTERA.

There are also records of captures at Wells, Weston-super-
Mare, Somerset, and one at St. Albans. After this the insect
seems to have disappeared for some years, but in 1872 and
1873 both forms were taken near Lewes by Mr. J. H. A.
Jenner, and one at Darenth Wood, Kent ; and it is said to
have been obtained more recently in the New Forest. Yet
it must again have very nearly disappeared for twenty years,
until in 1894 a single specimen was secured in Devon. These
are all the instances of its occurrence in these Islands of
which I have any knowledge, and are restricted to the
counties of Sussex, Kent, Hants, Bucks, Herts, Somerset,
and Devon. Abroad it appears to be local, confined to
Central Europe and Northern Italy, but in some districts is
said to be plentiful.

2. C. vaccinii, L — Expanse \\ to If inch. Fore wings
short, broad, with very blunt apex ; chestnut-brown marbled
and rippled with red or purple-red; base of the reniform
stigma usually filled by a black or brown-black spot ; hind
wings black-brown, often shaded with red ; cilia light purple-
red.

Antennas of the male stout, simple, minutely ciliated, red-
brown ; palpi short, densely tufted, purple-red, apical tuft
obscure ; eyes naked, reticulated, black, lashes also black ;
head densely tufted, bright chocolate-red; thorax broad,
rather flattened, similar in colour but more purple-red at
the back, where also is a flat tuft ; fascicles pale brown,
tinged with purple-red ; abdomen much flattened and dilated
behind, purplish-red, clouded at the base with long paler
hair-scales ; lateral tufts conspicuous, upon a broad ridge ;
anal tuft rather short and squared, both orange-red. Fore
wings short, broad, excessively blunt ; costa nearly straight ;
apex obtusely angulated ; hind margin below it sloping
outward and much expanded, faintly crenulated and curved
back to the anal angle; dorsal margin a little rounded;
colour pale chestnut, chestnut-brown, or dark tawny, clouded

TRIFID&. i3

and rippled with purple-red ; basal region to the first line of
the latter colour, the line itself double, placed in broad
curves, dark red-brown ; second line of unusual form, the
portions toward the margins of the wing being placed oppo-
site each other, waved and scalloped, while the middle portion
is curved out toward the hind margin, sometimes very
strikingly so ; outside it on the costa is a large purple-brown
cloud, cut off before the apex ; subterminal line a partial row
of black dots, which is followed by a more complete row of
clouded black streaks ; orbicular stigma large, extended so as
almost to reach the costa, but only indicated by its rust-red
margin ; reniform stigma also large and broad, similarly
indicated, but its lower area occupied by a dull black spot ;
between these is a deeper purple-red blotch extending as a
curved line or central shade to the dorsal margin; costa
toward the apex dotted with pale brown ; cilia chestnut-red
clouded with purple-red. Hind wings rather small, with the
hind margin sinuous, smoky-brown or smoky-black, some-
times tinged in its middle portion with purple, and in that
case showing a slender angulated central transverse line ;
cilia long, purplish-red, shading to paler at the tips. Female
quite similar, or with the hind wings more clouded with
smoky-brown or smoky-purple ; abdomen rather thicker.

Underside of the fore wings pale chestnut, with smoky
clouding toward the base and dorsal margin ; beyond the
middle is a slender undulating darker transverse stripe,
followed by another rather more direct, though curved.
Hind wings pale purple, dusted with brown and broadly
clouded and dusted with chestnut toward the costal area ;
central spot a small black-brown crescent ; beyond it is a
slender undulating purple-brown transverse stripe. Body
and legs dark purple-brown.

Variable in the depth of the ground colour and in the
degree of marbling or rippling of purple-brown ; often this
darker colour suffuses the whole surface except the hind
margin, and the fore wings become of a very smooth uniform

i4 LEPIDOPTERA.

dark purple-brown ; or the whole is of an equally smooth
chestnut-red ; or it is ornamented with short white lines upon
the nervures. When this last character is added to the usual
typical form the variety seems to be called var. mixta ; when
to the very dark form, var. spadicea; but these names are
somewhat arbitrary, all the variations being inextricably inter-
mingled. In the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper is a curious
specimen of an unusually bright red-brown, shading off to
drab. It was reared at Rotherham, Yorks. The darkest
purple-brown form, with the hind margin normal, is usually
a Western variety, from South Wales especially, but it has
once been taken at Droitwich, Cheshire, by Mr. G. W. Wynn.
On the wing from September till November, and after
hybernation in March and April.

Larva elongate, velvety, attenuated in front ; head small,
rounded, shiniug reddish-brown dusted with dark brown ; on
the second segment is a horny plate of a dark reddish-brown
with three white lines ; general colour purplish-red or reddish-
chocolate with a greenish tinge, and faintly irrorated with a
paler shade of the ground colour ; dorsal and subdorsal lines
only just perceptibly paler, the former often interrupted with
grey at the incisions ; spiracles black, distiuct ; undersurface
and sides below the spiracles dull pale green ; usual raised
dots whitish or pale grey, most distinct on the sides. (C.
Fenn.) Dr. Chapman points out that the dividing-line
between the colours of the upper and under surfaces, where it
exists, is waved or zigzag, and the difference really is only
one of intensity of colour, in the most part without any real
dividing-line. The area above this is dark, and it is by these
characters more particularly that the larva of this species is
to be distinguished from the very similar larva of the following.
When quite young it is of a delicate semi-translncent appear-
ance, of a pale flesh tint with very few markings.

May and June on oak, elm, sallow— even feeding in the
catkins — and on knot-grass and other low-growiug plants ;
while upon the trees it conceals itself between leaves during

TRIFID&. i 5

the day, when upon low plants underneath their leaves,
feeding always at night.

Pupa elongate, shining ; wing and antenna-cases projecting
very slightly over the abdomen ; anal extremity blunt, with a
minute bristle ; colour bright mahogany or orange, the inci-
sions, dorsal shade, and anal segment darker brown ; spiracles
small, black. In a thick silken cocoon on or immediately
under the surface of the ground. (C. Fenn.)

The moth hides in the daytime among dead leaves and
herbage upon the ground. At dusk it comes most eagerly to
sugar and remains upon it, indifferent to the light of a lantern,
until satiated, when it crawls lazily away and may be seen
hanging to a twig anywhere about the trunk and main
branches of the tree. It comes with equal zeal and deter-
mination to ivy-bloom, over-ripe blackberries, rotten apples,
and almost any sweet substance, in the autumn ; and during
the winter will crawl out of its hiding-place on any warm
evening to look for food, becoming exceedingly worn in this
process. An entomologist who has sugared for experiment
through the winter has found this species feeding on every
mild night, and has even seen the same marked individuals
night after night. In the spring it resorts to sallow-bloom and
the blossoms of blackthorn and plum, and it is at this season
that pairing takes place and eggs are deposited.

Everywhere abundant in woods and well-timbered districts,
and to be found almost all over England, Wales, and Ireland,
and almost all Scotland, with the exception of the Isles, and
apparently of the more western districts north of the Clyde
Valley. Abroad its range extends throughout Central Europe
and the temperate portions of Northern Europe, Northern
Italy, Southern Russia, Armenia, and the mountainous
regions of Central Asia.

3. C. ligula, Esp. ; spadicea, Stainton, Newman ; sub-
nigra, Haw. — Expanse 1 J to 1] inch. Fore wings short
but not very broad, retuse behind, with the apex decidedly

j 6 LEPIDOPTERA.

pointed; dark red-brown or purple-brown, sometimes marbled
or banded behind with paler. Hind wings black-brown, with
pale purple cilia.

Antennae of the male simple, cylindrical, minutely cili-
ated, red-brown ; palpi short, excessively tufted, dark purple -
brown ; eyes leaden-black, their lashes dark brown ; head
strongly tufted, dark purple-brown, dusted with white ;
thorax similar, smooth, minutely and flatly tufted at the
back ; fascicles pale smoke colour, tinged with purple
abdomen flattened and dilated, purple-brown dusted with
black ; lateral and anal tufts widely flattened. Fore wings
not very broad, even in width ; costa very nearly straight ;
apex rather squarely yet sharply angulated ; hind margin
beneath it straight or faintly hollowed, filled out in the
middle, and below this crenulated and rounded off; dorsal
margin faintly rounded ; colour deep dark purplish-chestnut
or purple-red, varying to red-black ; surface glossy, mark-
ings hardly perceptible except by the aid of a lens ; basal
line arising from a white dot on the costa, obscurely angu-
lated and edged with black ; first line also from a white
costal dot but only perceptible as an angulated red shade
edged with purple-brown ; second line hardly more distinct,
much angulated but erect and bent outward in the middle,
red-brown ; subterminal line sometimes visible as a row of
small red-brown clots in a stripe of paler ground colour which
often precedes the hind margin ; costa beyond the middle
dotted with minute oblique white streaks ; cilia purple-
brown, dotted with pale red, and having an orange-yellow
faint line along their base. Hind wings rather small, with
a sinuous hind margin ; colour smoky-black with a purple-
red gloss ; cilia orange-red shot and tipped with white.
Female hardly distinguishable.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black with the costal
and broad hind-marginal regions purple-red dusted with black.
Hind wings smoky-white, dusted with black and broadly
clouded along the costal region with purple-red ; central

TRTFIDM. 17

spot obscure, blackish ; halfway between it and the hind
margin is a slender sinuous straight smoky-black stripe ;
cilia purple-red. Body and legs dark purple-red ; tibiae
banded with white.

Rather variable in colour, varying from reddish-chestnut
to deep dark purplish-brown or black-brown, sometimes
with a pale stripe before the hind margin ; this in the redder
forms is light chestnut, but in those of the darkest colour
occasionally greyish-drab and conspicuous. These striped
forms seem to be almost confined to the west, and are most
frequent in Wales. Probably this is the supposed species
called subnigra by Haworth, Curtis, and Wood. In the
collection of Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher is a series of the present
species of unusually large size, many specimens having the fore
wings more than usually broad and the hind margin rather
increasingly expanded yet angulated, and the apex pointed.

On the wing in October and November, and in mild
weather through the greater part of the winter, but hardly
ever living till the spring. I have only a single record of the
occurrence of this species in April.

Larva rather velvety, attenuated in front ; head small,
rounded, shining reddish-brown dusted with dark brown ;
dorsal plate also reddish-brown or black-brown, with three
white lines ; body chocolate-red or red-brown faintly marbled
with a paler shade of the same ; dorsal and subdorsal lines
obscurely paler, the latter often shaded with darker colour
below, or even forming a dark olive-brown lateral stripe ;
spiracular stripe broad, straight, and distinct, reddish-
orange ; spiracles ringed with black ; ventral surface paler
chocolate-brown. Very similar to the preceding, but recog-
nisable by the bright spiracular stripe.

April to June on hawthorn, oak, sallow — sometimes in
the catkins — plum, honeysuckle ; aud when older on low-
growing plants such as chickweed.

Pupa apparently undescribed.

VOL. VI. B

18 LEPTDOPTERA

This species has the singular habit of depositing its eggs
in midwinter, so that its larvas hatch out about three weeks
earlier than those of 0. vaccinii ; the moth, however, usually
emerges from pupa a week or two later than that species. It
hides in the daytime in the same manner among leaves,
usually upon the ground, and comes at dusk with equal
readiness to sugar, ivy-bloom, over-ripe blackberries, rotten
apples, and other sweets, and may be similarly attracted in
mild weather in the winter, but seems usually to perish
before the spring. Partial to lanes and hedges as well as
woods, and often to be found on the small bunches of bloom-
ing ivy in the hedges. More local than the last species and
usually much less common, yet far from rare in the Southern
and Eastern Counties and throughout the west and south-
west ; also to be found in suitable places throughout England,
even to Cumberland and Northumberland ; yet, so far as I
know, not recognised in Scotland. This must, I think, arise
from its having occasionally been confounded with G. vaccinii,
and not from total absence, though Dr. Buchanan White says
that of its presence in that country there is no satisfactory
evidence. Tn Wales it is moderately common, to Pembroke-
shire ; in Ireland always rare, but has been noticed in Kerry,
Tyrone, Cavan, and Antrim, and at Enniskillen. Abroad, if
not overlooked or confounded with the previous species, its
range is not very wide, being confined to Central Europe, the
South of France, and Spain.

Genus 80. SCOPELOSOMA.

Antennae threadlike ; eyes naked, with strong front and
back lashes ; thorax squared and having a distinct narrow
top crest ; abdomen much flattened and without crests ; fore
wings long, even in width, hind margin decidedly scalloped ;
hind wings broad, with crenulated hind margin ; vein 5
hardly perceptible.

We have but one species.

TRIFIDAH.

19

1. S. satellitia, L.— Expanse 1| to If inch. Fore wings
elongated, the hind margin expanded and scalloped; rich
chestnut-red marbled with darker ; the lines black ; reni-
form stigma white or yellow with a similar dot above and
below. Hind wings smoky- black.

Antennae of the male thick, simple, minutely ciliated, red-
brown, whiter at the base ; palpi short, broadly and densely
tufted ; eyes shining black, lashes at front and back curled
over, brown-black ; head thickly tufted, pale chestnut dusted
on the top with white ; collar of the same colour, with a
dusting of white toward the back ; thorax broad, squared,
and smooth, except that between the two halves of the collar
arises a tall narrow crest or tuft, erect and almost conical,
chestnut-brown, as is the rest of the thorax ; fascicles smoky-
white ; abdomen pale smoky-brown, flattened, and much
dilated behind ; lateral tufts broad, anal tufts rather nar-
row, very flat, all pale tawny. Fore wings elongated, blunt ;
costa a little arched at the base and also close to the tip,
but otherwise almost straight ; apex angulated ; hind margin
rounded but expanded below the apex, and very neatly and
beautifully scalloped or crenulated throughout ; dorsal mar-
gin nearly straight ; colour rich bright chestnut ; lines
obscure, the basal being a slender partial purple-red streak,
edged outwardly with paler ; first line erect, slender, nearly
straight, purple-red ; second line also erect and but little
angulated or bent, leaden-black with a faint clouding of the
same on the nervures on each side ; subterminal line a faint,
rippled, cloudy pale chestnut thread, in a large, rather ovate,
deep chestnut band, which fills the hind marginal space ;
orbicular stigma hardly perceptible, or, if visible, only as a
pair of small round paler clouds ; reniform stigma the only
conspicuous marking on the wing, short, lunate, pure white
or orange-yellow, with a similar dot each at its upper and
lower corners (a sort of half moon with two satellites, whence
its name), costa beyond the middle faintly dotted with yellow;
extreme hind margin exquisitely edged by a rich red crescent

20 LEPIDOPTERA.

in each scallop, enclosing a yellow dot ; cilia following the
undulations of the margin, rich chestnut shaded with purple-
brown. Hind wiugs not large, the hind margin sinuated ;
dull smoky-brown, almost smoky-grey, paler in front, ner-
vures rather darker; cilia brownish-white. Female so
similar as to be rather difficult to distinguish.

Underside of the fore wings pale yellowish-brown dusted
with black and having a large smoky-black central cloud
which is thickly clothed with long hair-scales ; reniform
stigma rather blacker, and edged outside with a white dot ;
beyond this is a slender smoky-black transverse stripe.
Hind wings dusky brownish-white, heavily dusted with dark
brown; central spot lunate, smoky-black; beyond it is a
fairly straight but sinuous smoky-brown transverse line.
Body and legs purplish-brown.

Not very variable beyond the constant alternation of the
reniform stigma and its attendant dots between pure white,
and deep yellow, orange, or even chestnut — in which last case
these markings also are very obscure — but in Yorkshire
specimens are obtained which are much suffused with black-
brown, or even black, and others dull brown with very little
of the usual chestnut colouring. Scotch specimens are
rather richly coloured, and one in the cabinet of Mr. Sydney
Webb is of a wonderful crimson-red, especially crimson
toward the base.

On the wing in September, October, November, and when-
ever the temperature is mild, in the winter, becoming very
much more scarce toward the spring, yet found occasionally
in March and April.

Larva nearly cylindrical but with the anterior segments
tapering ; head narrow, rounded above, clear bright brown
on the crown, black-brown about the mouth ; colour of the
body rich velvety brown ; the second segment has three
longitudinal lines on the back of a paler colour, and of these
the middle one is less distinctly pronounced than the other

TRIFID^E. 21

two ; these appear like the anterior extremities of dorsal and
subdorsal stripes, the remaining portion of which in most
specimens has been obliterated, but which in some are
slightly indicated throughout the entire length of the body ;
on a line with the spiracles is, between the second and third,
and again between the third and fourth segments, a some-
what linear but inconstant snow-white spot, a linear white
spot on the fifth and another on the eleventh segment;
these seem like broken portions of a spiracular line, which is
very evident in some specimens, but scarcely perceptible in
others ; ventral surface, legs, and prolegs paler and less
velvety than the dorsal surface ; legs variegated with black.
(Newman.)

May and June on oak, sloe, maple, willow, the seeds and
leaves of wych-elm and of primrose, various low-growing
plants, and the larvae of its own and especially of other
species. This last depraved habit, however, does not seem
to be universal. Dr. Chapman, when expressly experiment-
ing upon this habit, could not induce his larvae to destroy
their fellow-captives ; he even confined several larvae in a
small tumbler and stinted their supply of vegetable food
without provoking them to do each other any injury. On
the other hand, Mr. Newman relates how he lost a brood of
fifty-seven larvae of Tccniocampa populati, all of which were
devoured by a single larva of the present species accident-
ally introduced with fresh food. Those also which h'e inten-
tionally reared for description refused oak-leaves and feasted
on larvae of the common winter-moth (Cheimatobia brumata)
and others. This habit is indeed so well established that
German entomologists know this larva as "Mordraupe"
(murder-caterpillar). In other respects it seems to be arbi-
trary in its tastes, since it sometimes leaves trees when well
grown to feed on low-growing plants, yet has been known, when
feeding upon primrose, to leave it and eagerly devour the leaves
of wych-elm. When young it is said to draw together the
leaves of the tree it inhabits and hide between them.

22 LEPIDOPTERA.

Pupa yellow-brown ; in a slight cocoon in the earth. Not
more particularly described.

The moth has the habits of the previous species, and is
rarely seen in the daytime. At dusk it comes eagerly to
sugar, ivy-bloom, ripe blackberries, and rotten apples; and
occasionally to light. It will move about and sometimes
feed on any mild night throughout the winter ; pairs very
early in the spring, and lays its eggs in March. From this
time it is scarce and hardly notices the sallow-bloom, though
such individuals as are about will still come to sugar. Most
plentiful in woods, but generally distributed throughout
England, except perhaps the western half of Cornwall, and
in most districts abundant, the present Fen districts and some
portions of the Midlands forming in some degree an excep-
tion. Common also in both North and South Wales, and
throughout the South and East of Scotland, also in West
Ross, and has been taken by Mr. Cheesman at Stromness,
Orkney. Found all over Ireland, and usually common in
that country. Abroad it ranges through Central, and the tem-
perate portions of Northern, Europe, Northern Italy, Southern
Russia, and the mountainous regions of Central Asia. In
North America is a variable species called S. sidus, Gn.,
which may possibly be no more than a local race of the
present.

Genus 81. XYLINA.

Antennas ciliated, sometimes tufted at the base and clothed
with scales which taper off ; eyes naked, with lashes in front
and at the back, the latter curled ; head furnished with pro-
jecting tufts ; thorax square, shouldered, crested at the top
and back ; abdomen slightly flattened, usually with three to
five small crests or tufts. Fore wings long and narrow, with
the apex blunt and the anal angle rather excavated. Hind
wings small ; crossbar faint : vein 5 from below its middle.

TRJFIDjE. 23

LAfiViE cylindrical, smooth, naked, with distinct lines ;
feeding upon trees.

Plt.<e subterranean.

We have five species, not difficult to distinguish.

A. Fore wings white mottled with grey, a black streak

irom the base. X. rhizolitha.

A2. Fore wings brown.

B. Thorax dark umbreous. X. seynibrunnea.
B2. Thorax pale brown. X. jpctri/icata.
A3. Fore wings slate-coloured or black.

C. First line of the fore wings angulated but perpen-

dicular. X. conformis.

C2. First line angulated but oblique and bent. X. lambda.

1. X. semibrunnea, Haw. — Expanse 1| to If inch.
Thorax squared, with the shoulders prominent, dark um-
breous. Fore wings very narrow, hardly broader behind,
pale umbreous, blackened along the dorsal half ; near the
middle of the dorsal margin is a curved paler streak, and at
the anal angle another ; hind wings brownish-white.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, dark
brown ; palpi broadly tufted, reddish-brown, apical joint
long, blunt, and porrected ; eyes naked, reticulated, black ;
lashes curled over them, black-brown ; head prominently
tufted in two pairs of projecting pointed tufts, umbreous
tipped with darker ; thorax squared, the outer edges of the
shoulder-lappets raised into a sort of epaulet, purplish-
umbreous, rather paler in front ; top crest narrow, pushed
forward, and faintly divided, back crest small and rather
flattened, both black-brown ; fascicles brownish-white ; abdo-
men slightly flattened or dilated, light purplish-brown ;
having the dorsal ridge ornamented with six crests, black,
and all small except the third, which is tall and conspicuous ;
lateral tufts small, placed on a dilated ridge ; anal tuft
compressed and rather squared. Fore wings long, narrow

24 LEPIDOPTERA.

throughout ; costa very nearly straight ; apex bluntly
angulated ; hind margin oblique, curved, strongly crenu-
lated, and excavated at the anal angle ; dorsal margin very
faintly hollowed ; colour pale umbreous dusted with black,
and the dorsal half of the wing strongly shaded with the
same, the nervures in particular lined or dotted with black ;
an elongated black streak precedes the anal angle ; usual
markings only fragmentary and hardly perceptible, but
between the dorsal margin and the median nervure are
faintly paler angulated streaks representing the first line,
and a curved pale streak in the usual place of the second
line, which, however, is more fully suggested by a curved
series of single or double brown dots in the paler costal
region ; beyond these are several dark brown wedges, and
close to the hind margin some black streaks pointing inward
between the nervures ; these last streaks are edged with
pale brown in such a manner as to produce a slightly zigzag
effect along the hind margin ; upper stigmata faintly per-
ceptible as paler unmargined clouds, the orbicular flattened
and oblique, the reniform shortened ; cilia deeply scalloped,
pale umbreous with an undulating dark brown intersecting
line. Hind wings rather short and small with very sinuous
hind margin ; smoky yellowish-white, darkened toward the
hind margin, and with the nervures brown ; cilia crenulated,
pale purplish-brown. Female extremely similar, but with a
smaller anal tuft.

Underside of the fore wings very pale brown dusted with
darker, and clouded in the middle with smoke-colour ; discal
cell filled with long prostrate hair-scales; reniform stigma
indicated by a black spot; cilia dark brown. Hind wings
yellowish-white dusted with purple-brown, especially so
toward the costa and apex ; central spot conspicuous, lunate,
smoky-black ; cilia purplish-white. Body and legs pale purple-
brown.

Very constant in colour and clouding and in the deficiency
of markings.

TR1F1D.-E. 25

On the wing in September, October, and sometimes
November; more rarely, after hybernation, in March and
April.

Larva cylindrical but tapering slightly from the fourth
segment to the head, which is full and rounded, pale bluish-
green faintly reticulated with darker ; body tapering a little
behind, delicate pale and bright yellow-green ; dorsal stripe
broad and very distinct, whitish-yellow, rather narrower at
each extremity ; subdorsal line well defined only on the
second segment, as is also the beginning of a faint line
below it ; on the remainder of the body these are very thin
and faint, composed of a series of short whitish streaks much
interrupted ; the remainder of the dorsal ground colour,
except the dorsal and anal plates, very finely freckled with
yellowish atoms ; raised dots whitish-yellow, each set in a
green ring ; spiracles oval, white, delicately outlined with
black ; along them the green colouring is a little deepened ;
below is a broad sulphur-yellow stripe, extending down the
front of the anal prolegs ; ventral surface similar in colour to
the back; prolegs of the same colour, provided with very
sharp hooks. A day or two before retiring to the earth it
becomes suffused with brown, deepening at the last to
purplish-brown.

When just out of the egg it is of a pellucid yellowish-
green with a faint opaque yellowish-white dorsal line ; a few
days later the subdorsal lines begin to appear, and in a fort-
night these have become more distinct. (Adapted from
Buckler.,)

May to the end of June or beginning of July on the
leaves of ash, remaining upon the tree and clinging tena-
ciously to the leaves or leaf-stalks ; but when full-fed leaving
the tree to spin up in the ground.

Pupa red-brown, apparently undescribed.

The moth seems never to be observed at laiye in the

26 LEPIDOPTERA.

daytime ; probably it rests in trees. Its resemblance, when
quiescent, with its wings folded straight down, almost rolled
round its body, and coloured with different shades of umbreous
and black, to a bit of stick, is so close that it would almost
certainly pass unobserved. At night it frequents ivy-bloom,
and will come to sugar; it has also, though rarely, been
taken at sallow-bloom in the spring. A local species, and
usually scarce. To all appearance attached more especially
to chalky districts, aDd is more frequent in the West of
England than elsewhere. It has been found as near to
London as Lewisham, and elsewhere in Kent at Charlton,
Darenth, Dover, and Sheerness ; in Surrey, very rarely, at
Guildford, Mickleham, and Hampton Court ; also in Sussex,
Dorset, the south coast of Devon, Somerset, Wilts, Berks,
Bucks, Oxfordshire, Middlesex ; St. Ives, Hunts ; Whittles-
ford, Cambs; Suffolk, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worces-
tershire, and even Cumberland. There is a record of its
capture, commonly, at Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, which
record, had it been of its capture rarely, might have been
accepted, but I confess to a strong suspicion that the species
there taken was X. petrificata, in the darker variety known
in Wales. It does not appear to have been seen in Scotland.
Iu Ireland Mr. Kane records it as found in Galway and
rather commonly in Kerry. Abroad its range is through
Central and Western Europe, Southern France, and Austria.

2. X. petrificata, Schiff. ; socia, Stand. Cat. — Expanse
1^ to If inch. Fore wings narrow, contracted behind ;
brownish-buff clouded a little with rust-red and sometimes
with black ; in the middle is a whitish dot and below it a
short similar curved streak. Hind wings pale brown with a
purple flush.

Antennas simple, ciliated, dark brown, but toward the
under portion of the base clothed with white scales; palpi
broadly tufted, whitish-brown shaded outside with dark
umbreous ; apical joint prominent but blunt ; eyes naked,

TRIFIDjE. 27

reticulated, black, the lashes black and also curled; head
densely covered with scales, which take the form of prominent
pointed tufts, whitish-brown; collar erect or even curved
forward in a strong ridge in the middle, whitish-brown
slenderly barred with umbreous ; rest of thorax of the same
colour, with a few scattered black dots on each side; top
crest ridged, divided, thrusting the collar forward; back
crest small and flattened ; shoulders squared, the outer edges
of the lappets being prominent ; fascicles abundant, long and
curved, white; abdomen pale brown, with a distinct erect
black crest on the dorsal ridge of its third segment, and
sometimes a smaller one on the following, or black-brown
spots on the remainder ; lateral tufts small ; anal tuft squared
and tinged with yellow. Fore wings narrow throughout;
costa faintly curved ; apex bluntly squared ; hind margin
elbowed, crenulated, a little contracted ; dorsal margin un-
usually straight; colour pale brownish-drab or brownish-
buff, tinged along the dorsal half with rusty-brown or
occasionally with blackish clouding; nervures shaded or
dotted with red-brown ; markings absent or hardly percep-
tible, when present pairs of brown dots on the subdorsal and
median nervures are connected by long, slender, deeply angu-
lated streaks, forming an obscure first line, while the second
line is rather more clearly indicated in a curved series of
pairs of black-brown dots ; beyond this is a series of small
wedge-shaped fulvous clouds, and along the hind margin
another series intermingled with short black-brown streaks ;
orbicular and reniform stigmata suggested by pale unmargined
clouds, between which, and below, is a partial central cloud
of reddish-umbreous above and blacker below, edged as to its
lower portion by a pale drab spot; costa faintly dotted with
small dark and pale cloudy spots ; cilia yellowish-drab dashed
with fulvous. Hind wings rather ample; flatly rounded
behind but hollowed below the apex ; smoky-brown shading
paler to the base and shining with a golden or purple gloss ;
cilia brownish-white. Female accurately similar.

28 LEPJDOPTERA.

Underside of the fore wings pale drab, slightly clouded
with smoky-black and with a small black spot at the reniform
stigma. Hind wings yellowish-white dusted with brown, and
shaded with the same toward the apex ; central spot small,
smoky-black, followed by a slender brown transverse shade.
Body and legs pale drab.

Not very variable, but in western districts, and especially
in South Wales, the dorsal half of the fore wings in some
specimens, or even the whole surface, is more than usually
clouded with rusty-red mixed with black, and the usual
small central cloud is increased in size and blackened, some-
times spreading into a broad ill-defined leaden-black patch
over the dorsal margin. In such examples the pale clouds
representing the stigmata are rather more distinct. A much
more red form has been taken at Enniskillen, Ireland, by
Colonel Partridge. But the most remarkable aberration
known to me is in the collection of Mr. Sydney Webb ;
in it the surface of the fore and hind wings is dappled over
with brownish-white, partially in rings, as though the usual
colour had been semi-fluid and had been rained upon !

It may be well to observe that, although the darker western
forms of this species seem to approach more nearly in colouring
to X. scmibrunnca, they are never of the umbrcous ground
colour of that species, nor are the fore wings ever so narrow
as in it.

On the wing from September till the beginning of Novem-
ber, and, after hybernation, from February till April or the
beginning of May.

Larva nearly uniformly cylindrical, with the segmental
divisions conspicuous ; head smooth and globular, quite as
broad as the second segment, pale green variegated with
white ; skin soft, rather pulpy to the touch ; the usual spots
small but distinct; general colour pale green, appearing as
though powdered with white ; dorsal line a broad clear white
stripe ; subdorsal lines also white but narrower ; spiracular

TRTFIDjE. 29

lines narrow, yellow ; there is also a faint dotted white line
between the subdorsal and spiracnlar; spiracles indistinct,
white encircled with black ; legs green, tipped with shining
black; undersurface and prolegs of a uniform dull green.
(G. T. Porritt.)

May to July on oak, sallow, ash, lime, birch, apple,
bramble, plum, and lilac, and often as it gets towards full
growth it leaves the trees to feed upon low-growing plants.
If not supplied at this time with sufficiently succulent food,
in confinement, it falls upon and devours other individuals of
its own species.

Pupa smooth, shining brown, with two diverging spikes
on its tail. In a close earthen cocoon. Not more fully
described.

It is uncertain where the moth hides in the daytime in
autumn ; in the spring, after hybernation, I have found it
sitting upon a tree-trunk, and also hiding under thatch on
outhouses. At dusk it comes readily in the autumn to ivy-
bloom, sugar, ripe blackberries, yew-berries, and even rotten
apples, and in the spring to sallow-bloom. Sometimes at
this season it becomes extremely bleached ; yet it is not
until the spring that it pairs and deposits its eggs. Not by
any means so scarce as the last species, yet hardly so widely
distributed, since it seems to be quite absent from the East
of England. It has, however, been taken in Middlesex and
Surrey, also in Sussex, the Isle of Wight, and Dorset ; rarely
in Cornwall ; more frequently in Devon, Somerset, Glouces-
tershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire ; rarely in Cam-
bridgeshire and even in Cumberland, and there is a single
record of a specimen near Liverpool. It must, I think, be
frequent in Wales, since I found it far from rarely in
Pembrokeshire, and have no doubt that the X. semibrunnea
recorded as common at Langharne, Carmarthenshire, was
really this species. I know of no instance of its occurrence
in Scotland, but in Ireland it has a wide range, having been

30 LEPIDOPTERA.

taken at Dublin — even so close to the city as Glasnevin
Cemetery — in Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Westmeatb,
Mayo ; Tullamore abundantly ; Galway, Sligo, Fermanagh,
Cavan, and Louth, and often commonly.

Abroad it is found throughout Central Europe and the
temperate portions of Northern Europe, Northern Italy,
Southern Russia, and the mountainous regions of Central
Asia.

3. X. conformis, Schiff.; furcifera, Stand. Cat. —
Expanse H to If inch. Fore wings narrow, but little
broader behind, blunt, grey-black marbled with deep black ;
a yellow streak at the base, an orange spot in the reniform
stigma, and a row of red-black spots before the hind margin.
Hind wings reddish-white shading off to smoky-black.

Antennas of the male thick, minutely notched and deli-
cately ciliated, black-brown ; palpi short, very broadly tufted,
purple-black ; apical joint short ; eyes black, with black
lashes, which are long and so curled as almost to meet;
head densely and prominently tufted, in two pairs of pro-
jecting points, purple-black ; thorax squared, with distinctly
raised and projecting epaulets at the shoulders ; collar dark
purple-brown, edged slenderly with white, pushed forward in
the middle by a tall, conical, but slightly divided, purple-
black crest ; remainder of thorax deep black ; back crest
short and divided ; fascicles pale smoky-brown ; abdomen
short and broad, purple-brown ; third segment decorated
with a large conspicuous black dorsal crest, and the following
segment with a more prostrate brown one ; lateral tufts
rather spreading; anal tufts short, flat, and squared. Fore
wings rather long and narrow, but a little broader behind ;
costa arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin full and
rounded, crenulated, and close to the anal angle slightly
hollowed; dorsal margin very slightly concave; deep rich
shining slate-black ; from the base arises a deep black streak,
forked at a short distance, edged on its upper side by a

TRIFID.E. 31

slender streak of light orange-yellow ; beneath it at the
base of the dorsal margin is a shaded red cloud; first line
deep black, slender, sinuous, indented, but nearly perpen-
dicular ; second line similar, not very oblique but much
indented ; subterminal line a row of cloudy red-black spots
not attaining either margin ; orbicular stigma of the ground
colour, partially but obscurely edged with deep black ; reni-
form stigma extremely large, sharply edged at the back and
below with deep black, the remainder slenderly and faintly
margined ; within it is a large, somewhat lunate orange-red
cloud ; claviform stigma outlined with black ; from it a
straight, thick, deep black bar passes to the second line ;
the space between the upper stigmata is triangular and deep
black, the costal margin above it being clouded with the
same ; cilia of the ground colour, dashed with deep black.
Hind wings not very large, the hind margin sinuous and
somewhat excavated below the apex, smoky-white with a
reddish flush at the base, shading off to smoky-black behind ;
nervures and hind margin dark brown ; cilia brownish-white,
whiter at the tips. Female accurately similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale purple-brown, shading to
paler in the middle and to pearly-white along the dorsal
margin ; discal cell filled with long prostrate hair-scales ;
reniform stigma indicated by a large black spot. Hind
wings dusky-white, abundantly suffused and dusted with
purple-brown ; central spot large and black ; beyond it is a
curved irregular smoky-black transverse stripe. Body and
legs deep purple-brown.

Hardly ever varying here., but in the collection of the late
Mr. F. Bond is a specimen of a paler slate-grey. On the
Continent the general tendency appears to be to rather
larger size and a more dull and paler slate-grey colouring,
with a darker central shade, and the red of the reniform
stigma intensified.

On the wing in September and October, though reared
specimens sometimes emerge in August ; it hybernates, and

32 LEPIDOPTERA.

appears again in March and April, in its very restricted
localities.

Larva rather stout, cylindrical, except that the head is a
little narrower than the second segment, which, with the
third, tapers slightly forward, and that the thirteenth is
tapered to the end ; head full and rounded at the sides, olive-
brown, freckled and reticulated with darker brown ; second
segment slightly more shining, adorned on the back with
two pairs of yellow spots, raised dots all pale yellow, distinct,
ringed with black ; skin smooth and velvety, olive-brown
tinged with green, more particularly on the back ; sides and
ventral surface rather paler and tinged with pink ; dorsal
stripe pale yellow, interrupted by a deep blackish freckled
patch of the ground colour at the beginning of each segment,
which by extension backward on either side forms the
boundary of more than one-half of a blunt diamond of
blackish freckles, the area within showing the yellow dorsal
stripe but faintly ; this dark freckling with a deeper suffusion
of ground colour forms a line across the back from the hinder
raised yellow dot on one side to that on the other ; the rest
of the diamond is but faintly freckled, and there, at the end
of each segment, the dorsal stripe is bright and unclouded ;
subdorsal stripe pale yellow ; into it from the hinder raised
yellow dot on each segment runs an oblique thick black streak
extinguishing it nearly to the segmental division, or in some
instances opens a little at one or at each end, so as to allow
the yellow stripe to appear ; below on the side is a fine wavy
yellowish line, its edges roughened by black atoms; spiracular
line thin, yellow, the area above it much freckled with
deeper olive-brown ; spiracles oval, dirty- white, ringed with
black ; undersurface and legs paler, and tinged with olive-
pink ; prolegs freckled with yellow and olive, and tipped
with pinkish-brown.

The young larva when just hatched is semi-translucent,
pale drab, with a green internal dorsal stripe ; when a fort-

TRIFID^E. 33

night old, pellucid green with distinct whitish longitudinal
lines ; a week later full bright green with the lines whitish-
yellow ; and at a month old rich full velvety-green with the
lines and raised dots bright sulphur-yellow — the colouring-
being now at its brightest ; afterwards the colour of the
body becomes olive-brown, and the adult appearance is soon
assumed. (Adapted from Buckler.)

April to June on alder (Alnus glutinosa). For the first
three weeks of its life it lives and feeds within the hollows
between the ribs of the partially expanded young alder-
leaves, afterwards apparently feeding more openly.

Pupa rather thick in proportion ; the thorax, wing, leg, and
antenna cases finely corrugated, and the abdominal segments
rather smooth, terminating in a hooked point by which it is
firmly attached to one end of the cocoon ; colour dark brown ;
incisions of the segments brownish-red and the whole surface
shining. In an oval cocoon of whitish silk, close but semi-
transparent ; placed in moss or a folded leaf, or between a
fallen leaf and the soil. (Buckler.)

But little is known of the habits of the moth in this
country. It has been taken in the daytime, once, sitting
upon a birch-trunk, but almost all the captures have been at
night at sugar or ivy-bloom, to which it is strongly attracted.
The first record of its appearance in this country seems to be
in a short note by the late Mr. H. T. Stainton in 1861 : " In
the county of Glamorgan Xylina conformis occurs ; it comes
to ivy-bloom in October and to sugar in March." Not a
word is furnished as to the name of the captor, the date of
first capture, or the actual locality ; but two specimens were
exhibited at a meeting of the Entomological Society of
Loudon in March 1861. Some years later Mr. T. H. Allis
put on record the occurrence of a single specimen taken near
Halifax, Yorks, many years before. In 1869 it appears to
have been taken in Monmouthshire ; and also reared from
eggs obtained presumably in the Glamorganshire locality,

vol. vi. c

34 LEPIDOPTERA.

where, though the same reticence has been observed, there is
little doubt that it has been taken nearly every season up to
the present time. Doubtless its home is on the hillsides in
South Wales where the alder trees and bushes grow in every
damp spot and border every rivulet. Outside the two
counties named, with the exception of Mr. Allis's Yorkshire
record, and one, which has not been confirmed, in Westmore-
land, I know of no locality for this interesting and handsome
species in the British Isles ; yet in the collection of Dr. P. B.
Mason at Burton-on-Trent are two ancient specimens, once
in the possession of Mr. Haworth. and to all appearance of
the same variety as those already noticed, and presumably
British, but without labels of locality. One of these bears
an old label " dbscura," the other " perfuscaP

Abroad its range is throughout Central Europe, the
temperate portions of Northern Europe, Northern Italy, the
Ural Mountain districts ; and the mountain regions of Central
Asia.

It may serve as a curious illustration of the difficulty
experienced by those who desire to furnish every species with
an English name if I point out that in pursuit of this object
one of our more recent writers called the species just treated
of "The Conformist" and the following "The Noncon-
formist " / /

4. X. lambda, Fab. ; Zinckenii, Tr. — Expanse H inch.
Fore wings narrow, blunt ; soft glossy slate-grey, divided
almost entirely into rounded clouds with black edgings and
softenings ; a deep black basal streak is followed by two
oblique black lines which join a longitudinal black streak.
Hind wings smoky-grey with a hoary sheen.

Antennas of the male stout, minutely ciliated, reddish-
brown, white at the base ; palpi very broadly tufted, greyish-
white streaked with black, apical joint very short; eyes
black ; eyelashes abundant and conspicuous, deep black ;
head prominently and rather flatly tufted, but the tufts

TR I FID AH. 35

hardly divided, greyish-white mixed with slate-grey, a small
tuft at the base of each antenna ; thorax squared, smooth
and rather flattened, slate-grey, a black line edged with white
borders the back of the collar, top crest short and small,
tipped with white, back crest flat and obscure; fascicles
white; abdomen rather flattened, pale yellowish-br )wn,
lateral and anal tufts broad, whitish-brown. Fore wings
rather narrow but regularly increasing a little in breadth to
the hind margin ; costa very faintly arched, hind margin
rounded, but suddenly very oblique towards the anal angle,
hardly crenulated ; dorsal margin straight; colour shining
pale slate-grey, the whole broken up into rounded clouds by
blackish or brownish shades and edgings ; from the middle of
the base is a deep black streak which at a short distance
curves up and throws off black clouds ; just beyond it the
first line, in broken black streaks and angled fragments,
placed obliquely and edged with white, throws back black
and white dots along the principal nervures ; from its angle
below the median nervure arises a straight deep black line
to the second line — or rather where the second line should
be — and is there interrupted by a white streak, beyond which
it is continued by a more slender black streak edged below
with white, to the anal angle ; above, a portion of the second
line is indicated by the faintest possible pale line edged with
grey dots; subterminal line deep black, much indented,
thickened in the middle and there throwing inward one or
two black wedges, also clouded outwardly, but inwardly edged
with whitish-grey ; orbicular stigma obscure, open at the
upper side, edged otherwise with black; reniform stigma
also obscure, broad, tinged with red-brown, and edged with a
fine black line, so as to fall into the general arrangement of
dark-edged clouds ; at its base is a curved black streak
uniting with an oblique straight black central shade from
between the stigmata ; on the costa are four black dots, and
beyond them two or three faint white dots in a smoky
clouding ; along the extreme hind margin is a series of black

36 LEPIDOPTERA.

dots; cilia grey dashed with darker. Hind wings smoky-
grey with a yellowish sheen ; nervures rather browner ; cilia
white. Female very similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky yellowish-white, pearly-
white along the dorsal margin ; discal cell filled with long
prostrate hair-scales. Hind wings yellowish-white, tinged
along the costal margin with yellowish-brown ; central spot
very small and faint, smoky-black, followed by a faint slender
similar transverse stripe. Body yellowish-brown ; legs and
leg-tufts purple-brown.

Variable in the shade of grey, in the brightness of the
light rounded clouds, and in the blackness of their margins.
The very few specimens hitherto seen here are not of the
brighter forms but app roach in some degree to the more
slate-grey variety known as var. somniculosa.

On the wing in September and October.

Larva bluish-green with five white longitudinal lines ;
spiracles yellowish, edged with brown ; undersurface and
feet pale green, the latter with the clasping-surfaces
ochreous-yellow ; head and dorsal shield pale yellow-brown ;
raised dots indistinct. Or, blue-green besprinkled with small
white dots ; having three white longitudinal lines on the
back, and on the sides a yellow longitudinal stripe in which
are placed the black-bordered, white spiracles. Head in
both varieties green with two white dots, but in the first the
mouth is yellow. (Hofmann.)

April till June on sallow, whortleberry, and sweet-gale,
usually in wet or marshy situations.

Pupa ochreous-yellow, in a cocoon among marsh moss.
Not more fully described.

Little or nothing is known in this country of the habits of
this exceedingly rare moth. It has been taken, sitting on
the trunks of trees, in the daytime, and at sugar at night.
The first specimen noticed here was found sitting low down
on the trunk of a tree somewhere on the Lewisham side of

TRIFID.sE. 37

London, in 1865, by a young collector who was engaged in
digging for pupge ; and was recorded by Dr. H. G. Knaggs
under the name of Xylina Zinckenii, Tr. More recently the
capture of another in a similar manner, and in the same year,
was put upon record by the late Mr. Edward Hopley. This
one was found in the northern environs of London. Another
appears to have been taken at sugar in the following year,
between Dorking and Guildford, in Surrey, by the Hon.
Spencer Canning. The next seems to have been secured in
a similar manner in Darenth Wood, Kent, in 1870. In the
collection of the late Mr. F. Bond is one labelled "Taken at
Erith, Kent, September 1875, by Mr. Marshall." So far
as I know no other specimen was obtained for twenty years
until the end of September 1895, when the Kev. J. H.
Hocking had the good fortune to secure a specimen at sugar,
in his own grounds, at Copdock, Ipswich. Thus the seven
specimens which have occurred in this country are divided
between Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, and Suffolk. Abroad it
has a rather wide range through Northern and Western
Germany, Belgium, Livonia, Finland, Sweden, Lapland, and
some parts of Russia; also Canada, Maine, Massachusetts,
and New York, but known in North America as X
Thaxteri.

5. X. rhizolitha, Fab.; ornithopus, Stand. Cat.-^
Expanse 1^ to If inch. Fore wings narrow, greyish- white,
finely marbled and dusted with smoky-black ; a curved and
forked black streak at the base, and a smaller one, forked at
each end, below the obscure stigmata. Hind wings grey-
brown.

Antennee of the male stout, simple, faintly ciliated, dark
brown, the back of the shaft greyish-white; palpi loosely
tufted, greyish-white streaked with black ; eyes leaden black,
the lashes rather short and stiff, deep black; head promi-
nently tufted, the scales almost divided into two pairs of
points, greyish-white ; thorax of the same colour, dusted

38 LEPIDOPTERA.

with brown, rather flattened, squared and smooth ; a short
black bar edged with white lies across the front of the collar ;
top crest flatly conical but small ; back crest a mere flattened
tuft ; fascicles white ; abdomen rather flattened, greyish-
white dusted with brown, dorsal region, near the base, covered
with long pale hair-scales in which is sometimes a dark spot
not raised into a crest ; lateral tufts small ; anal tuft squared,
smoky- white. Fore wings narrow, the costa straight or
nearly so ; apex rounded ; hind margin crenulated and gently
curved; dorsal margin nearly straight; colour white dusted
with grey ; arising from the middle of the base, a conspicuous
curved deep black streak is forked at a short distance, and
slightly shaded off beyond ; a few pairs of very faint streaks
aud angles indicate a broken first line ; second line more com-
plete but even more indistinct — a double series of grey curves
and crescents throwing off darker dots on the nervures ; sub-
terminal line a series of small white dots in a faint stripe of
grey clouding ; this at the anal angle is darker and encloses
a curious forked white streak ; orbicular stigma only suggested
by two faint black streaks which represent its front and back
margins ; reniform stigma large, similarly suggested, and
also by a curved black basal streak, above which is a small
faintly fulvous cloud ; below this an angulated black streak, re-
presenting the claviform stigma, is connected at its apex with
a short straight black bar by which it is joined to the only
black angle of the second line, and thus becomes forked at
each end ; this central portion of the wing is faintly clouded
with black atoms, a series of oblique black spots ornaments
the costal margin, and another of deep black dots the extreme
hind margin ; cilia greyish-white. Hind wings moderately
broad, with the hind margin very sinuous ; smoky-brown,
a little paler at the base, nervures and extreme hind margin
rather darker; cilia white clouded with brown. Female
closely similar.

Underside of the fore wings greyish-white, clouded in the
middle with smoky -grey ; a smoky-black cloudy spot repre-

TRIFIDsE. 39

sents the reniform stigma; bind margin dotted with black
Hind wings white, faintly dusted with purplish-grey, and
with yellowish-brown along the costa; central spot large,
black, beyond it is a slender faintly brown transverse line.
Body purplish-white or reddish-drab ; legs white or grey-
white streaked with black.

Hardly variable, though occasionally the ground colour is
a little tinged with smoky-grey, in which case the stigmata
usually remain pale.

On the wing in September and October, and after hyber-
nation, from February till April ; but it only seems to hyber-
nate during severe weather, and has been met with even in
December.

Larva cylindrical and rather uniform in thickness ; head
full and rounded, delicate green with a patch of paler freckles
on the side of each lobe ; ground colour rather transparent,
pale bluish-green, thickly sprinkled on the back with opaque
minute whitish freckles ; on the back of the second segment
are four whitish dots ; on the rest of the body the dorsal line
is opaque, whitish, finely edged with darker green, but so
much interrupted as only to appear at either end of each
segment ; the subdorsal shows similarly as a broken whitish
line, but is less conspicuous, while the spiracular line is
indicated still more faintly, existing as an interrupted series
of larger whitish freckles than those which besprinkle the
skin ; these on the undersurface are more sparingly scattered
than above, and it is of a yellower green ; the raised dots are
of an opaque white ringed with unfreckled ground colour,
and each bears a fine whitish hair ; spiracles white, delicately
outlined with black ; legs well developed and terminated by
sharp whitey-brown hooks.

The infant larva is whitish, with the head buff, but after
the first moult opaque white dots and hairs may be discerned
by the aid of a lens ; when three weeks old greenish-white
with the white raised dots distinctly visible ; a week later the

40 LEPIDOPTERA.

bluish-green colouring with white freckles and with indica-
tions of the lines begins to be assumed. (Adapted from Mr.
Buckler's description.)

May and the beginning of June, on oak, feeding openly
upon the leaves, which it closely resembles in colour.

Pupa stout in proportion ; head and thorax rounded ; wing-
covers long ; the tip of the abdomen rather bluntly rounded
off, having at the end a small rough knob furnished with two
small spikes curving a little outwards toward their extremities ;
colour mahogany-brown and very glossy. In a cocoon of
fibrous particles spun together and smoothly lined with pale
grey silk. (W. Buckler.)

The moth very often sits during the day upon the trunk of
a tree, not confining itself to oak trees, but so greatly favour-
ing the Scotch fir that one may calculate almost with certainty
upon finding one or more specimens on any day in the late
autumn in any wood of these trees in the South of England.
In this position it would be very conspicuous but for its close
resemblance to a drop of bird's excrement. In the evening
it is strongly attracted by ivy-bloom and sugar, and will feed
upon ripe blackberries or rotten apples ; in the spring, after
hybernation, it may be found, very much more rarely, at
sallow-bloom. It pairs and deposits its eggs at this season.
Apparently never abundant, but spread over the whole of the
South of England to Oxfordshire and the Eastern Counties,
though scarce in Cambridgeshire ; rare in Warwickshire, and
hardly noticed elsewhere in the Midlands ; much more frequent
in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, but scarce in Lancashire,
Cheshire, and Yorkshire. Probably widely distributed in
Wales, since it occurs, not very rarely, in Carmarthenshire
and Pembrokeshire. Pare in the South of Scotland, being
only recorded from the districts of the Tweed and Solway ;
but also found in the extensive woods of Moray. More
widely distributed in Ireland, and recorded from the counties
of Dublin, Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Sligo, Cavan,

TRIFIDJE. 41

Westmeath, and Louth, and from Enniskillen. Abroad widely
distributed through Central Europe, Southern Sweden, Cour-
land, Northern Italy, Southern Spain, and Southern Russia.

Genus 82. XYLOCAMPA.

Antennas naked, simple ; eyes naked, having long curled
front and back lashes ; head doubly tufted with projecting
scales, and with broad tufts at the bases of the antennas ;
thorax crested at the back but hardly so on the top ; abdo-
men provided with three or four moderate-sized crests ; fore
wings rather short, narrow at the base, crenulated behind ;
in the hind wings vein 5 hardly reaches the cross-bar.

We have but one species.

1. X. lithoriza, Bork; areola, Stand, Gat— Expanse
1] to If inch. Fore wings narrow at the base, broader
behind, the hind margin crenulated and spotted with black ;
colour pale grey, marbled with black and white ; orbicular
stigma extended below the median nervure in a rounded
blotch which unites it with the reniform. Hind wings
smoky-white.

Antennas of the male rather short, thick, naked, light
brown ; palpi short and small, greyish-white, abundantly
tufted with long black hair-scales ; eyes black ; lashes also
black, long, and curled ; head densely and prominently
tufted, the tufts divided into two ridges, pale grey dusted
with black ; at the base of each antenna is a large black tuft
surrounded with pale grey ; collar large, raised, and peaked,
whitish-grey, barred at the back of the head, and more
broadly immediately above, with black, above this twice
barred, more slenderly and loosely, with the same ; remainder
of the thorax covered with fluffy greyish-white scales mingled
with black ; back crest small and obscure ; fascicles thick and
long, smoky-white ; abdomen shining pale grey, barred with
black ; dorsal crests brown, the second and third conspicuous ;

42 LEP1D0PTERA.

lateral tufts spreading, tinged with purple ; anal tuft flattened
and rather squared. Fore wings somewhat short ; costal
margin nearly straight ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin
oblique, much rounded, and faintly crenulated ; dorsal margin
nearly straight; colour greyish-white or purplish -white, much
clouded and dusted with black; basal line suggested by a
black dot on the costa ; below the median nervure arises,
from the base, a black streak which almost joins the first
line ; the latter is black, edged inside with white, irregular,
looped, and angulated ; second line black, repeatedly angu-
lated toward the dorsal margin, only faintly indicated above ;
between these two lines the space between and below the
stigmata is more intensely dusted with black than elsewhere,
especially a longitudinal broad bar under the stigmata, which
often is quite black or definitely edged with black; orbicular
stigma flattened as to its usual position, but in some sort
doubled by an extension below the median nervure, linking it
with the reniform, which also is large ; both are clouded with
grey and edged with black ; there is no indication of a sub-
terminal line, but along the hind margin is placed a conspic-
uous row of black dots or spots, wedge-shaped except at the
anal angle, where two larger ones coalesce and extend inward
so as to join the longitudinal blackened bar ; cilia of the
ground colour very prettily spotted with dark grey, the paler
colour running out to the tip of each crenulation. Hind
wings rather short, evenly rounded ; pale smoky purplish-
brown ; costal margin pearly greenish-white ; cilia dusky-
white. Female very similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-grey, whiter and dusted
with dark grey along the costa and hind margin ; dorsal
margin pearly-green ; on the costa beyond the middle is a
short black bar. Hind wings dusky-white, dusted with brown
along the costa and with grey behind ; central spot lunate,
black ; beyond it is a slender dotted black transverse line.
Body and leg-tufts grey dusted with black; tibiae black,
barred with white.

TRIFID&. 43

Only a little variable in the intensity of the dusting of black,
and of the flush of purple, or of grey, in the ground colour, as
already suggested, but in some specimens the stigmata are
tinged with purplish-red rather than grey, or the longitudinal
stripe of black atoms partially disappears.

On the wing in March and April.

Larva elongated and much attenuated at each extremity ;
anal prolegs projecting backward; twelfth segment raised
into a slight hump ; head rounded, pale brown ; body ochre-
ous with the back slightly darker ; dorsal line paler and most
conspicuous on the head, second, twelfth, and thirteenth
segments, where it is edged with black ; it divides a very
faint dorsal diamond pattern ; subdorsal lines slender, pale
brown ; spiracular lines darker ; spiracles black ; undersurface
furnished with a darker central line and a black spot on each
segment. (0. Fenn.) Mr. Buckler's figures vary from pale
drab to pale brownish-slate colour, with darker stripes, or with
a black spiracular line. A singular-looking larva, appearing
as though stretched out to the utmost ; when young it is said
to have two pairs of anterior prolegs ill-developed, and to
have a habit of resting with all the anterior segments raised
straight from the surface on which it is placed, in the manner
of a larva of one of the Geometridrv.

May to the beginning of July on honeysuckle, feeding at
night, hiding during the day upon the stem of the plant.

Pupa rather elongated, tapering very suddenly toward the
anal extremity, which is furnished with a short blunt pro-
jection ; dark mahogany-colour ; abdomen slightly paler. On
or under the surface of the earth in a very hard, egg-shaped,
shell-like cocoon of silk covered with earth, usually attached
to a root or a stone. (0. Fenn.)

The moth sits in the daytime upon tree-trunks or palings,
where honeysuckle is growing ; and in some districts, as in
South Wales, particularly affects the substantial wall-piers of

44 LEPIDOPTERA.

grey limestone upon which the field-gates are hung ; so fond
is it of these that I have found four or five moths sitting
about one gateway, and their resemblance to the limestone
was so accurate as to make their detection difficult. When a
tree-trunk is selected it is usually one which is well covered
with lichens, so that the moth is equally well concealed ; yet
curious exception is made in favour of Scotch fir trunks, upon
which it will often sit quite exposed. It flies rather late in
the evening, and visits sallow-bloom on very warm nights,
yet hardly settles down, or, if it does so, flies off at the least
alarm, and usually buzzes round and feeds upon the wing. It
has been taken, though rarely, at sugar. Never a very abun-
dant species, but found fairly commonly all over the southern
half of England, and less frequently or more locally over the
remainder. Also apparently throughout Wales, and commonly
in the southern portion. In Scotland it seems only to have
been observed in the extreme south, and in the far north-
west in West Eoss. Widely distributed in Ireland, and
recorded from Dublin, Wicklow, Galway, Sligo, Monaghan,
Tyrone, Down, Antrim, Armagh, and Derry. Abroad its
range is mainly through Western Europe and Asia Minor.

Genus 83. LITHOMIA.

Antennas notched and tufted ; palpi short ; eyes naked,
with thick back lashes ; thorax rather narrow, faintly crested
at the back ; abdomen tapering, not crested; fore wings very
long, bluntly pointed, oblique behind, deeply wrinkled and
rolled round the body when at rest ; hind wiugs broad ;
discal cell open and vein 5 disconnected.

We have but one species.

1. L. solidaginis, Hilb. — Expanse If to 1£ inch. Fore
wings long, rather narrow, apex produced, hind margin
crenulated and sinuous ; shining pale grey shaded with
white and dark grey ; orbicular stigma very small, sometimes
duplicated; reniform large, greyish-white ; beyond are two or

TRTFID&. 45

three deep black arrow-head marks. Hind wings white,
shading off to smoky-grey.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, grey-brown ;
palpi rather slender, grey-brown, scantily tufted with pale
grey hair-scales ; eyes black, lashes long and black ; head
prominently tufted, the projecting scales having a shallow
dividing channel across the face, and beneath it, on each side,
the commencement of a black bar, otherwise pale grey dusted
with brown ; collar of the same colour, but barred across the
middle with black, and beneath this faintly with brown ;
remainder of the thorax light grey, the scales drawn together
at the back into a long crest which projects over the base of
the abdomen and is blackened beneath ; fascicles white ;
abdomen greyish-brown ; lateral tufts small ; anal tuft long
and contracted, whitish-grey. Fore wings long and narrow,
with the apex produced and bluntly pointed; costa very
slighty arched ; hind margin crenulated, very oblique, hol-
lowed below the tip, then filled out and slightly angulated ;
dorsal margin straight to near the base, then gracefully
curved in ; colour very pale slate or whitish-grey and unusu-
ally glossy ; from the base arise three hairlike black streaks,
one on the median nervure and one each close above and
below it, also two more, oblique and bent, nearer the dorsal
margin ; first line black or black-brown so deeply and acutely
angulated as to appear like additional longitudinal hairlike
lines; in character with this the nervures are also indicated
throughout by similar black lines ; second line a series of
short deep crescents between the black nervures ; subter-
minal line a white, indented, much undulated stripe, edged
inwardly by a long pale cloudy shade, and in the middle by
two conspicuous, slender, deep black wedges ; outside it is a
series of small grey clouds ; orbicular stigma quite small,
pale grey edged with black, and usually accompanied by a
rather smaller similar round spot ringed with black, both
placed in a broad dark grey or cloudy-black central shade
which crosses the wing ; reniform stigma large, white edged

46 LEPTDOPTERA.

with black,- and containing a grey internal frame or edging ;
costa beyond the middle minutely dotted with white ; at the
extreme hind margin is a slender, deeply scalloped, white
line ; cilia dark grey. Hind wings rather produced at the
apex, the hind margin hollowed below it, and thence sinuous
and not much curved ; smoky- white with a pearly gloss at
the base shading off to smoky-grey at the hind margin ; cilia
white. Female quite similar, yet with a stouter body and
small anal tuft.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-grey, paler at the
margins ; costa toward the apex dotted with white ; an
obscure black cloudy spot at the reniform stigma. Hind
wings white dusted with grey, and toward the base with
brown ; central spot round, black, followed by an undulating
pale brown transverse stripe. Body and legs grey-brown.

Variation seems to be in some degree local ; specimens
from South Yorkshire often have the middle portion of the fore
wings much blackened ; many of those from Cannock Chase,
South Staffordshire, have the margins, the costa especially,
shaded with brown, while in those from North Staffordshire
the hinder half of the wings is much whitened. Fine examples
of these forms have been furnished by Mr. F. C. Woodforde.
Among others sent by Mr. A. Home from Aberdeen are some
having a broad smooth paler band across the middle of the
wing and the basal region darkened ; others in which the
central area is prettily rippled with dark grey, and the first
and second lines are very distinct and faintly duplicated. In
the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper is a specimen having a
broad pale transverse band filling the space from the first
line to the central shade ; another has a very narrow black
central stripe. The presence in many specimens of a second
orbicular stigma in the discal cell is very curious and un-
usual.

On the wing in August and to the middle of September.

Larva moderately stout, cylindrical ; head large, rounded,

TRIFID&. 47

polished, red-brown reticulated with dark brown ; on the
second segment is a red-brown or blackish blotch divided by
the dorsal and subdorsal lines ; general colour dark purplish-
brown, sometimes paler, with a slight violet tinge, and faintly
irrorated with grey ; dorsal line paler, threadlike, incon-
spicuous ; a series of oblique blackish subdorsal streaks is
most strongly indicated on the fifth, sixth, eleventh, and
twelfth segments, especially on the twelfth, where those on
each side are united by a transverse black dash ; these
oblique markings are frequently produced to the dorsal line
as greyish Vs with the apex behind ; spiracular stripes broad
and very conspicuous, yellowish-white edged above with
velvety-black; usual spots distinct, whitish or yellowish,
edged with grey ; spiracles whitish ; undersurface, legs, and
prolegs reddish or red-brown, paler than the ground colour.

When young, dark purple with the usual raised spots white ;
spiracular stripe very conspicuous, white, or in some cases
pale chrome-yellow ; dorsal line whitish, threadlike, and a
black transverse dorsal dash on the twelfth segment.
(C. Fenn.)

May, June, and July, on whortleberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus),
bearberry {Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), sallow, birch, hawthorn,
and heather, doubtless feeding principally at night.

Pupa elongate ; anal extremity spiked ; mahogany-red ;
incisions and anal segment shaded with dark grey. (0. Fenn.)
Under moss or among loose earth, in a silken cocoon.

The moth sits in the daytime upon tree-trunks, walls,
rocks, and dead sticks of heather or bracken, in a most
singular attitude. The Eev. C. F. Thornewill writes: "We
found them sitting upon the trunks of some old birch trees
in a very peculiar attitude, which reminded me of the fable
of the ostrich thinking to escape from its pursuers by hiding
its head in the sand ; the head and thorax of the insect are
thrust deeply into the crevices of the bark, while the body,
with the wiugs wrapped closely round it, sticks out at right

4» LEPIDOPTERA.

angles, and is thus very conspicuous, though the colour of
the wings closely resembles that of the birch bark. I visited
the same spot on a wet day, and found that the trees were
now entirely deserted, while the moths were perched on dead
stems of bracken or burnt sticks of heather at a height of a
foot or so from the ground ; but on a third day, visiting the
spot in fine weather, I came to the conclusion that only a
small proportion were to be found on tree-trunks, while by
far the larger number preferred the dead sticks and bracken
which still lay in plenty all around." Mr. G. T. Porritt also
says : "It sits with its head pressed closely to the wall or
bark, its hinder portion stiff and projecting, and bears the
most accurate resemblance to the excrement of a grouse that
can be imagined ; it is wonderfully deceptive." The fore
wings, when so resting, are drawn tightly round the body,
and the hinder portion squeezed together and curiously
wrinkled, and it really has a very considerable resemblance
also to a bit of stick or roll of the thin bark of the birch. At
dusk it will come to sugar, heather-bloom, and ragwort-
blossom. Its favourite haunts are open woods with plenty
of heather and whortleberry, or moors with scattered trees ;
but it may sometimes be taken on the open heathery moors
far from any trees, and in those seasons in which it is
abundant it has even been known to enter gardens. But its
haunts are mainly mountainous districts, and so far as I know
its most southern locality in these Islands is the hill district
of Cannock Chase, South Staffordshire; thence it is found
locally in suitable places in North Staffordshire, Derbyshire,
Salop, Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Cumberland, and
has once been taken in Durham. Very local in the South of
Scotland, yet found in the Solway, Clyde, and Forth districts ;
also in Perthshire, Inverness-shire, Moray and Sutherland-
shire, and sometimes abundantly in Aberdeenshire. It
cannot well be absent from the mountains of Wales, yet I
find no record. Abroad it ranges through Northern Europe
and a considerable portion of Central Europe — specimens

TRIFTD^. 49

from the Hartz Mountains of Germany being very brightly
coloured — also the Ural Mountain district, and the moun-
tainous regions of Central Asia. In America it is found in
Canada and the Hudson's Bay territory, of a rather lax-ge
size and slightly different tint of grey, but otherwise agreeing
accurately: it is there known under the name of Germana.

[Calophasia platyptera, Esp. — A pretty little species
of an inch expanse, something like a small Cucullia. Antenna?
simple, ciliated, brown ; head and thorax greyish-white ; fore
wings rather narrow, broader behind ; smooth shining white,
shaded with pale brown and grey-brown ; markings very
obscure ; nervures faintly brown ; first line represented by a
brown dash on the costa, and by one or perhaps two long
sweeping angles of a brown line above the dorsal margin, but
it is difficult to say whether the upper of these is not really
the claviform stigma much elongated ; a short distance
beyond it a long curved streak arises on the dorsal margin as
a partial second line, but disappears before the middle of the
wing, though there is a pair of brown dots opposite to it on
the costa ; no upper stigmata nor subterminal line, but the
dorsal margin is clouded with brown, except toward the anal
angle, the portion between the first and second lines especi-
ally so, and from this a faint darker cloud proceeds straight
towards the apex ; along the hind margin is a series of deeper
brown streaks upon the ends of the nervures and continued
through the cilia, which are white and rather long. Hind
wings white tinged on the nervures and toward the hind
margin with brown ; cilia white.

The larva is found upon Zinaria in the South of Europe.

The pupa has been found in Morocco enclosed in a cocoon
formed of coloured lichens.

The capture of a single specimen, by himself, near Brighton,
in September 1896, was recorded by Mr. J. T. Carrington.
This specimen was shortly afterwards exhibited by its captor
at a meeting of the South London Entomological Society ; he

VOL. VI. D

50 LEPIDOPTERA.

stated that lie beat it out of a hedge, that it fell and settled
on a blade of grass, and was rather restless, yet allowed itself
to be boxed.

It inhabits most parts of Southern Europe, Carniola,
Southern Switzerland, Crete, Asia Minor, and Northern
Africa. It seems hardly desirable to include this as a
British species on the occurrence of a single specimen,
which may very possibly have been accidentally introduced.
Should it really have effected a settlement in this country,
evidence will doubtless soon be forthcoming.]

[Calophasia linarise, Schiff. ; lunula, Stand. Cat. —
Also a rather small species — 1£ inch in expanse — and very
pretty, bearing a sort of resemblance to Eremobia ochroleuca.
Antennas simple, ciliated, brown with a white tuft at the base ;
head white, barred in front with black ; collar white, edged
with pale brown, and sharply twice barred with dark brown ;
thorax pale brown ; fore wings rather narrow but dilated
toward the apex and hind margin, which are unusually
rounded ; colour greyish-white, much clouded with pale
olive-brown ; along the median nervure at the base is a
slender black streak ; first line double, arranged into two
large curves which have between them, on the median
nervure, a white streak ; second line arising on the dorsal
margin only just beyond the first, double, olive-brown,
forming one grand curve to the middle of the wing, then
obliterated, but near the costa again visible; the stripe
enclosed in each double line is brownish-white ; central
shade pale olive-brown ; orbicular stigma flattened, white,
sharply edged with black ; reniform stigma erect, narrow,
pure white, edged with black ; claviform flattened, white,
edged with black ; beyond is a series of six or seven thickened
black lines between nervures, running into the hind margin,
some of them broken by a wavy white clouding which seems
to represent the subterminal line ; all these last markings lie
jn an oblique shade of olive-brown which runs into the apex

TRIFID.E.. 5*

of the wing; cilia long, olive-brown, broadly dashed or chequered
with white. Hind wings smoky-white with brown uervures,
and a broad smoky-brown band along the hind margin ; cilia
white.

The larva feeds upon Linaria vulgaris, L. repcns, and L.
genistifolia, and is said to be pearly-white, or bluish-grey,
with yellow subdorsal and spiracular lines.

Recorded as British by Stephens (Illust. 3, 94), who states
that specimens in his own collection and that of the British
Museum were captured at Woodside, near Epping, Essex,
in June 1817. The insect is correctly figured by Wood on the
same authority ; but no other case of the occurrence of the
species in these Islands is on record, and there is some cause
for doubt whether a mistake was not made in the original
statement. Certainly there is no reason to believe it to be
now resident here, though its absence is somewhat inexplic-
able. Abroad it has a wide distribution over Central Europe
and the warmer portions of Northern Europe, Northern Italy,
Dalmatia, Bulgaria, and Southern Russia.]

Genus 84. CALOCAMPA.

Antennse long, stout toward the base, faintly ciliated ;
palpi short and blunt ; eyes naked, front lashes long, back
lashes curled ; head extremely blunt in front ; thorax broad,
squared, and high-shouldered, with very small top and back
crests; abdomen broad, flatly rounded, not crested; fore
wings long, stout, with unusually straight costal and dorsal
margins, and crenulated waved hind margin ; hind wings
broad, cross-bar bent and hardly complete; vein 5 arising
from half way below the angle. Wings drawn closely
together, rolled and wrinkled when at rest.

Larvae smooth, of unusually beautiful bright colouring,
mainly green. On low-growing plants.

PuPjE subterranean,

52 LEPIDOPTERA.

We have two species which may readily be distinguished.

A. Fore wings drab clouded with smoky-black, two black
arrow-heads in the subterminal line. C. exolcta.

A2. Fore wings reddish-drab clouded with red-brown, a
long black streak from the reniform stigma to the
subterminal line. C. vctusta,

1. C. exoleta, L. — Expanse 2\ to 2 J inches. Fore wings
very long, bluntly pointed, drab, broadly clouded toward the
dorsal margin with smoky-brown, orbicular stigma irregularly
clouded or divided with black ; reniform large, clouded
and edged with black ; beyond it are two slender black
arrow-heads before the hind margin. Hind wings smoky-
brown.

Antenna3 of the male long, stout and notched toward the
basal portion, ciliated, and every notch tufted with minute
bristles, light brown ; palpi short and thick, broadly tufted
and blunt in front, chestnut-brown, almost concealed among
dense masses of short, thick, blunt, black hair-scales ; eyes
naked, olive-brown, spotted with black ; lashes black, those
at the back curled over ; head evenly rounded and unusually
blunt in front, lower portion black shaded with red -brown,
above this is an angulated umbreous line beneath the
antennas, on the upper surface the scales are divided into
two large yellow-brown masses, and at the base of each
antenna is a separate socket-like tuft, black above, brown
below ; collar very large, front portion yellow-brown, top and
back portion dark purple-brown ; rest of thorax much squared,
and having a raised pale drab epaulet at each shoulder, the
lappets and dorsal portion reddish-black and having a small
central deeper black divided crest ; back of the thorax
brownish-drab, the scales drawn together into a flattened
crest, which is tipped with black ; fascicles dirty-white ;
abdomen broad and flattened, yet rounded up in the middle,
basal segments covered with long yellowish-white hair-scales
which shade into pale purple-brown in the middle segments

TRIFIDjE. 53

and into reddish-black on the hinder, but the broad lateral
and narrower anal tufts are yellowish-drab. Fore wings
stout and strong, much elongated, straight and rather
narrow ; costa almost straight to the apex, which is bluntly
rounded; hind margin oblique, very little curved, but
hollowed toward the anal angle and regularly crenulated ;
dorsal margin straight ; colour pale drab, clouded, especially
in the middle area, with black ; basal line suggested by a
minute black streak on the costa, and another on the median
nervure ; first line a faint series of very long smoky-brown
angles ; second line similar, almost equally obscure, except
that it is made noticeable by black points on the nervures ;
a series of whitish angulated streaks and elongated clouds
suggests a faint subterminal line, at the back of which, in
the middle, are two slender deep black arrow-heads pointing
inwards, and elsewhere a few cloudy-brown streaks ; this is
followed by similar clouds along the hind margin ; orbicular
stigma large, elongated, upright, faintly edged with black,
and containing a sort of smoky-brown frame or internal
edging, which is often constricted, and sometimes forms itself
into three blackish rings placed perpendicularly; reniform
stigma large, edged also with black, and the lower portion
tilled in with the same, the middle containing a pale drab
spot edged with black ; sometimes the hinder edge of this
stigma is bordered by a smoky-black cloud which throws off
short points backward ; middle portion of the dorsal region
more particularly clouded with smoky-black than the rest of
the centre of the wing, or the costal region similarly darkened ;
cilia pale umbreous, dashed and edged with black. Hind
wings broad and ample, apex rather produced ; hind margin
slightly hollowed below it, thence sinuous and crenulated but
not much curved ; colour smoky-brown with a purplish gloss,
base paler, nervures rather darker ; central spot large, smoky-
black ; extreme hind margin slenderly edged with whitish
crescent-like clouds, and the adjacent cilia white ; dorsal
margin and cilia reddish-brown. Female very similar., the

54 LEPIDOPTERA.

antennas threadlike ; abdomen broad and stout, very suddenly-
narrowed to a point at the anal segment.

Underside of the fore wings brownish-drab, basal portion
shaded with pearly-white; central area abundantly clothed
with long loose smoky hair-scales ; subcostal region similarly
clothed with reddish hairs ; a black spot indicates the reniform
stigma, and beyond it is a curved smoky-black transverse
stripe ; hind margin blackened. Hind wings brownish-
white with the nervures distinctly dark brown ; costa dusted
with yellow-brown ; central spot ill-defined, black-brown ;
beyond it is an abundantly rippled reddish-black transverse
stripe ; hind margin streaked with the same colour. Body
and legs black-brown, clouded with purplish-red.

Hardly variable except in the darkness and extent of the
central smoky-black clouding, and of the black edging of the
reniform stigma, as already indicated ; but in Dr. Mason's
collection is a specimen having the fore wings wholly suffused
with smoky-black clouds.

On the wing from the end of September to November, then
hybernating, but only in severe weather ; and again upon the
wing from March sometimes until May.

Laeva elongated, moderately cylindrical, but tapering a
little toward the head and rather suddenly at the hinder
extremity ; head pale-green or yellowish-green ; body rich
bright green with hardly any indication of a dorsal line ;
subdorsal lines broad and conspicuous, rich yellow ; along
their upper edge is sometimes a series of oblong black blotches
dotted with white ; spiracular stripes scarlet edged beneath
with white or yellow ; spiracles white ; raised dots also white
in black rings and those on the dorsal surface often united
in pairs by intermediate black dashes ; prolegs very large
and stout, bright green, as also are the legs and under-
surface. Very few larva of beauty equal to this are known
here.

April to July, on the leaves and flowers of low-growing

TRIFID^. 55

plants— asparagus, clock, groundsel, knot-grass, yellow iris,
scarlet geranium, clover, thistles, potato, Stachys syhatica,
Serratula tmctoria, Scdum telephmm, Petasitis officinalis, and
many others ; also occasionally upon leaves of hazel, poplar,
lime, and alder; feeding both by day and by night, and
sometimes eating voraciously in the sunshine.

Pupa large and stout, but with a thin and delicate skin ;
the portion in front of the head, covering the mouth, sharply
angulated, almost beaked, tipped with black; wing ^ and
limb covers rather compact, brilliantly glossy and devoid of
sculpture ; but the back of the corselet thickly inscribed with
fine lines, channels, and pits ; dorsal and abdominal segments
smooth and shining ; anal segment very bluntly rounded off ;
cremaster thick and short, wrinkled, black, furnished with
two strong straight black spikes ; remainder of the surface
rich chestnut-red. In a hard but brittle cocoon of earth
apparently without admixture of silk, under the surface of
the ground.

The moth is rarely if ever seen in the daytime. Probably
it hides among herbage and fallen leaves. At rather late
dusk it comes readily to sugar and ivy-bloom, or after hyber-
nation occasionally to sallow-bloom ; and it is at this season
that it pairs and deposits its eggs. Its appearance when at
sugar, or sitting, as it sometimes will at night, on the trunk
of a tree, is precisely that of a short bit of brown stick. Its
squared shoulders and wings wrapped closely to the body,
even squeezed together and crumpled behind, together with
its drab and smoky-brown colouring, make the resemblance
extraordinary, and it is even heightened by the marking of
the blackened reniform stigma, which appears precisely like
a knot on the side of the supposed piece of stick. Apparently
found throughout England, though usually scarce or very
local in the southern counties. It has, however, been taken
commonly in the Dartmoor district of Devon, in the Cam-
bridgeshire fens, and sometimes in Oxfordshire, Berks, and

56 LEPIDOPTERA.

Norfolk. Passing northward it becomes more plentiful, and
in some parts of the North of England is common enough ;
also in Scotland in the districts of the Tweed, Solway, Clyde
and Forth, abundant in Perthshire and Moray, and fairly
common even in the Orkneys. Doubtless in all parts of
Wales, since it has been found at Colwyn Bay, Dolgelly, and
elsewhere in North Wales, in abundance in Carmarthenshire,
and more rarely in Pembrokeshire. Very widely distributed
in Ireland but always scarce, yet recorded from Dublin,
Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Galway, Sligo, Mayo,
Monaghan, Louth, Down, Antrim, Armagh, Fermanagh,
Tyrone, and Deny. Abroad its range extends over the whole
of Europe except the extreme north and south, Asia Minor,
Siberia, and Japan. In the last-named is a form more than
usually clouded with smoky suffusion, which has received the
name oifumosa.

2. C. vetusta, Hub.— Expanse 2£ to 2± inches. Fore
wings very long, straight and rather narrow, bluntly pointed ;
pale reddish-drab, clouded along the dorsal half with red-
black ; reniform stigma edged with a black or red-black
cloud from which a long single black streak runs to the sub-
terminal line. Hind wings smoky reddish-brown.

Antennas of the male long, slightly notched toward the
base, ciliated with small tufts of most minute bristles, light
brown ; palpi short and thick, red-brown, edged with short,
thick, blunt, black hair-scales ; eyes and their lashes black
head densely scaled and very blunt in front, the face red-
black with a paler cross-bar, becoming red-drab at the base of
the antennas, and above this pale reddish-drab, with a deep
central division ; front of the collar red-drab, faintly barred,
in double arches, with white, fulvous, and deep black, above
this it is purple-black ; shoulders squared, and with raised
epaulets, pale drab outside, but the back purple-black, the
top crest very short, divided, black, the back crest a mere
curved-up black tuft ; fascicles reddish-white ; basal segments

TRIFID^E. 57

of the, abdomen covered with long similar hair-scales ;
hinder portion yellow-drab clouded with tawny-red, and
down the middle of the back with black; lateral tufts
small; anal tuft rather compressed. Fore wings very
long, rather narrow and straight; costa hardly curved;
apex bluntly pointed; hind margin very oblique, faintly
curved but decidedly crenulated; dorsal margin straight;
colour yellowish-white at the base, shading to pale yellow-
drab or reddish-drab; dorsal half of the wing strongly
clouded and shaded with purple-red or red-black, its
central portion becoming often almost black; basal line
just hinted-at by two or three black-brown dots; first line
disposed in a double or triple series of extraordinarily long
angles so obscure as to be only visible through a lens when
looking toward the base of the wing ; position of the second
line suggested by three or four black points and dots in the
darker area of the wing; subterminal line an incomplete
series of pale drab angles or arrow-heads which divides the
purple-red clouding toward the hind margin; orbicular
stigma only faintly indicated by three reddish-brown dots
placed in an oblique line and surrounded by a pale area ;
reniform stigma rather more distinct, large, upright, partly
edged with black, containing a red-brown cloud and above it
an upright yellowish-white streak edged on each side with
red-brown ; outside it arises a long black streak which points
and extends straight to the subterminal line; underneath
the shadowy orbicular stigma is an elongated black blotch
or streak which varies greatly in size and distinctness;
costal margin beyond the middle dotted with white ; cilia
drab, dashed and tipped with black. Hind wings ample,
rather pointed at the apex, hind margin faintly hollowed
below it, thence sinuous ; colour smoky-brown with a strong
reddish flush and the dorsal margin much tinged with brick-
red ; central spot obscure, smoky-black ; cilia white shaded
with brown. Female, except that the antennae are quite
threadlike, very closely similar.

58 LEPIDOPTERA.

Underside of the fore wings reddish-drab ; all the middle
portion deeply clouded with smoky-black and covered with
long hair-scales, as also is the subcostal nervure; reniform
stigma visible as a similarly shaped black spot ; costa toward
the apex spotted with white, extreme hind margin with
black ; cilia blackened toward the tips. Hind wings reddish-
white, clouded with tawny along the costal and hind marginal
regions; central spot large, lunate, black; extreme hind
margin streaked with black. Body and legs red-brown.

Variable, as already indicated, in the depth of the red-
black clouding on the dorsal region of the fore wings, this
in some specimens from northern and western districts being
intensified nearly to deep black, while in other Scottish
examples it is partially obliterated, leaving almost the whole
wing reddish-drab. In two specimens taken near Haslemere,
Surrey, where the species is very rare, there is a somewhat
similar tendency, but the general colour is paler, more
smoky, and not of so clear a red-drab. Occasionally speci-
mens are so smoky, or tinged with grey, as closely to resemble
C. cxolcta, though even then readily distinguished by the
long black streak outside the reniform stigma. Usually in
these paler examples the black blotch or streak under the
orbicular is smaller, sometimes only an ovate spot, while in
the darkest examples it attains its greatest development.

On the wing in September and October, and after hyberna-
tion in March and April.

Larva cylindrical, elongated ; head rounded, rather large,
glossy smooth light chestnut, divided in the middle by a
faint yellow line; dorsal plate horn-colour, edged in front
with black, and showing traces of the beginnings of the
white longitudinal lines; body below the subdorsal lines
pale greenish-grey; dorsal line slender, white, continuous;
subdorsal lines rather broader, also white ; the intermediate
dorsal spaces completely occupied by longitudinal deep black
stripes regularly dotted with white; spiracular stripe white,

TRIFID^E. 59

edged above with black; spiracles light red; legs bone-
colour; prolegsand undersurface pale greenish-grey. (De-
scribed from larva) furnished by Mr. Robert Adkin for that
purpose.) A form figured by Mr. W. Buckler has the dorsal
surface green, with broad darker green subdorsal stripes
which are dotted with white, and a slender purple spiracular
stripe edged beneath with yellow. Another is described by
Mr. G. T. Bethune Baker : " Ground colour apple-green with
the back darker, and a pale green central stripe, on both
sides of which is a row of small white spots, finely encircled
with black, from the third to the twelfth segment inclusive,
each row consisting of three spots triangularly disposed on
every segment ; spiracular stripe white, edged above by a
black line; spiracles scarlet; legs yellow; prologs tipped
with pinkish-buff; head yellowish." In every variety the
beauty of this larva is quite remarkable.

May to July on dock, sorrel, persicaria, yellow flag, various
sedges, and other marsh or low-growing plants.

Pupa elongated, the thoracic portion very cylindrical ; eye
and antenna cases full and rounded; wing-covers more de-
pressed; abdominal segments very strongly rounded and
with deep divisions; anal segment bluntly and suddenly
rounded off below, but its dorsal portion produced into a
rounded and greatly pitted cremaster which, where joined to
the dorsal portion of the segment, is hollowed out like a
shell, and which bears at its tip two slender black points
or spikes, and outside these two bristles ; whole surface glossy
deep red-brown. In a brittle cocoon of earth beneath the
surface of the ground.

The moth doubtless hides during the day among moss,
dead leaves, or herbage, upon the ground. It has even been
found under a stone on the top of a mountain 2500 feet high.
Its form when at rest is so wonderfully like a bit of dead
stick, that even when several have been reared in a flower-
pot I have looked steadily at them without realising that

60 LEPIDOPTERA.

they were anything alive. It comes at dusk to sugar or
ivy -bloom very readily, and even to ripe blackberries when
these are available ; but in the spring is seldom observed,
although this is the season in which it pairs and deposits
its eggs. It only lwbernates in severe weather, and will
move about in winter whenever the weather is mild. Very
scarce in the South and East of England, though it appears
to have been found in almost every county, and seems to find
a congenial locality on Dartmoor, Devon. Either scarce or
local thoughout the Midlands, and not very common in the
West and North of England. Also scarce in North and
South Wales. Far more frequent in Scotland, occurring
throughout that country to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and
in many localities in abundance ; also common all over
Ireland, even to the tops of the mountains, and sometimes
abundant. Abroad it has a very wide range — Central
Europe, all the temperate portions of Northern Europe, also
Spain to Gibraltar, where, however, it is rare ; Northern
Italy, Southern Russia, and Siberia. Also apparently in
North America, where a form known as nupcra, but evidently
only a richly tinted variety of the present, is found from the
Hudson's Bay territory southward to Columbia, and westward
to Alaska.

Genus 85. CTJCULLIA.

Antennas cylindrical, rather long, naked ; eyes naked,
having lashes at front and back ; head furnished with
prominent separate tufts ; collar extremely large, forming
a sort of hood to the thorax, which consequently is peaked
at the top, also crested behind ; abdomen elongated,
furnished with four or five dorsal crests which sometimes
are partially concealed. Fore wings long, narrow, pointed,
the anal angle more than usually rounded off; hind wings
short, the cross-bar angulated but weak and hardly closing
the cell ; vein 5 faint.

TRIFIDjE. 6 i

L/ARViE cylindrical, firm, shining, usually handsomely
spotted or striped. On herbaceous plants, usually upon
the blossoms, feeding quite exposed.

PuPiE rather slender, soft, thin-skinned, having a con-
siderable projection at the tips of the wing-covers, which
contains the end of the long curled tongue.

Not an easy genus to tabulate ; an attempt may be useful :

A. Costal and dorsal margins each occupied by a stripe of

dark colour.

B. These stripes broad, rich chocolate, ground colour

reddish-drab, size near 2 inches. G. verlasci.

B2. The stripes narrow, dark red-brown, ground colour
wainscot-brown ; wings smaller and narrower.

C. lychnitis.

B3. Very similar, but ground colour more dull brown,
stripes straighter and more parallel.

C. scrophularice.

B4. Dorsal stripe narrow, costal broad and diffuse, choco-
late ; ground colour silvery-grey. G. asteris.

A2. The longitudinal stripes absent, fore wings grey
mottled with black or brown.

C. The mottled colour purple-brown; upper stigmata

distinct, three black streaks behind. C. gnaphalii.

C2. The mottled colour black in transverse bands ; ground
rosy-grey ; twin black dots in upper stigmata.

C. dbsynthii.

C3. The mottled colour grey-black ; ground brownish-grey ;
brown clouds in the stigmata. G. cibrotani.

A3. Without definite markings, except slender black longi-
tudinal lines.

D. Fore wings narrow, brown-grey or dark grey clouded

with black. C. chamomillce.

D2. Fore wings rather broad; pale grey shaded with

darker, and toward the costa faintly with light brown.

0. umbratica.

62 LEPIDOPTERA.

1. C. verbasci, L. — Expanse If to 2 inches. Costa
of fore wings strongly arched beyond the middle; hind
maro-in deeply crenulated ; pale wainscot-brown shaded with
red-brown, and with a rich mahogany or dark chocolate
stripe along the costal and dorsal margins. Hind wings
white, shaded with red-brown ; hind margin strongly crenu-
lated.

Antenna? of the male long, simple, naked, light brown ;
palpi loosely tufted, yellow-brown shaded and striped outside
with red-brown ; eyes reticulated, deep black, lashes black ;
tongue very long ; head whitish-brown, barred across the face
with tawny, above this divided into four tufts, two above
and two below the antenna?, and additional tufts at the bases
of the latter, all tawny above, white beneath ; collar extremely
large, peaked, and divided in the middle, white with four
faint tawny bars, and an edging at the back of purple-
brown; shoulder lappets large and very long, white tinged
with reddish-brown in the front half, edged at the back with
tawny ; middle area of thet horax disposed in large divided
crests at the top and back, red-black shading to black at the
tips, but faintly frosted with white ; fascicles thick, white ;
abdomen pale reddish-brown with abundant very long white
hair-scales on the basal segments, and on the dorsal ridge,
three prominent black-tipped crests, on the following
segments are one or two less conspicuous tufts; lateral
tufts spreading, purplish-white ; anal tuft small, reddish-
brown. Fore wings long and narrow ; costa very faintly
hollowed before the middle, beyond it strongly arched ; apex
sharply pointed ; hind margin deeply scalloped and crenulated,
rounded but slightly excavated above the anal angle, which is
rather sharp ; dorsal margin hollowed and gracefully curved ;
colour whitish-drab or wainscot-colour, tinged with pale
tawny ; entire costal region to the apex clouded with rich
chocolate-red, shading off below, but toward the apex
disposed in long stripes between the nervures; another
broad chocolate stripe lies along the dorsal margin from near

TRIFID&. 63

the base to considerably above the anal angle upon the hind
margin; this at its origin near the base of the wing is
obliquely crossed by two deeper chocolate streaks which,
with further long angulated faint tawny loops, form the first
line; in the middle of the dorsal margin are two white
crescents which, continued as excessively faint tawny streaks
and dots, form a much angulated second line ; with these
faint exceptions there are no traces of the ordinary pattern
of markings ; above the middle of the hind margin are three
or four cloudy chocolate-red streaks ; outside these, along the
extreme margin, is a regularly scalloped complete white line
edged with reddish-black ; on the costa toward the apex are
two or three white dots ; cilia pale brown with a slender purple-
brown line running into the point of each crenulation, below
the middle of the hind margin also dusted and streaked
with black, and continued along the greater portion of the
dorsal margin, where they are streaked with red-black and
frosted with black and white. Hind wings small, rather
pointed at the apex; hind margin sinuous and deeply
scalloped; white, much shaded with smoky reddish-brown,
which becomes dark at the apex and along the hind margin ;
nervures of the same colour, as is also the faint central
lunule ; cilia pale brown with the tips white, the two colours
divided by a brown-black line, but toward the anal angle
wholly white. Female accurately similar, hardly stouter.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown, shading off to
pearly-white toward the dorsal margin; discal cell filled
with long fluffy hair-scales; costal margin black-brown,
dotted with white toward the apex; cilia purple-brown.
Hind wings white, dusted along the costa and hind margin
with dark brown; nervures similar; cilia white clouded
with black-brown. Body pale reddish-brown ; legs whitish-
drab, streaked with tawny ; leg-tufts large, purplish-brown.

Not variable, except in a slight degree in the depth of
ground colour and of the dark stripes.

On the wing at the end of April and in May.

64 LEPTDOPTERA.

Larva stout, rounded, smooth, with, a few short scattered
hairs; incisions of the segments compressed; head small,
yellow, spotted with black ; body greenish-white with a broad
deep yellow transverse band on each segment from spiracle
to spiracle ; on each segment are also four large black dorsal
spots, the second pair larger and elongated laterally; sub-
dorsal line represented by two black spots and two black
transverse lines on each segment ; spiracles black, each fol-
lowed by a black spot and having two obliquely placed black
spots below it ; legs and prolegs yellowish, the latter marked
in front and the former behind with black ; on the underside
of the spiracles are two rows of irregular spots and streaks
forming an interrupted band on each side of the legs ; a
white lateral spot, enclosing a black one, on each proleg ; on
the undersurface are two black spots each on the third to the
sixth and eleventh to thirteenth segments, those on the fifth,
sixth, and eleventh the most conspicuous. (0. Fenn.)

June and July upon mullein, more particularly the woolly
species, Verbascum thapsus, and V. pulvcrulentum ; Scroplm-
laria nodosa, S. aquatica, and various non-British plants of
that genus. It has even been found upon Buddlcca globosa , a
North American shrub cultivated in gardens. Unlike some
of its allies, it eats the leaves of mullein and Serqphularia in
preference to the flowers. From its habit of feeding quite
exposed and most conspicuously in the sunshine it seems
extremely likely to be destroyed by birds, but is so irritable
that if touched it throws itself about, exuding a greenish
fluid from its mouth, and tumbles so promptly down among
the dead leaves of the plant that the danger is much obviated.
There is some reason to believe that these larvae are distasteful
to birds, and direct evidence to this effect is furnished by
several observers. On the other hand, the late Mr. D'Orville
of Exeter distinctly states that he has had in various years
hundreds of the larvas upon the Verbascum plants which he
cultivated in his garden, and that so soon as they became
large enough to appear conspicuously upon the leaves they

TRIFID&. 65

were cleared off by birds. Probably the common sparrow, by
his power of adaptation of himself to almost any circumstances,
may have trained himself to the enjoyment of these tit-bits,
and our experience of him lends force to the suggestion that
he will probably appropriate anything in a garden which the
proprietor especially desires to preserve. That this larva is
distasteful to jackdaws is, I think, established.

Pupa hardly of the ordinary Noctua form, being broadest
in the middle, yet having the wing-covers narrow. They are
not much swollen, nor are the limb and antenna covers con-
spicuous, but the tongue-case is swollen from the base, and at
the end of the wing-covers the case of its coiled tip forms a
very considerable raised knob ; spiracles distinct, oval, rather
blackened ; segmental divisions well marked ; general surface
smooth but not very glossy ; hardly any sculpture except a
little upon the back of the corselet ; cremaster projecting,
much flattened, rounded behind and showing no trace of
spikes or bristles ; general colour red-brown, anal tip black-
brown ; skin very delicate. In a cocoon of the size of a wood-
pigeon's egg, very thick and tough and composed of layers of
earth and silk ; at some depth beneath the surface of the
ground.

In this condition during the winter — but often through
several winters, since but a small proportion of the pupa?
produce moths in the first season. Out of a large brood fed
up together, some will emerge in each following spring for
four or five years, or even longer. The depth to which the
pupa is buried is therefore a great protection.

The moth is very rarely seen either in the daytime or at
night. Almost all the specimens in collections have been
reared from larvas. Once, however, I saw a specimen sitting
in a hedge by which mullein was growing, and was astonished
at its protective resemblance to the piece of dead stick upon
which it was at rest. The rich shades of brown on the wings,
which were clasped close to the stick as it sat lengthwise,

VOL. vi. E

66 LEPIDOPTERA.

and the points of the hoodlike front of the thorax, the thoracic
and abdominal crests, and the anal tuft, formed altogether a
similitude to the excrescences and thorns of the stick which
appeared almost miraculous. Since its tongue is so fully
developed, it must surely frequent some description of flowers
at night, but no such habit seems to be recorded of it, and
certainly sugar forms for it no attraction. The only speci-
mens which have come under my own notice at night have
been seen sitting upon gas-lamps. Thus its distribution is
only known by observation of its very conspicuous larva.
Formerly it was frequent in the London district, but has now
quite disappeared thence. Still common in all parts of the
South and East of England in which mullein is plentiful,
but more abundant in the West and in South Wales, where
it is found upon Scrophularia nodosa quite as often as on
mullein ; perhaps most plentiful in Devon and Cornwall, and
found in the Scilly Isles. Northward it reaches Worcester-
shire, Derbyshire, and some parts of Yorkshire, but I have
no record from farther north, nor from North Wales. In
Ireland it seems to be rare, and is only recorded from near
Dublin and Wicklow. Abroad its range extends over Central
and Southern Europe, including Turkey, where it is abun-
dant ; also the South of Sweden, Livonia, Asia Minor, and
Armenia.

2. C. scrophulariee, Schiff. — Expanse lh to If inch.
Costa of fore wings very flatly arched beyond the middle ;
hind margin much contracted, closely crenulated ; pale drab
faintly shaded with red-brown, a dark umbreous stripe along
the costa, and a red-brown stripe along the dorsal margin,
the intermediate space extremely even in width. Hind wings
white shaded with smoky-brown.

Antennae of the male simple, naked, red-brown ; palpi
short, moderately tufted, purple-brown, paler inside ; head
very curiously tufted in front, a broad lip-like pair of tufts
placed just above the palpi, and a large cup-shaped pair quite

TRIFIDA1. 67

round the antennas, from the base of each of which projects a
very small pointed whitish tuft, the rest pale brown tipped
with red-brown ; collar rather large, divided in the middle,
ashy-white tinged in the middle with fulvous, and edged at
the back with tawny-brown ; shoulder-lappets reddish- white
edged with white, and with a few red-brown dots ; remainder
of the thorax raised into red-black top and back crests which
are frosted with white ; fascicles white ; abdomen not very
long, reddish-drab, thickly covered at the base with white
hair-scales, and having on the dorsal ridge two black crests
tipped with white ; lateral tufts small ; anal tuft contracted.
Fore wings narrow, rather constricted behind ; costa very
faintly arched at the base and much more so near the apex,
which is pointed ; hind margin shortly curved, rather con-
tracted, scalloped, crenulated, and flatly excavated close to
the anal angle ; dorsal margin rather concave ; colour whitish-
brown or whitish-drab, shaded with dull reddish-umbreous ;
costal region broadly blackish-umbreous frosted from base to
apex with grey ; on the dorsal margin is a narrow red-black
stripe shaded with red-brown from near the base to the
middle, where it is widened, but cut off by two crescents, each
black and white ; beyond these it is continued, broader and
tinged with purple-brown, to the anal angle and hind margin ;
first line disposed in excessively long angles, faintly reddish-
brown ; second line indicated by the two crescents of white,
backed with black, on the dorsal margin, but above these
imperceptible except for a few minute brown dots ; three
or four similar dots lie above the median nervure, but beyond
this the ordinary pattern of markings is not present ; beneath
the costal stripe, toward the hind margin, are three or four
tawny streaks lying between nervures, and on the costa two
or three steel-grey dots ; extreme hind margin edged with an
undulating pale brown line ; cilia purplish-white, intersected
by a series of pale brown streaks interrupted by white dashes,
the cilia also extended along the dorsal margin, shading from
purple-brown to red-brown. Hind wings small, white at the

68 LEPIDOPTERA.

base, shading off to smoky reddish-brown at the hind margin,
which is strongly crenulated ; cilia white, dashed and shaded
with dark brown. Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown shading off to
pearly-white toward the base of the dorsal margin ; dorsal
region also white, and hind margin to the middle ; cilia white
dashed with brown. Body and leg-tufts dusky-white ; legs
white streaked with brown.

On the wing during the latter half of May.

Larva plump and cylindrical ; when viewed sideways it
appears of uniform thickness, but seen on the back it tapers
behind from the tenth segment ; head rather more swollen
than the second segment, rounded, bright ochreous-yellow,
mottled with red and spotted with black ; ground colour
greenish -white, pale bluish-grey, or whitish-grey ; down the
middle of the back is a series of broad deep yellow triangles
pointing backwards, each edged on both sides by large con-
fluent deep black spots, usually forming a somewhat C-shaped
marking, which encloses another yellow spot, and below is
followed by several black spots ; behind all these, on each
segment, is a deep green transverse spotless band ; in the
spiracular region there is a yellow spot on each segment
except the second, besides the lateral black spots already
mentioned are smaller ones on each proleg, and occasionally
some fine short transverse black streaks on the sides. The
forms of the black markings, composed of united spots, vary
in the degree of union of these spots ; each anterior spot is
confluent with the posterior one below it, but does not unite
transversely with the others ; in one variety they resemble
tadpole forms united by the tails, in another these tails are
as thick as the spots and form blotched curves ; and in a
third these curves are so thick and confluent as to include
some of the ordinary side spots, thus completely edging two
sides of the yellow triangle with a blotched black border.
(Adapted from Buckler.)

TRIFID&. 6g

June and the beginning of July on the seeds and flowers
of Scrophularia nodosa. Doubtless also on those of S. aquatica
and Vcrbascum.

With reference to the lame figured, Mr. Buckler wrote to
me twenty years ago : " I have four figures of as many larvae ;
they vary a little, but are all very different from those of C.
verbasci or C. lychnitis. The larvae were given me by Mr.
Doubleday in 1867. The only locality that I have knowledge
of is in the neighbourhood of Tuddenham, where Mr. Wratis-
law found them, but I think only once. It is a very rare
species, certainly the rarest British one of the genus ; the
middle to the end of June is the time for the larva, which
feeds on Scrophularia nodosa growing on banks in dry places.
I only reared one moth ; the other pupae remained over one
season after another till they dried up."

Pupa yellow-brown. Not more fully described. In an
earthen cocoon.

So far as I am aware this very rare species has never been
observed in this country in the moth state. All the few
known British specimens have been reared from larvae, almost
all of them found in the Eastern Counties ; Mr. Doubleday's
larvae, of which he sent four to Mr. Buckler and reared some
himself, were, as already stated, obtained at Tuddenham,
Suffolk. In 1878 several were reared by Dr. F. D. Wheeler
from larvae found by him in Norfolk, I think at no great
distance from Norwich, and previously a few by the Rev.
H. Williams from larvae found near Thetford. Other
records are from Lakenheath, Bury, Higham and elsewhere
in Suffolk. In the collection of the late Mr. F. Bond
is a series of what he considered to be this species, reared
from larvae found by him in Cambridgeshire, but they are
most unsatisfactorily like C. verbasci (as also are most of
the specimens sent from abroad under this name — hence
much confusion). Mr. C. W. Dale records the present species
as very rare in Dorset, but I have not seen the specimens.

70 LEPWOPTERA.

Its range abroad, supposing the records really to be applicable
to this species, is rather wide — Central Europe, Southern
Sweden, Livonia, Northern Italy, Corsica, the Balkan Penin-
sula, and Southern Eussia.

3. C. lychnitis, fiambur. Expanse 1 J to If inch. Costa
of the fore wings flatly arched beyond the middle ; hind
margin crenulated and much hollowed above the anal angle ;
costal region striped with reddish-umbreous, dorsal margin
with red-brown j remaining space whitish-brown. Hind wings
white, shading to red-brown at the hind margin.

Antennas of the male naked, simple, purple-brown ; palpi
short, moderately tufted, pale drab, striped outside with
blackish-brown ; head thickly and bluntly tufted in front, the
tufts divided into three sections by transverse channels, and
barred with purplish -brown, black, red-brown, and pale drab ;
the portion above the antennas also divided into tufts, red-
brown, a paler tuft at the base of each antenna ; collar very
large, peaked and divided, pale drab with two or three
extremely faint pale brown bars, and edged at the back with
umbreous ; shoulder-lappets very long, brownish-white dotted
with dark brown ; middle of thorax drab, almost filled up by
the large divided top and back crests, which are black-brown
with a faint frosting of white ; fascicles yellowish-white ;
abdomen pale yellowish-brown, the basal segments abundantly
clothed with yellowish-white hair-scales ; dorsal ridge orna-
mented with two or three conspicuous black-brown crests, and
behind these with a line of the same colour down the middle ;
lateral and anal tufts somewhat spreading. Fore wings
rather sinuous, costa straight to beyond the middle, then
flatly arched ; apex angulated ; hind margin strongly crenu-
lated and a little curved, but below the middle suddenly and
widely but rather flatly excavated ; anal angle well developed ;
dorsal margin faintly concave, very nearly straight ; colour
whitish-drab slightly shaded with reddish-brown ; costal
region broadly blackish-umbreous throughout, faintly shaded

trifidje:. 71

off below ; along the dorsal margin from near the base is a
black longitudinal stripe edged with red-brown, the latter
broadened in the middle and then interrupted by two curved
dusky-white streaks, edged on both sides with deep red-brown,
beyond which it continues to the hind margin, but encloses
an elongated patch of the ground colour above the anal angle ;
first line faintly indicated by a long obscure angle lying
between the median and subdorsal nervures ; the second
only by the curved white streaks already mentioned ; before
the hind margin is a row of red-brown clouds throwing
inward long points, one of which runs far into the wing ;
extreme margin edged by a white line ; cilia black-brown
along the base and dashed with white, but the tips white,
streaked with pale grey. Hind wings rather small, hind
margin much crenulated, sinuous and excavated below the-
apex ; white with brown nervures, and broadly shaded with
brown along the apical and hind margins ; cilia white, inter-
sected with dark brown. Female similar, but with the body
shorter and stouter.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-brown, shading to
white at the base and dorsal margin, and faintly dusted with
white along the hind margin. Hind wings white, dusted
over the costal region with brown, and the hind margin
dappled with the same. Body, legs, and leg-tufts brownish-
white.

Not variable except in size, and in this respect our largest
examples seem to be inferior to some of those from abroad.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva elongate, smooth, rounded, transversely wrinkled,
sides puckered ; very slightly attenuated in front ; head
shining, hardly bifid, yellow spotted with black; ground
colour whitish-green or greenish-yellow, with a transverse
bright yellow band on each segment from spiracle to spiracle ;
one lateral and two dorsal spots on each segment, and a pair
of spots obliquely placed, and often united, below each

72 LEPIDOPTERA.

spiracle ; two broad black and generally united dashes on each
segment succeed the dorsal spots, but on the second, third,
fourth, twelfth, and thirteenth segments these dashes form
black spots ; a row of black spots, one on each segment, lies
above the legs and prolegs, the latter having also a black
lateral spot ; there are a few ventral black spots on the fifth,
sixth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth segments. Very
similar to that of C. verbasci, but the spots are fewer and
differently placed. When young the ground colour is yellow.
(C. Fenn.)

Mr. Buckler's figures indicate much variation in this larva ;
one is as described above, another has the spots very large and
much joined together, but the yellow bands narrow and pale ;
a third has them broad and tinged with orange, while the
spots are small and almost all separated ; a fourth has the spots
few in number and reduced to mere dots, the yellow bands
also narrow, and the green greatly preponderating ; while the
fifth is almost wholly yellow from the breadth and extent of
the bands, but is devoid of black spots except at the spiracles.

July and August on the blossoms of Verbascum nigrum;
feeding in bright sunshine and preferring the sunny side,
eating blossoms, buds, and green seed-vessels, and avoiding the
leaves until these are consumed. On the Continent feeding
also on the flowers and seeds of Verbascum lychnitis, V. pul-
verulentum, V. phlomidis, V. austriacum, and V. sinuatum.

Pupa undescribed, in a thick cocoon of earth and silk.
Sometimes remaining in this stage for more than one year.

I do not find any instance of the capture of the moth in
this country ; all the specimens in collections seem to have
been reared from larvas found on flowers of mullein. The extra-
ordinary resemblance of the moths of this small section of the
genus to portions of dead stick seems to secure them almost
complete immunity from capture when at rest ; but, provided
as they are with long tongues perfectly adapted for sucking the
honey from tubular flowers, it seems remarkable that they

TRIFID.E. 73

should never be captured on the wing. The present species
appears to have been first noticed in this country (in the
larva state, of course) about the year 1842, by Mr. S. Stevens,
near Arundel, Sussex, and it has more recently been found in
the same county near Petersfield ; also at Box Hill, Surrey ;
near Liphook, Hants ; Caversham, on the border of Oxford-
shire ; once near Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and rarely in
Norfolk and Suffolk. Probably it is more widely distributed
through the Eastern and Southern counties, but its occur-
rence in any other part of these Islands is extremely doubtful.
Abroad its range extends through France and Germany,
Corsica, and Southern and Western Russia — possibly farther
— the confusion between this and previous species extending
apparently to their localities. That the present species is
abundantly distinct from C. verbasci is obvious ; but its
resemblance to G. scrophularice is in all respects so exceed-
ingly close that a very strong case can be made out by those
who believe in their specific identity. To my own eye there
seems to be a difference in the form of the pale space down
the middle of the fore wings, this in C. scrophularice being
straighter and its dark edges more exactly parallel than in
C lychnitis, but the distinction is very slight. The difference
of black marking in the larvas is somewhat greater, and the
times of appearance, in that and the imago state, appear to
be different. It seems advisable, therefore, to follow the
previous practice both here and abroad, and to treat them as
distinct species until they are proved to be identical. The
name lychnitis is unfortunate, since it seems to connect the
insect with Lychnis, upon which it certainly does not feed ;
doubtless the reference is to Verbascum lychnitis, and Stau-
dinger therefore points out that the name might well be
lychnitidis.

4. C. asteris, Schiff. — Expanse If to 2 inches. Fore
wings silvery-grey with a broad shaded purplish-brown stripe
along the costa, and a darker purple-brown blotch at the

74 LEPIDOPTERA.

anal angle, curved off and continued as a narrow stripe along
the dorsal margin. Hind wings smoky-white, almost wholly
shaded with smoky reddish-brown.

Antennas of the male rather long, naked, dull brown ;
palpi short, very broadly and densely tufted, purple-brown
mixed with white ; apical joint short and thick ; head densely
tufted with scales, which are divided into three projecting
ridges by two deep cross channels below the antennas, each
ridge faintly tipped with white, that between the antennas
noticeably so ; collar very large, beautifully curved, sweeping
back in the middle to a long point or peak, silvery-grey, three
times barred with brown in different shades, and edged at
the back with black-brown ; shoulder-lappets very large and
long, silvery-white shaded with pale brown toward the
shoulders and sprinkled with a few dark brown dots ;
remainder of the thorax reddish-brown, top crest concealed
by the tall collar, back crest rather invaded by the long
shoulder-lappets, black-brown tipped faintly with white ;
fascicles very long and curving over, brownish- white ; abdo-
men long and tapering, dull grey-brown obscured by abun-
dant white hair-scales ; on the dorsal ridge are two conspicuous
erect black-brown crests, followed by similar but more pros-
trate tufts ; lateral tufts dusky -white ; anal tuft long and
somewhat forked, greyish-white. Fore wings very long,
narrow ; costa thickly ribbed, straight or even a little hol-
lowed near the base, strongly arched toward the apex, which
is angulated ; hind margin very oblique, nearly straight,
faintly crenulated ; dorsal margin almost straight ; colour
silvery-grey, but the costal region is completely occupied by
a broad shaded purple-brown longitudinal stripe, the dorsal
margin by another, much narrower, but suddenly bent up
beyond the middle, and cut off by a slender upright white
crescent edged with black ; beyond this is a large purple-
brown cloud occupying the space over the anal angle, and
containing a hooked black line and two or three small white
streaks ; sometimes the ordinary first line is suggested by

TRIFID^ 75

long streaks of excessive faintness just perceptibly forming
angles, but these are usually absent; the white crescent
already mentioned is the only distinctly visible portion of
the second line, and neither is indicated at all in the costal
brown area; orbicular stigma suggested by short upright
chocolate streaks, between which is a faint fulvous cloud ;
base of the reniform only outlined by a slender horizontal
chocolate line and three similar dots ; two or three extremely
faint whitish dots are just visible on the costal arch, and
below the apex are two or three pale longitudinal streaks
between the nervures ; parallel with these is, in some indi-
viduals, a slender black streak ; extreme hind margin edged
by a pale brown line which is preceded by chocolate lunules ;
cilia grey dashed with purple-brown. Hind wings short,
rounded, smoky brownish-white shading to dark smoky-
brown along the hind margin ; nervures dark purple-brown ;
cilia white. Female similar, but with a stouter abdomen.

Underside of the fore wings very dark smoky-grey, almost
smoky-black, but the basal portion of the dorsal region pearly-
white. Hind wings white, broadly clouded along the costal
and apical regions, and narrowly along the hind margin, with
smoky-brown ; nervures rather darker. Body pale grey ; legs
dull brown with paler tufts, but the front of the tibia3
greyish-white with brown lines.

Hardly variable except that specimens obtained or reared
from the salt-marshes of the coast seem to be of a purplish
grey, and those from inland localities rather more of a reddish-
grey.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva elongate, slightly attenuated behind; skin rather
polished ; head rounded, bluish-green spotted or dusted with
black ; a slight projection on each side of the mouth ; body
bright green ; dorsal line broad, yellow ; subdorsal line and
another below it pale green ; spiracular line broad, yellow,
with the lower half white ; all these lines distinctly edged

76 LEPIDOPTERA

on both sides with black ; a stripe paler than the ground
colour lies between the subdorsal and the line below it ;
spiracles white, edged with black.

Or, head purplish spotted with black ; colour pale greenish-
grey with a purplish tinge ; dorsal line very bright yellow ;
two subdorsal lines yellow, spiracular line as in the type ;
sides suffused with purplish-red ; between the subdorsal and
spiracular lines are two parallel black threads ; undersurface
whitish-grey down the middle, purplish-red at the sides.
(C. Fenn.)

July, August, and September on Solidago virgaurea and
Aster tripolium, preferring the blossoms, feeding both by
day and by night. Also occasionally upon China-aster
(Callistephus chincnsis) in gardens.

Pupa short, fusiform, with a projection in front of the
body at the ends of the limb-cases, and a slight protuberance
at each side of the head above the eyes ; rather soft and
semi-transparent, orange-brown ; incisions of the segments
and dorsal line darker ; spiracles black, and there is a small
black mark at the base of each wing-case ; anal extremity
dark brown. Subterranean, in a thick cocoon. (C. Fenn.)

This species also is far more frequently found in the larva
than in the imago state, yet the moth comes occasionally to
flowers at dusk, to honeysuckle-blossom quite eagerly, and I
have taken it flying over white tobacco, and other flowers
such as red valerian (Centranthus ruber). It also comes
more rarely to a strong light. Probably to be found, if
searched for, in most parts of England in which the golden-
rod is plentiful, and on the more muddy seashores where
Aster tripolium abounds, but evidence is wanting. It is,
however, not very uncommon in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,
Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hants, but is rare in Dorset, and
apparently not noticed in the extreme south-west, yet is
known to occur in Herefordshire, and at Grange and Wither-
slack in North Lancashire, as well as in North Wales. So

TRIFIDsE. 77

far as I know these districts indicate the limits of its range
in these Islands. Abroad it is found throughout Central
Europe, Southern Sweden, Livonia, Southern Russia, and
the mountainous districts of Central Asia.

5. C. gnaphalii, Huh. — Expanse 1^ inch. Fore wiDgs
not very long, pointed ; silvery-grey ; a black streak from
the base; middle area and apex clouded with purplish-
umbreous with a faint chocolate flush ; upper stigmata paler ;
in the hinder area are several chocolate-black streaks ; hind
margin dotted with black. Hind wings black-brown.

Antennas of the male simple, naked, light brown, white at
the back ; palpi extremely short, dark purple-brown, apical
joint short and black ; eyelashes very long, black-brown ;
head thickly scaled, divided into prominent tufts by two
cross-channels, purple-black dusted with white ; at the base
of each antenna is a white tuft ; collar very large, peaked,
silvery-grey, but barred in front with black, and beneath this
shaded with light-brown ; shoulder-lappets long, silvery -grey ;
remainder of thorax brown-black streaked with silvery-grey,
top crest concealed by the peaked collar, back crest deep
black ; fascicles brownish-white ; abdomen rather long, pale
smoky-brown shaded with grey hair-scales; dorsal crests
black, that on the basal segment very small, the following-
two larger, the fourth prostrate ; lateral and anal tufts grej',
the latter pointed and faintly divided. Fore wings rather
pointed, moderately narrow ; costa straight to beyond the
middle, thence arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margiu
oblique, crenulated, very faintly curved ; dorsal margin nearly
straight ; silvery-grey much clouded with black-brown and
having a chocolate flush ; from the middle of the base, below
the median nervure, is a long thin black streak unusually
straight ; first line double, black-brown, much angulated, and
having a very long point running almost to the base of the
dorsal margin ; second line only commenced on the dorsal
margin as a slender black crescent edged in its hollow with

78 LEPIDOPTERA.

white and backed with dark brown, the rest of its course
scarcely suggested ; orbicular stigma large, pale brown, almost
double, or shaped like a cottage loaf, each half containing a
dark brown cloud ; reniform stigma larger and very similar,
pale grey-brown edged with black and containing small dark
brown clouds ; central area of the wing around these stigmata,
and between the two lines, clouded with purplish-umbreous,
a shading of the same being continued obliquely toward the
apex of the wing ; a row of similar small clouds lies before
the hind margin, that nearest the anal angle being much the
largest, and also enclosing a black streak ; another black
streak runs inward from one of the smaller clouds in the
middle of the row, and a third lies before the apex ; above
this last, on the costal margin, are three white dots ; portions
of some of the nervures, with their tips, are streaked with
black ; hind margin and cilia very charmingly laced, the
former being edged with black lunules separated by whitish
dashes, the latter pale grey intersected with brown lines.
Hind wings rounded, black-brown, rather paler at the base,
cilia white. Female very similar.

Underside of the fore wings black-brown, basal portion of
dorsal margin pearly- white ; cilia dusted with white. Hind
wings black-brown beyond the middle, the basal half smoky-
white, dusted toward the costa with dark brown ; central
spot black ; cilia white. Body pale brownish-grey ; leg-tufts
pale brown ; legs brown, the front tibias whitish-grey.

Apparently not variable.

On the wing in June and the beginning of July.

Larva of moderate stoutness, cylindrical, though tapering
a little in the last three segments to the extremity ; head
rounded and scarcely smaller than the second segment, green,
with groups of very minute black dots, and the ocelli black ;
skin entirely without gloss ; ground colour rather deep green,
inclining a little to olive-green, and thickly freckled with
pale yellow atoms ; dorsal stripe complete, very broad, dark

TRIFIDjE. 79

purplish -brown, widest in the middle segments ; down its
centre is a series of diamond and roundish oval shapes faintly
outlined in black, two on each segment, the diamond in front ;
an equally fine undulating black line runs on either side of
them so as to form another series of diamonds along the
segmental divisions, a little paler than those of the central
line ; subdorsal line a faint freckled line of purplish-brown,
followed by two others, very faint, sinuous and interrupted
so as to be but little noticeable ; spiracular line a longitudinal
thread of pale yellow freckles becoming whitish as it
approaches the head, on which it continues to the side of
the mouth; spiracles green, outlined with black, each
situated in a purplish-brown blotch or slash placed obliquely
along the side and pointing upwards and forwards ; legs and
prolegs green, the ventral prolegs each with a purplish- brown
spot on the side ; back of the anal pair similar, and their
basal hooks brown ; ventral surface green freckled with pale
yellow in seven longitudinal lines, the middle ones the
broadest and palest. It has a rough mealy look which
assimilates well with that of the stem of the plant. As it
reaches quite full growth the dorsal stripe becomes paler, and
the green and pale yellow freckles show more plainly through
it. (Condensed from Buckler.)

. Juty> August, and September on Solidago virgaurea (golden-
rod), usually feeding at night, lying closely during the day,
head downwards, on the lower part of a leaf, or on the stem,
and exceedingly difficult to find. Moreover, when found it
is terribly infected with ichneumon parasites.

Pupa yellow-brown, hinder portion flattened to a broad
cremaster. (Hofmann.) In an earthen cocoon.

We know little or nothing of the habits of this species
in the moth state. It is asserted that specimens have been
taken at rest in the daytime in Sussex, but whether sitting
upon plants, or on railings or gates, or how, has not been
specified. One example was undoubtedly taken, in 1892,

So LEPIDOPTERA.

flying at dusk, about flowers, on a sunny terrace at Witley,
Surrey, by Miss Ada Evans ; it is now in the collection of
Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher. No other captures have come under
my notice, except of the larva. In this state it has been
found at Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Darenth Wood, and
Deal, Kent; at Tilgate, Abbotts Wood, and Hayward's-
Heath, Sussex ; near Horndean, Hants ; Birch Wood and
Witley, Surrey ; and Epping Forest, Essex ; but outside
these five counties I have no knowledge of its presence in
these Islands.

Abroad it has a considerable range : France, Switzerland,
Central and Southern Germany, Hungary, Finland, Kussia,
and the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

6. C. absynthii, L. — Expanse \\ to If inch. Fore
wings narrow at the base, greyish- white with a purplish
flush ; a double black bar before and another just beyond the
middle ; stigmata indicated by round black dots in pairs \
hind margin dotted with black. Hind wings white faintly
shaded behind with smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male rather thick, naked, brown in front,
white at the back ; palpi very short and blunt, white mixed
with dark brown ; head thickly tufted, pale grey, barred
three times and shaded with black; at the base of each
antenna is a large loose white tuft ; collar very long and
strongly peaked, pale grey, but its base dark brown, edged
with a black bar, which also curves up the middle to a
point ; above this twice faintly barred with pale brown, and
edged at the back with smoky-brown ; shoulder-lappets
large and long, greyish- white edged with pale brown and
dotted with dark brown ; central portion of the thorax light
brown ; top crest concealed by the peak of the collar ; back
crest black, tipped with white ; fascicles very abundant,
white ; abdomen pale brown dusted with black, but plen-
tifully covered with long white hair-scales ; on the first three
segments are large black crests ; lateral tufts small, white ;

TRIFID^E. 8 1

anal tuft long and narrow but rather forked, -brownish-white.
Fore wings rather narrow but broader behind, of singular
beauty ; costa straight to beyond the middle, then much
arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin oblique,
almost straight ; dorsal margin very straight ; colour silvery-
white flushed with purple, very much marbled with black
and black-brown ; basal line indicated by short black streaks
and spots ; first line a double series of deep black clouded
crescents which form a conspicuous double bar across the
wing ; second line greyish-white, arising on the dorsal margin
as a twice angulated streak edged on each side with black-
brown clouding, hardly perceptible in the middle portion,
though faintly edged in the same manner, more distinct
again toward the costa ; orbicular stigma curiously indicated
as a white space enclosing two black spots placed perpendicu-
larly, and margined at the corners by four more ; reniform
stigma more obscurely white but similai^ly centred and
cornered with black spots ; between these stigmata is a
series of deep black clouds, forming a central stripe which
unites with the black clouding before the dorsal part of the
second line, and so takes the place of a central shade ; space
outside this dappled with faint elongated cloudy-brown
streaks, more blackened toward the apex ; hind margin
edged with a row of large black dots; cilia silvery- white,
twice intersected by pale purplish-grey lines. Hind wings
rounded, but with a slight angle in the hind margin ; white
at the base, shading off to smoky-brown at the apex and
behind ; nervures pale brown ; cilia white. Female very
similar but with a shorter abdomen.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-grey, dotted on
the costa and hind margin with white. Hind wings white*
shaded with smoky-grey along the apical and hind-marginal
regions ; cilia white. Body and legs whitish-grey.

Usually very constant in colour and markings, merely
varying in the extent of black spotting and bands ; but in
the collection of Colonel Partridge is an ashy-white example

VOL. VI. f

82 LEPIDOPTERA.

having all the 'markings indistinct. It was obtained at the
Isle of Portland.

On the wing in July.

Larva stout, with the segmental folds deeply indented ;
head greyish freckled with green, rather narrower than the
second segment, which is pale grey, mottled with brown ;
ground colour green ; on each segment and on either side
of the dorsal line are four tubercles, arranged transversely
on the second, third, and fourth segments, and in a trapezium
on the others ; there are also two in the spiracular line on
each segment ; all these emit a single bristle ; dorsal line
pale grey, widened toward the hinder half of each segment.
Each tubercle is in a brownish area, and the two front ones
on each segment are connected with the hinder pair on the
preceding segment by an indistinct green stripe rather darker
than the ground colour. The spiracles are pale, with a dark
ring, and are very inconspicuous. There is a pure white
stripe beginning at the front of each segment in the spira-
cular line, and extending obliquely to the claspers (prolegs),
which, with the legs, are white and resemble porcelain. The
ventral surface is streaked and mottled indistinctly with
white. (W. F. H. Blandford.)

August and the beginning of September on Artemesia
absinthium (wormwood) and occasionally on A. vulgaris,
feeding only upon the flowers, seeds, and buds; eating
greedily, in the sunshine — which appears to be essential to
its health — but when the weather is wet leaving the plants
to hide on or under the ground ; in fine weather, especially
towards dusk, it climbs up, and when not feeding it rests
on the stems among the flowers, and from its colour and
markings resembles them so accurately as to be discovered
much more easily by the touch than by sight.

Pupa apparently undescribed, in a thick tough cocoon
of earth and silk. In this state through the winter.

TRIFID&. 83

The habits of this species in the imago state appear to be
unknown. Although the larva is to be found in some plenty
in very restricted localities, the moth seems hardly ever to
be seen at large either in the daytime or at night. The
only record of its capture which has come under my notice is
that of a single specimen " taken in a garden at Rathowen,
Westmeath, by Mrs. Battersby." But the larva is recorded
by Donovan as having been found upon wormwood in or
about 1780 in Bunhill Fields, which is now a densely popu-
lated portion of London ! Its usual haunts, however, are on
rocky portions of the sea-coast counties, especially in the
South-West and West. The only exception that I know of is
a very restricted locality on the coast of Suffolk. It is not
rare in the Isle of Wight and in some seasons is plentiful
at the Isle of Portland, though scarce on other parts of the
Dorset coast. In Devon sometimes abundant at Plymouth,
Dartmouth, and other parts of the South coast ; also on the
North coast, and on that of Somerset ; in Cornwall it appears
to be less frequent. In South Wales I have found it freely
in the farm-yards and waste places of the farms nearest
the coast cliffs of Pembrokeshire ; in North Wales it is
recorded from Barmouth and Dolgelly. With the exception
of the single specimen already alluded to as taken in West-
meath, Ireland, this is the extent of its known range in
these Islands. Abroad it is found through France, Germany,
Switzerland, Hungary, South Sweden, Livonia, Bulgaria, large
portions of Russia, and the mountainous regions of Central
Asia.

7. C. abrotani, Fab. ; artemesise, Stand. Cat. —
Expanse 1| inch. Fore wings narrow and pointed; pale
silvery-grey, with a browner shading ; transverse lines angu-
lated and zigzagged; upper stigmata pale, edged with
black. Hind wings yellowish- white clouded with light
smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male simple, naked, light brown ; palpi

84 LEPIDOPTERA.

short and thickly tufted, mixed black and white ; head
tufted and barred, lower portion black dusted with white,
then barred with pale brown, and between the antennas with
white, above this black dusted with white ; tufts beneath
the antennas very large, dusky-white ; collar moderately
large and rather peaked, brownish-white, barred in front
with black, behind this faintly with grey and white, the
back margin broadly grey-brown ; rest of thorax grey-
brown, the shoulder-lappets streaked with white ; crests
obscure, the top one covered by the peak of the collar,
that at the back black-brown and rather prostrate ; fascicles
dirty white ; abdomen long, pale brown, more reddish-brown
behind ; basal segment ornamented with a black dorsal crest,
the following segments with very obscure similar prostrate
tufts ; lateral tufts small and obscure, the anal long, silky,
pale brown. Fore wings narrow ; costa straight to near the
apex, where it is flatly arched ; tip angulated ; hind margin
very oblique, gently curved ; dorsal margin nearly straight ;
colour pale brownish-grey ; basal line only indicated by very
slender streaks close to the costa ; first line black-brown,
cloudy but distinct, forming very long angles ; second line
similar and nearly complete, but in shorter angles ; a faint
series of brown clouds seems to suggest a subterminal
line ; orbicular stigma large, pale grey, edged on each
side with black, and divided with pale brown ; reniform
stigma pale grey clouded with brown and completely edged
with black ; region between the stigmata and near the
transverse lines clouded with brown ; hind margin dotted
with pale brown spots which are edged behind with black
lunules ; cilia greyish-white dusted with brown. Hind
wings somewhat rounded, though having a faint hollow
below the apex ; white at the base, shading off to pale
brown behind ; nervures rather darker brown ; cilia white.
Female very similar, but the body shorter.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky -grey edged with
paler on the costa and hind margin. Hind wings white,

TRIF1D&. 85

shaded along the hind margin with smoky-brown; cilia
white. Body and legs greyish-brown.

Apparently not variable.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva green with darker green divisions to the segments ;
dorsal line slender, white; on each segment are eight red
tubercles, except on the last where there are two; among
these, on the second and fourth segments, is a shorter
yellowish point; above the feet is a broad undulating
yellow longitudinal stripe interrupted on each segment;
spiracles white, ringed with black; head brown edged
behind with black, and having a pale-edged triangle on
the forehead; undersurface pale green with two slender
longitudinal lines, which are red-brown on the fourth and
fifth segments, on the remainder dark green. (Hofmann.)

August and September on Artemesia campestris, A. ahro-
tanum, and A. dbsynthium.

Pupa yellowish with the front greenish. (Hofmann.)

Nothing is known in these Islands of the habits of this
species, except that two specimens found upon a fence in
Devonshire, but which I have had no opportunity of seeing,
are said to belong to it. On the Continent it is found in
sandy districts, sometimes commonly. I greatly hesitate to
include it here as a British species, yet have little doubt of
its — very rare — occurrence. One specimen was found, unre-
cognised, in the series of A. dbsynthii in the collection of the
late Mr. Edwin Shepherd; another in that of the late
Mr. Edwin Brown of B urton-on -Trent ; and a third in
another English collection; all three were purchased at
different sales by Dr. Mason. When looking through the
collection of the late Kev. H. Burney, after his death, I
found another example in his series of A. absynthii, cer-
tainly overlooked by him. Mr. Burney collected larvae of
A. absynthii in plenty in the north of Pembrokeshire, and

86 LEPIDOPTERA.

I believe also in Devonshire ; and there is not, in my
opinion, any doubt that his and all the three specimens
previously mentioned were reared from larva? accidentally
collected along with those of the other species. G. abrotani
is so well known abroad that it is altogether unlikely to
have been introduced among A. absynthii. In future a
larva on Artemesia having red dorsal tubercles should be
regarded with peculiar interest.

Abroad its range is through Germany, Hungary, Switzer-
land, South Sweden, Poland, Central and Southern Kussia,
and the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

8. C. chamomillae, Schiff. — Expanse If to If inch. Fore
wings narrow, pointed, smoky-grey or brown-grey, usually
clouded with black ; nervures black ; a long slender basal
line, and two or three short lines between the middle and
hind margin, black. Hind wings dark smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male long, simple, naked, brown ; palpi
short, very broadly tufted, black-brown mixed with drab, apical
joint nipple-like ; tongue very large and long ; head densely
tufted with scales which are divided across by narrow
channels into flat compressed ridges, black-brown tipped with
grey ; collar large and conspicuously peaked, pale grey barred
in front with a red-brown cross-stripe which throws up a
point in the middle, above this obscurely barred with brown ;
remainder of thorax grey except that, obscured by the long
grey scales of the collar and shoulder-lappets, are narrow
black -brown crests ; fascicles dusky-white ; abdomen very
long, pale grey, the basal segments covered with dusky-white
hair-scales, and having on the dorsal ridge two small crests
tipped with brown-black ; lateral tufts obscure ; anal tuft
very long and forked. Fore wings narrow ; costa straight or
faintly hollowed to beyond the middle, thence flatly arched ;
apex angulated ; hind margin very oblique, almost straight,
and faintly crenulated ; dorsal margin straight ; colour dark
smoky-grey faintly tinged along the costal and dorsal margins

TRIFID&. 87

with brown ; nervnres all darker grey and blackened toward
the tips; from the middle of the base a long and very thin
black line lies below the median nervure, and another, shorter,
close to the dorsal margin; first line grey-black hardly
noticeable from being disposed in oblique lines forming
angles so long that they reach the middle of the wing ;
second line of the same colour, only just perceptible, and dis-
posed in disconnected curves between the ner.ures ; toward
the hind margin are two thin black lines lying between ner-
vnres, one above the anal angle, the other above the middle ;
places of the orbicular and reniform stigmata, or the reniiorm
only, just indicated by a rather paler grey or brownish-grey
unmargined cloudy spot, but very frequently these ^and a
other markings in the middle are obscured by smoky-b ack
clouding; cilia grey divided by darker ^shes proceeding
from the nervnres. Hind wings rather narrow with the hind
margin sinuous; pale smoky-grey with an obscure hinder
band of darker grey-brown ; nervnres dark brown ; cilia
white. Female similar but with darker hmd wings and

stouter body. A

Underside of the fore wings dark smoky-grey, costa and
hind margin paler grey. Hind wings smoky-white dusted
along the costal area and clouded behind with grey-brown ;
nervnres darker. Body and leg-tufts very pale purplish-drab ;
tibia? grey barred with brown.

Variable in depth of colour, especially m the intensity of
the central clouding of the fore wings, which in some speci-
mens is sooty-black, and graduates in every shade to the
normal smoky-grey, and to paler; occasional examples being
rather pale dull grey with all the nervnres visibly darker
and having brownish dashes between them toward the hinder

area.

ea.

On the wing at the end of April and in May, or occasion-
ally June. In the year 1856 several were captured a
Plymouth even in July. On the other hand the very small
amount of protection obtained by keeping it in a cold portion

8S LEPIDOPTERA.

of a house will cause it to emerge from pupa in March, and
by a warmer temperature it has been brought out in January.
Yet there is no reason to suppose more than a single genera-
tion in the year.

Larva plump, the segments beyond the middle thickened,
yet the divisions not deep nor well marked ; head rather re-
tractile, rounded in front, pale horn colour, striped down the
face with pale brown ; anal segment rather humped but
sloping obliquely off; sides wrinkled and a little inflated;
colour greenish-white, shining like a piece of porcelain ; down
the back is a double row of oblique olive-brown bars, only
prevented from meeting by the dorsal vessel, and thus forming
incomplete V-marks ; below these on each side is a single row
of similar oblique streaks, producing the effect of zigzag
markings all over the dorsal portion of the larva, except that
the second segment is devoid of them, and longitudinally
barred all round with green and white ; legs brownish-white ;
prolegs swollen and fatty-looking ; undersurface also shining
yellowish-green.

Or the oblique streaks on each side of the dorsal line united
by red-brown streaks into irregular zigzags which almost
enclose dorsal diamond shapes ; between these and the lateral
streaks is an irregular dark red subdorsal line narrowed and
broadened on every segment ; beneath the lateral oblique
streaks is an undulating line of pale red and greyish-green,
the oblique streaks themselves being darker or tinged with
red, and the whole pattern more complex than in the previous
variety. Described from examples forwarded from Salop by
Mr. F. C. Woodforde.

June and July, sometimes August, indeed it is as uncertain
as the moth, and has been found at the end of April ! On
Pyrethrwm inodorum, P. maritimum, Matricaria chamomilla,
and Anthcmis cotula, feeding in the bright sunshine, and also
at dusk and at night, more especially upon the flowers and
seeds. In confinement it devours most ravenously the

TRIFID.-E. 89

blossoms of the Marguerite (Chrysanthemum frutescens), and
if the weather is bright feeds up with great rapidity. Very
sudden and hasty, almost jerky or nervous in its movements,
but if alarmed it becomes instantaneously quite still, and so
remains for some little time. Mr. Woodforde says : " I find
that the best time to take them is between sunset and dusk,
when they come up to feed, though they may be found in the
daytime by examining under the flower-heads where the
flowers are bitten. A favourite position is grasping the stem
with the hinder prolegs, and stretching over the top of the
flower to eat the centre of the eye, getting the head right
into it. Another habit is to bite off the heads of Pyrethrum
inodorum just where they join the stalk or half an inch below,
and drop the flower-heads to the ground ; it gives the plant a
peculiar look, the long straight stalks sticking out with
nothing upon the ends. Those which I found feeding upon
this plant were all green or whitish-green ; of three found
upon Matricaria two were reddish ; since feeding on Matri-
caria several of the smaller whitish-green larvee have become
reddish. The common colour, however, is green, and they
closely resemble green ears of wheat ; this I think is remark-
able, as they are generally found in wheat fields, although
wheat is not their food plant."

Pupa extremely thin-skinned ; end of the tongue contained
in a long nipple-like case projecting in front of the abdomen ;
otherwise of the usual form, almost devoid of sculpture and
very glossy ; yellow-brown, spiracles distinct, black ; cremaster
projecting, flattened and bluntly rounded, very smooth and
shining, and without a trace of spines or bristles. Under-
ground at some depth, in an extremely thick, even massive,
cocoon of earth and silk. In this state through the
winter.

The moth loves to sit in the daytime upon the top of a
railing, gate, post, or even wall or iron rail, but especially
on a park fence, with its wings clasped closely down ; and

90 LEPIDOPTERA.

with its peaked thorax, crests, and forked anal tufts, is quite
sufficiently like a bit of rough grey wood to deceive any but
the keenest eye. At dusk it flies to flowers — Lychnis dioica,
L. vespertina, Narcissus pocticus, and others — and has been
known later at night to come to light, but quite disregards
the attraction of sugar. Never seen in any plenty in the
moth state, but sometimes, by close searching, found com-
monly as a larva.

Widely spread in Eugland, apparently occurring in all the
Southern, Eastern, and Western Counties to Salop and
Lancashire, though rarely in some of them ; also rarely in
Warwickshire, North Staffordshire, and Derbyshire ; in
Yorkshire, and formerly in Durham, though it seems to
have disappeared from the Hartlepool district for twenty-five
years ; doubtless still existent close to the London suburbs,
since I met with a specimen on a fence in Camberwell a few
years ago. Probably throughout South Wales, since it oc-
curred rarely at Pembroke. In Scotland it has been recorded
as moderately common at Dunbar, and is found occasionally
throughout the Tweed, Forth, and Clyde districts and in
Perthshire. In Ireland apparently confined to the coast,
in the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Galway, and Sligo.
Abroad it has an extensive range through Central and
Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, and
Madeira.

9. C. umbratica, Z — Expanse If to 2\ inches. Fore
wings long, pointed, rather broad behind ; pale grey shaded
along the dorsal area with smoky-black, and often tinged
toward the costa with brown ; nervures dark grey ; slender
black streaks at the base and hinder area ; stigmata indicated
by dots. Hind wings white with dark nervures, often darker
in the female.

Antennas of the male long, stout, simple, naked, pale
grey ; palpi short, broadly tufted, purple-brown mixed with
white, apical joint rather pointed ; tongue very long ; head

TRIFID^E. 91

densely tufted, the scales divided by channels into three
ridges, dark grey tipped with white ; collar large and peaked,
whitish-grey, but with the basal area light brown, edged
above by a slender black bar, which is much pointed up in
the middle ; above this are three faint brownish-grey trans-
verse stripes ; shoulder- lappets greyish-white ; middle of the
thorax pale brown, the crests blacker but much obscured
by long grey scales ; fascicles white ; abdomen very long,
whitish-grey, basal segments covered with long white hair-
scales, half hidden by which are two small dusky-brown
dorsal crests, followed in some instances by similar cloudy
spots along the dorsal ridge; lateral tufts compressed, obscure;
anal tuft long and rather loose, faintly divided, greyish-white.
Fore wings long, narrow at the base ; costa straight to the
middle, thence considerably arched ; apex angulated ; hind
margin almost straight, very oblique, and obscurely crenu-
lated ; dorsal margin faintly hollowed beyond the middle ;
colour whitish-grey much obscured by clouding of darker
grey on the costal and dorsal margins and the nervures,
and having on the costal half of the wing, from the middle
outward, a shade of pale brown ; arising at the middle of
the base is a long and thin black streak lying below the
median nervure ; it is interrupted at the first line, but then
continued to the middle of the wing; first line obscure,
grey-white, edged on both sides with grey, disposed in very
long angles; second line similar though in much shorter
angles, incomplete, visible only near the two margins ; the
positions of the two upper stigmata are faintly bi'owner, and
their margins seem to be indicated obscurely by black dots,
and that of the reniform by a curved black streak ; toward
the hinder area of the wing are two longitudinal hair-like
black lines, one above the anal angle, the other above the
middle, and the extreme hind margin is edged with short
black dashes ; cilia pale brownish-grey. Hind wings pearly-
white ; nervures dark brown ; hind margin slenderly clouded
with the same colour, and the dorsal margin with light

92 LEPIDOPTERA.

brown ; cilia white. Female decidedly larger, with broader
fore wings rather darker in colour ; hind wings dark smoky-
brown with the base paler ; body shorter and thicker.

Underside of the fore wings smoky grey-brown ; discal
cell full of long, prostrate, dusky hair-scales ; base of the
dorsal margin pearly- white. Hind wings white, dusted along
the costa with pale brown ; nervures similar ; central spot
smoky-brown. Body and leg-tufts brownish-white ; legs
grey-white.

Variable in size and also in the depth and degree of dark
shading upon the fore wings, which becomes in the west of
Ireland and in Scotland rather of a blackish-grey.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva moderately stout, tapering but little at either end,
except the last segment, which is rather elongated and slopes
off at an obtuse angle; head dull black; a dull blackish-
brown plate on the second segment having three small spots
of the ground colour on its front edge ; general colour bright
ochreous-yellow, with an elaborate blackish-brown raised and
granulated arabesque pattern of curves and angles on the
back, the sides equally intricate, but linear and wavy in
character; dorsal stripe represented by double triangular
spaces of the ground colour at the segmental divisions,
and on the last segment as a central stripe ; subdorsal
lines indicated by very thin undulated lines of the
ground colour, and on the anal segment abruptly widening
into a broad stripe tapering to a point at the extremity ;
raised spots and spiracles black, as also are the legs and
prolegs, the latter having a ring of white above their
extremities.

Or, ground colour brilliant orange-ochreous, visible in
spots at the segmental divisions along the middle of the back
and in narrow streaks along the subdorsal region, a much
interrupted line along the spiracles, and a row of spots and
blotches on the side just above the legs, the largest above the

TRIFID^E. 93

anterior legs ; three broad stripes meeting at the end of the
anal flap ; all the rest blackish.

Or, ground colour dull brownish-ochreous, visible as dorsal,
sub-dorsal, and lateral stripes, on the third and fourth seg-
ments with little interruptions, but on other segments only
the faintest traces of them, except the anal, which is marked
similarly to those previously described, and the dorsal stripe
merely as a triangular spot at the end of the intermediate
segments ; all the rest of the body dull brownish-black, and
each spiracle placed in a swelling blotch of intense and rather
shining black. (W. Buckler.)

End of July to the beginning of September on various
species of sow-thistle and wild lettuce — Sonchus arvensis,
S. oleraceus, Lactuca virosa, L. sativa — feeding at night,
hiding itself by day under the lower leaves. When disturbed
it is said to fall to the ground and twist its head to right and
left in an angry manner, sometimes stretching it out in a
leech-like fashion.

Pupa rather elongated, a little concave in front from the
projection of the tongue-case, which is large and distinctly
curled ; wing- and limb-covers extremely glossy and without
sculpture ; dorsal and abdominal segments also glossy but
not equally brilliant, hardly showing a trace of sculpture,
but having a faintly raised band at the back of each; aual
segment suddenly rounded off; cremaster a long and broad
smooth spike without a trace of bristles ; general colour red-
brown ; spiracles distinct, black ; cremaster dark brown. In
a strong tough cocoon of silk mixed with a little sand, not
so thick as in other species. In confinement Mr. Buckler
found that no proper cocoon was made, but only a loose
silken hammock among the leaves and buds of its food-plant.
This must have been quite abnormal, since the species passes
the winter in this state.

The moth sits, in the daytime, upon fences, rails, gates,
and similar objects, to which its appearance closely assimilates

94 LEPIDOPTERA.

it ; at dusk it comes freely and conspicuously to blossoms
of honeysuckle, turn-cap lily, Rhododendron. Silene inflata,
Lychnis vesjoertina, and L. dioica ; Sweet William (DiantJms
barbatus), thistle (Carduus hctcropliyllus), and other flowering
plants, indeed its habits in this respect are in direct contrast
to those of our other species of Cucullia, since in it the vast
majority of specimens in collections are captured on the
wing. When feeding thus at honeysuckle blossom it is
often mistaken, from its size and bold flight, for a hawk-
moth. Occasionally it is attracted by a strong light, but,
I think, never by sugar. Common through the southern
half of England and sometimes abundant ; more local and
far less common throughout the northern half, and common
in Wales to Pembrokeshire, very so in the northern
portion. In Scotland it again becomes plentiful in some
districts, and is found throughout the country to the Orkneys.
In Ireland everywhere common. Abroad it ranges through
Central Europe, the temperate portions of Northern Europe,
and some parts of the South and East ; also Asia Minor,
Armenia, and Northern Africa.

Genus 86. PLUSIA.

Antennae nearly naked, sometimes notched, in other cases
simple ; palpi ascending, of moderate length, in some species
re-curved ; tongue very long ; eyes naked, having front and
back lashes ; thorax strongly crested ; abdomen ornamented
with several crests ; fore wings somewhat triangular, pointed,
glossy, and usually embellished with metallic golden or silvery
markings ; anal angle prominent ; hind wings broad, plain ;
cross-bar long, slender, angulated ; vein 5 arising below the
middle and rather curved.

Larv^ devoid of the usual two anterior pairs of prolegs,
attenuated towards the head. On herbaceous plants.

Pup^e provided with a projecting tongue-case ; in a silken
cocoon, which is often spun up among leaves.

TRIFIDJS. 95

We have eleven species, most of which are easy of recogni-
tion :

A. Fore wings dull brown with two very broad golden

bands. P. chrysitis.

A2. Fore wings obliquely and alternately striped with

purplish-pink and olive-green = P. illustris.

A3. Fore wings dark purple-brown with one gold spot.

B. The gold spot large, rather squared, placed beyond the

middle. P. chryson.

B2. The gold spot rather pear-shaped, in the middle of the

wing. P. bractea.

A4. Fore wings rich chocolate, or light purple-brown.

C. Fore wings almost suffused with pale gold, and having

a brighter, doubly-ringed central spot. P. moneta.
C2. Three rich golden elongated spots on the chocolate

surface. P.festueaz.

C3. A central y-like golden mark, very often broken.

D. A large squared chocolate cloud on the dorsal margin
includes the gold y. P. iota.

D. The whole surface richly rippled with chocolate and

golden purple. P. pulchrina.

A5. Fore wings violet-grey, purple-grey, or greyish-brown,
with the central mark silvery.

E. The colour purple-grey to grey-black, very smooth, the

spot a very perfectly formed y. P. gamma.

E2. The colour violet-grey to violet-black ; the spot U-

shaped with a round spot beneath. P. interrogationis.
E3. The colour grey-brown or pale purplish-brown, dull,

the spot an obscure y, abdomen with ochreous lateral

tufts. P. ni.

1. P. chryson, JSsp.j orichalcea, Sub., Stainton. — Ex-
panse If inch. Fore wings broad, pointed, rich dark purple-
brown with a large somewhat squared golden blotch beyond
the middle ; hind wings pale brown with darker nervures.

Antennee of the male stout, simple, minutely ciliated,

96 LEPIDOPTERA.

almost naked, golden-brown ; palpi short, thickly scaled,
upraised, dull purple, apical joint very small ; eyes dull
black dotted with velvety black ; head densely covered with
erect orange-brown scales, divided by a slight cross-channel
below the antennas ; at the base of each of the latter is a
small white tuft ; collar rich orange-brown edged with deep
sienna-brown ; remainder of thorax dark sienna-brown or
purplish-brown, with a very large erect undivided back crest,
paler except at the apex ; fascicles yellowish-white ; abdomen
dull pale ochreous covered with paler hair-scales, but having
upon the back of the basal segment a short but dense mass
of raised deep sienna-brown scales, and on the second a
tall dense similar crest, while the third has a prostrate tuft
tinged with the same colour, and the rest are shaded
therewith upon the dorsal ridge, as also is the upper
portion of the long anal tuft ; lateral tufts rather thick.
Fore wings broad but gracefully pointed ; costa gently
curved ; apex angulated and a little produced ; hind
margin beneath it faintly hollowed, then filled out and a
little expanded ; anal angle produced and rather sharply
angulated, and the dorsal margin distinctly concave ; colour
rich velvety purple-brown, deepest in the middle, and having
in the costal half, beyond the middle, a large brilliantly
golden blotch which is twice curved at its inner edge and
minutely scalloped at the outer ; basal line widely duplicated
but partial and indistinct, hardly visible beyond the costal
cell ; first line slender, rather oblique, several times bent ;
both deep chocolate ; second line of the same colour, very
sinuous and crossing neatly the golden blotch ; subterminal
line only perceptible as the irregular undulating inner edge
of a paler hind-marginal space ; stigmata not indicated ; cilia
faintly crenulated, smooth soft chocolate dappled with paler.
Hind wings not large, rounded behind ; pale purplish-brown
with a golden gloss, rather paler in the central area; cilia
also paler, especially so at the tips. Female accurately
similar except that the body is rather stouter.

TRIFID&. 97

Underside of fore wings dull orange-brown except the
middle portion, which is broadly clouded with smoky-black
between the nervnres ; beyond the middle is a slender curved
black-brown transverse line. Hind wings pale orange-
ochreons dusted with brown ; central spot small, black-
brown ; beyond it is a slender transverse curved brown line
followed by a broader, fainter one near the hind margin.
Body and legs dull yellow; upper half of the front tibiaa
thickly tufted with frosted purple scales.

On the wing in July and August.

Larva green ; head rounded, dark green ; dorsal line
darker green, enclosed to the twelfth segment between two
fine white lines ; from the fourth to the twelfth segment the
sides are ornamented with oblique white lines from the
dorsal to the spiracular line, which last is dark-green with
a whitish edging below ; on the second, third and anal
segments are five irregular white lines which unite in front ;
spiracles small, white, but the last is larger and more
conspicuous ; undersurface and prolegs green, minutely
dotted with white ; legs blackish-green. When extended
tapering off in front, but these segments extremely retractile.
Very similar to that of P. gamma. (Adapted from notes by
Mr. W. Warren.)

August to May, or the beginning of June, upon Eiupatorium
cannabinum (Hemp-agrimony), Salvia glutinosa (abroad), and
mint. Mr. Warren says that its habit appears to be to eat
the young leaves at the top of the plant of Ewpatorium and
work downwards.

Pupa black, except the wing-cases and front surface,
which are pale green. This, three or four days before
emergence, changes into dull pink. In a thin oval cocoon
of silk sufficiently transparent to allow every movement of
the larva or pupa to be seen ; placed perpendicularly. (W.
Warren.)

VOL. VI. G

98 LEPIDOPTERA.

The moth flies sometimes in the sunshine about its favourite
flowers, and must be a gorgeous object when at rest upon a
bunch of blossoms of hemp-agrimony. It is said also to
frequent blossoms of viper's bugloss and even meadow-sweet
at that time, and certainly flies occasionally about bracken
and other herbage. But its favourite time of flight is after
dusk, at which time it is again attracted by these flowers and
those of honeysuckle.

Apparently known as an inhabitant of this country from
very early times, but usually only as a rarity. Stephens
(about 1830) recorded its capture in some numbers near
Newbury, Berks; and about the year 1856 a good number
of specimens were taken in successive years on the coast
near Deal, Kent. After this it again became very rare, and
so continued until 1882, when a few specimens were taken
at Chippenham Fen, Cambridgeshire. Here also larva? were
found, and in this and the imago state it has continued to be
taken in that neighbourhood, and in some years in moderate
numbers. Besides these localities, it is recorded, rarely or
singly, from various parts of Kent, Sussex, Hants, Dorset,
Devon, Cornwall, the Cotswolds and elsewhere in Gloucester-
shire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and even Lancashire. Also in Wales,
in Glamorganshire and Pembrokeshire. I know of no other
locality in these islands. Abroad, though rather local, it has
a very extensive range — the South and East of France,
Northern Germany, Switzerland, Northern Italy, Northern
and Eastern Turkey, Southern and Eastern Russia, Armenia,
Tartary, the mountainous regions of Central Asia, and
Japan.

2. P. chrysitis, L. — Expanse \\ to 1^ inch. Fore
wings broad, pointed, dull brown or reddish-umbreous, with
two brilliant golden, or greenish-golden, broad transverse
bands, sometimes united below the middle ; hind wings dark-
brown.

Antenna? of the male moderately thick, almost naked,

TRIFIDsE. 99

golden-brown ; palpi short, moderately tufted, curved
upwards, tawny ; eyes black crusted with brown ; head
densely tufted with erect orange-red scales; collar orange-
brown shaded and edged with darker brown ; remainder of
the front portion of the thorax, to the top of the very tall
squared back crest, dull orange-brown ; hinder portion and
the edge of the crest dull brown frosted with ashy-grey
dots ; abdomen pale purplish-brown, the basal segments
covered with fluffy whitish hair-scales, and having on the
dorsal ridge three large erect chocolate-brown crests frosted
with white ; beyond these are one or two more prostrate
tufts ; lateral tufts small, the anal narrow. Fore wings
broad, rather pointed; costa very faintly curved from the
base, more so near the tip ; apex sharply augulated ; hind
margin hollowed in the faintest degree below it, then full
and nearly perpendicular, but rounded off toward the anal
angle ; dorsal margin rather straight but rounded in toward
the base ; colour dull brown with a tinge of reddish, but
the surface mainly occupied by two broad, burnished, golden
or golden-green bands, one in the basal half of the wing,
broad in the middle, narrow toward both wing-margins ; the
other placed beyond the middle and so broad as to occupy
the whole hinder area except a narrow hind-marginal stripe.
In many individuals these two golden bands are united by
a similar streak or bar, which is often narrow but sometimes
quite broad, crossing the central stripe of ground-colour >
lines all extremely obscure, the basal as a slender curved
chocolate thread, while the first and second appear in each
case as a short velvety chocolate and gold streak, springing
from the dorsal margin, and continued as an equally faint
slender thread ; subterminal line merely a shade of shot
colour in the golden band, spreading near the anal angle
into a squared similar spot ; upper stigmata both indicated
by slender chocolate marginal lines, but supplemented, beneath
the median nervure, by a similar loop-like spot only visible
under a lens; cilia frosted purple-brown. Hind wings broad,

ioo LEPIDOPTERA.

rounded behind, uniform dull brown with a purplish flush ;
cilia paler. Female extremely similar.

Underside of fore wings dull smoky-brown ; costal margin
narrowly, and hind margin broadly, pale purple-brown ; dorsal
margin whitish. Hind wings dull pale, ochreous dusted with
brown and having a slender central brown transverse line.
Body and legs yellow-brown ; front tibiae white with thick
golden-brown tufts of scales on the knees.

Variable in the colour of the golden bands, as already
described, irrespective of sex, from brilliant gold or even
brassy gold colour to a rather dull green-gold ; but there is
reason to believe that the shade of colour changes during
life, from damp or other causes, from the brilliant to the
green gold. Except in the separation or junction of the two
bands there is little other variation.

On the wing in July and August, and rarely, as a second
generation, in September. But in the year 1896 this second
brood was found in plenty in the New Forest, Hants.

Larva plump, tapering off smaller toward the head ;
the anal segment also tapering off suddenly and rather
elongated ; head rounded, yellow-green ; body pale green ;
dorsal line deeper green, bordered on each side by un-
dulating white lines, which from the fifth to the twelfth
are swollen and attenuated on every segment, and usually
interrupted at the incisions ; on the same segments the
lateral surface is occupied by oblique shorter white lines
which unite with those on the back, and are margined
beneath by a more slender and continuous white line, below
which is the spiracular line, also white, broad, and con-
tinuous from the second to the tip of the anal segment ; on
the second to fourth and the anal segment the white lines
are fewer and placed longitudinally ; legs and prolegs green,
the anal pair rather extended ; undersurface green with
minute white dots.

August to May, and sometimes a second generation in

TRIFIDjE. io i

July and August (which in warmer climates is constant), on
stinging-nettle and dead-nettle (Lamium). Reported also
to feed upon Salvia, Echium, and Marrubium abroad, and
Mr. Stainton gives thistle as a food-plant. It hybernates
when quite small, among dead leaves upon the ground.

Pupa black-brown, and provided with a long tongue-case.
In a soft silken cocoon. (Hofmann.)

The moth hides usually during the day among herbage,
but has been observed to fly in hot sunshine and even to
bask on sunny walls. Its ordinary flight is at early dusk,
and again at about 10 p.m., and it is strongly attracted by
the blossoms of Ballota nigra and other Labiates, as well as
by those of campion, thistle, garden-flowers, and probably any
honey-producing blossoms available. It also flies about beds
of nettles, and is a constant frequenter of weedy lanes, hedge-
sides, and rank ditches, as well as cultivated ground. Appa-
rently found all over England and in many districts in
abundance ; doubtless also in suitable places throughout
Wales, since I have taken it in Pembrokeshire. In Scotland
it is plentiful on some parts of the East coast, particularly in
Kincardineshire ; found also in the South in Wigtonshire, in
the West in Ayrshire, Renfrew, Arran and elsewhere in
Argyleshire ; locally abundant in Perthshire, and extending to
Moray and Sutherlandshire, but apparently not to the Isles.
In Ireland generally distributed and often abundant. Abroad
its range extends through Northern and Central Europe, Italy,
Sardinia, Russia, Southern and Eastern Turkey, Armenia,
Tartary, Japan, and the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

(P. aurifera, Hub. — A very handsome species, fore wings
purplish-brown, with a large brilliant golden stripe or blotch,
commencing as a point at the middle of the first line, widening
gradually, then suddenly, until it occupies the whole hind
marginal space. It is figured as British by Humphrey and
Westwood, Mr. J. F. Stephens having recorded the capture

102 LEPIDOPTERA.

of a specimen near Dover, and another near London. A
reputed British example was in the collection of the late
Rev. H. Burney, and another is, I believe, still in that of the
late Mr. Robertson of Limehouse, now in the possession of
his son, Mr. George Robertson, at Liverpool. If either of
these specimens was really captured in this country the species
has doubtless long since died out. It seems to have dis-
appeared from the South of Europe, and is now known as an
inhabitant of India, China, Java, South and West Africa,
Madagascar, Mauritius, Ascension, the Azores, the Canaries,
St. Helena, and Madeira.)

3. P. moneta, Fab. — Expanse If to If inch. Fore
wings broad, blunt, light brown, almost wholly suffused with
golden clouding ; orbicular stigma duplicated as two perpen-
dicularly placed golden rings or coins. Hind wings pale
brown with darker nervures.

Antennas of the male rather thick, minutely notched,
ciliated with scattered fine bristles, yellow-brown ; palpi
long, curved upwards, the apical joint curling back above
the head, golden-brown, with a dark brown stripe up the
outer side ; eyes brown-black ; head not strongly tufted,
half concealed by the long curved palpi, whitish-ochreous
dusted with brown ; collar similar, dotted with black in
front, but edged with light brown ; thorax also whitish-
ochreous dotted with brown and black, but wholly raised
into ridged tufts, the shoulder-lappets, the front portion,
and the large divided back crest being all erect or nearly
so ; fascicles pale yellow ; abdomen very pale purplish-brown
dusted with golden-yellow ; basal segments covered with
long dusky white hair-scales ; on the first and third seg-
ments are conspicuous purple-brown dorsal crests ; lateral
tufts small ; anal tuft narrow, light brown. Fore wings
pointed, but very broad behind ; costa straight or almost
hollowed to near the tip, where it is a little rounded ; apex
ahgulated ; hind margin below it faintly hollowed, then

TRIF1D.-E: i°3

filled out strongly in the middle and rounded off to the
dorsal margin, which is faintly curved ; colour pale purplish-
brown or yellowish-chocolate shaded or dusted almost all over
with dull golden: basal line partial but double, slender,
chocolate-brown ; first line similar, placed not far from the
base, enclosing in its curves golden spots; second line of
the same colour and also double, beautifully rippled in
crescents; beyond it the costal and apical region is occupied
by a large golden blotch edged below with rich chocolate,
from which starts an obscure partial subterminal brown line
or shade ; orbicular stigma round, broadly margined with
brilliant pale gold, which is divided and surrounded by
chocolate lines ; attached immediately beneath it is a larger,
similarly gold-edged supplementary stigma below the median
nervure, the two looking like a pair of tiny gold coins (hence
its name) ; reniform stigma only suggested by some golden
dots ringed with chocolate in the position of its upper
margin ; crossing the wing and surrounding the two coin-
marks is a rich chocolate cloud shaded oft1 on each side ;
extreme hind margin edged with a chocolate line ; cilia
shining pale purplish-brown. Hind wings rather broad, the
hind margin sinuous, smoky-brown, rather paler towards the
base ; nervures a little darker ; cilia white clouded with pale
brown. Female very similar, but with the abdomen stouter.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-brown, clouded
along the costal and hind margins with whitish-yellow;
beyond the middle is a faint, slender, smoky-black transverse
stripe, most noticeable at the costa. Hind wings pale straw-
colour dusted with brown ; a slender smoky-brown transverse
stripe before the middle and another beyond, outside which
is a broad cloudy smoke-coloured band and a slender brown
line along the hind margin ; cilia white faintly clouded with
brown. Body and legs pale yellowish-brown ; front tibite
browner.

Not variable, except a little in the degree of dull gold
suffusion over the fore wings.

104 LEPIDOPTERA.

On the wing from the end of May to July and as a scarcer
second generation at the end of August and beginning of
September.

Larva stout, anterior segments regularly smaller, but not
conspicuously so ; whole body sprinkled with fine short
bristles ; head small, yellow-green ; general colour bright
green or grass-green ; dorsal line darker green enclosed
between several parallel slender white longitudinal lines ;
subdorsal line faintly yellowish ; spiracular stripe cloudy-
white ; on the sides are three rows of small white dots ;
spiracles also white ; legs and prolegs green. When very
young grey-black with white dots and slender white spiracu-
lar lines, as it grows older dark bluish-green abundantly
dotted either with black or white. When half-grown more
olive-green, with black head and legs, an obscure pale
spiracular line, and the raised dots still as before; at the
last moult the black dots disappear.

May and June and as a partial second brood in July and
August; on Aconitum napellus (Monkshood),^, lycoctonum,
various species of Delphinium (Larkspur), and Trollius
europceus (Globe-flower); feeding on the blossoms as well
as the leaves. Upon this point Mr. H. F. de Laune has
kindly furnished some information : " I found several in
April feeding in the young flower-buds of monkshood.
They carefully spin all round the flowers and feed upon
them until either the last moult or the last but one, when
they go to feed on the leaves. These are nibbled in the
middle until they droop, the larvas feeding all the while on
the undersides. The young larvae in the flowers are easy to
find ; but when feeding upon the leaves they are much more
difficult, owing to their being of exactly the colour of the
food-plant. They are very easy to rear in captivity." In
France it is reported to have been found feeding also on
sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, burdock, cucumber, and a
variety of other plants.

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TRIFIDjE. 105

Pupa plump and rounded, having in front a long con-
spicuous tongue case, the free end of which extends down
the front of the abdominal segments; back of the thorax
dull with abundant sculpture of minute pits ; a narrow band
of similar pitting on the front edge of each segment; re-
maining surface smooth and shining; cremaster short, but
of even breadth to the tip, there furnished with minute
hooks ; the wing, tongue, and limb-covers, with all the rest
of the front surface, green, and the skin thin and semi-
transparent ; dorsal surface or dorsal stripe abruptly pitchy-
black or reddish-brown with the skin opaque ; cremaster
of the same colour. The extent of black colouring, however,
appears to be irregular, or it is even occasionally absent,
In a beautiful elongated cocoon of soft strong silk, usually
of some shade of yellow or even ochreous colour, but varying
to white ; spun up among the leaves of the plant upon which
it has fed. This cocoon is singularly like those of some of
the Bombyces, even that of the silkworm {B. mori).

I cannot find that this moth has been observed in the
daytime here, either on the wing or at rest, but it doubtless
hides among its food plants and other herbage. At dusk it
flies, and has been taken hovering at blossoms of monkshood,
larkspur, red valerian, carnation, sweet-william, foxglove,
and other plants, and later in the night at light, but hitherto
seems to be almost confined to gardens or their immediate
neighbourhood. So far as I can ascertain it was not noticed
in these Islands before the year 1890, and, indeed, was
looked upon as a species unlikely to occur in this country,
being, until recently, of rather Southern distribution; and
its appearance and progress here furnish one of the most
complete records of the immigration and establishment of
a species yet observed. The first specimen noticed in these
Islands was captured at Dover, at flowers in a garden; it
was brought to Mr. Sydney Webb to be named, and is now in
his collection. On July 2nd of the same year a specimen
was taken at light, near Reading, Berks, by Mr. W. Holland,

106 LEPIDOPTERA.

and another at a similar attraction, by Mr. W. M. Christy,
at Emsworth on the borders of Susses and Hants. In the
same year it seems to have been found at Tunbridge Wells
and at Cambridge, and in the following at Guildford, occur-
ring also again at Dover. From this time it has increased in
numbers and in range, and is taken, either as moth or larva,
every year in some favourite spots in Surrey, Kent, Cam-
bridgeshire, Berks, and elsewhere. It has been found also
in the immediate vicinity of London — at Lee by Mr. B. A.
Bower, and at Woodford by Mr. Oldham — and has spread into
various parts of Essex, Middlesex, Hants, Herts, Leicester-
shire, and even Norfolk, several specimens having been
taken on the wing near Norwich by the Messrs. Tillett and
others. Doubtless it has reached many intermediate counties,
and there is good reason to hope that its rauge here will soon
be still further extended. In this connection it is interesting
to notice what has occurred abroad. Herr August Hoffmann
says, in the Entomologists' Monthly Magazine, that it was
known to be a common species in the South and South-east
of Germany, but until the year 1875 was not recorded from
the North-west of that country nor from the Netherlands.
In that year commenced its migration into those districts,
and in a few years it had been found in Hanover, Mecklen-
burg, Stralsund, Waldeck, and Hamburg; in 1882 it had
reached Arnhem in Belgium, and in 1887 Breda in Holland.
At the time of its appearance here it had been taken in
numbers in the last-named country. He noticed that even
the rough climate of the Hartz Mountains was insufficient to
check it, for he found larvae on the Aconitum plants in a
garden in the district of the Brocken, more than 2000 feet
above sea level. In 1890 M. Fallou, a veteran French ento-
mologist, announced that he had captured this species in
June of that year, for the first time in twenty years' residence,
in the neighboui'hood of Paris. It had been noticed in previous
years in the Centre and East of France. But according to
Duponchel it occurred early in the present century in

TRIFID^E, 107

Normandy. Elsewhere its ordinary range seems to have
been through the South of France, Spain, Germany, Switzer-
land, Northern Italy, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Paissia,
Siberia, and the mountain districts of Central Asia.

4. P. illustris, Fab. — Expanse 1£ to If inch. Fore
wings moderately broad, pointed, alternately banded with
dull olive-green and purplish-pink in rather narrow stripes ;
orbicular stigma elongated and edged with white. Hind
wings pale smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male thick, simple, almost naked, whitish-
brown ; palpi curved upwards and of moderate length, not
attaining the top of the head, moderately tufted, pale fulvous;
eyes reddish-black ; lashes long, dusky, and curled over ;
head tufted, yellow drab ; collar pale yellow, shaded above
with pale brown and edged with white ; remainder of thorax
pale olive-brown with a rather large back crest ; abdomen
yellow-brown, covered toward the base with long whitish
hair-scales ; on the dorsal ridge are two dense erect yellow-
brown crests tipped with chestnut ; lateral and anal tufts
thick and spreading, pale yellow-brown. Fore wings pointed,
not broad ; costa very nearly straight ; apex angulated ; hind
margin regularly and gently curved ; dorsal margin hollowed
and then a little rounded ; colour purplish-pink obliquely
striped with olive-green or olive-brown shadings ; basal line
hardly suggested; first line very oblique, leaning outwards
from near the base of the dorsal margin and duplicated,
pinkish-white, edged outside to the middle with black ;
second line conspicuous, very oblique and gracefully curved,
double, purplish-pink, divided and edged inwardly with deep
olive-brown, outwardly shaded off with pink ; subterminal
line conspicuous, silvery-white, edged inside on the dorsal
margin by a triangular golden-fulvous cloud, outside by
smaller clouds of the same colour at the middle and apex ;
principal nervures white from the base to the middle ; over
the median are two slender perpendicular white streaks

id8 LEPIDOPTERA.

indicating the orbicular stigma, and beneath it a sort of
duplicate stigma is enclosed by a similar white and pink
margin ; reniform very faintly indicated by a partial white
edging, olive-brown divided by a pink shade ; hind marginal
line silvery-white ; cilia similar, shaded and faintly inter-
sected with pale pinkish-brown. Hind wings rounded, the
hind margin only faintly sinuous ; pale smoky-brown faintly
banded in the middle with darker brown ; cilia white inter-
sected with brown. Female very similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky olive-yellow ; dorsal
margin broadly pearly-white ; beyond the middle are two
oblique smoky transverse stripes. Hind wings paler smoky-
yellow, with a curved and sinuous transverse smoky-brown
central stripe, followed by a similar stripe nearer the hind
margin ; cilia golden-brown. Body and legs pale yellow-brown.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva bluish-green, with four long black raised dots on the
back of each segment, having between them a deeper black-
green dorsal line, and two slender longitudinal white lines ;
spiracular stripe yellow ; spiracles and raised dots black ;
undersurface grey-green dotted with black ; head and legs
black, the latter with angular green markings. (Hofmann.)

May and June on Aconitum Jycodonum and probably allied
plants. Curtis says Thalictvum aquilegifolium , but this seems
to require confirmation.

Pupa dark green with brown shadings. In a delicate white
cocoon spun among leaves. (Hofmann.)

This is one of our rarest insects, and its habits here are
almost unknown. On the Continent it is said to prefer moun-
tain districts. There is a tradition that it was formerly found
commonly upon Salisbury Plain, Wilts, but this is mentioned
even by Curtis as merely a report, and if true must have been
so at some very early date. In the collection of Mr. J. C.
Dale, now in the possession of his son, are two specimens

TRIFID&. ioQ

which were given to him by Dr. Leach, with the information
that they were taken on Salisbury Plain, by a Mr. Spratt, in
1810. In the cabinet of the late Rev. Henry Burney, was a
specimen evidently of great age, in fair condition but ill set.
In that of Mr. Joseph Sparshall, now in the Norfolk and
Norwich Museum, is another. A third is in the collection
formerly made by Mr. Robertson, of Limehouse, now care-
fully preserved by his son at Liverpool ; and three more are
in Dr. Mason's cabinets at Burton-on-Trent, one of them from
the collection of the Rev. T. Marshall, of Leicester, the others
from that of Mr. Edwin Shepherd. In all probability the
origin of all these was the same. Haworth included the
species in his " Lepidoptera Britannica " on the faith of a
specimen which Mr. Donovan informed him that he had him-
self taken in South Wales. This also must have been very
early in the century, and the species has been noticed by sub-
sequent authors as from both localities, yet I know of no more
recent occurrence of the species in Great Britain. But in
Ireland a single specimen was captured in August, 1887, at
Castle Kevin, Wicklow, at flowers of bramble, by Miss Alice
Hull. It was handed in a box of other unnamed insects to
Mr. G. H. Carpenter, of the Science and Art Museum, Dublin,
and its identity was only ascertained by him on a visit to
South Kensington. This specimen I have seen in Dublin,
and find no cause for doubt as to its authenticity.

Abroad this species is found in Southern and Eastern
France, Switzerland, Southern Germany, Northern Italy,
Hungary, and the Ural Mountain district, but so far as I
can ascertain not out of Europe.

5. P. bractea, Fab. — Expanse If to If inch. Fore wings
of moderate breadth, rather pointed, rich velvety chocolate,
with a central, rather pear-shaped, golden spot. Hind wings
pale brown with darker nervures and hind margin.

Antennas of the male long, simple, almost naked, purple-
brown ; palpi short and rather small, purple-brown, but edged

no LEPIDOPTERA.

in front with brilliant orange and crimson scales ; eyes black,
crusted ; head thickly tufted, rich chocolate-red ; lower
portion of the collar light orange-crimson, upper part pale
chocolate edged with white ; remainder of thorax tufted with
upraised chocolate scales, a very large back crest is tinged
with orange-red and tipped with dark chocolate ; fascicles
large, pale yellow ; abdomen of the same colour with a tinge
of fulvous, the basal segments covered with long downy hair
scales ; on the basal and third segments each is a large choco-
late-coloured dorsal crest, and a small one on the second ;
lateral and anal tufts small, tinged with orange-red. Fore
wings pointed and rather broad behind ; costal margin straight
or almost hollowed, but a little arched toward the apex, which
is angulated ; hind margin immediately beneath it slightly
retuse, then fully rounded, also faintly crenulated ; anal angle
well marked and slightly produced ; dorsal margin concave
and gracefully curved ; colour purple-brown clouded with
dark velvety chocolate ; first line oblique, duplicated but
obscure, attaining the median nervure, chocolate colour, and
forming the inner margin of a very large dark chocolate cloud
which occupies the dorsal half of the middle of the wing;
second line similar, double, more complete but equally
obscure and less oblique, beyond it and running in from the
apex is a very oblique dark chocolate cloud faintly traceable
to the anal angle, its outer edge waved, rippled, and sug-
gesting a faint subterminal line ; upper stigmata scarcely
indicated by most obscure chocolate streaks, but below the
position of the orbicular is an oblique, somewhat pear-shaped,
brilliant golden spot placed very conspicuously in the middle
of the wing and surrounded by the deep chocolate area; cilia
pale purple-brown. Hind wings rounded, smoky yellow-
brown, with browner nervures, and a broad ill-defined smoky
brown band before the hind margin ; cilia smoky yellow.
Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale fulvous or orange-brown ;
a large central smoky black cloud over the middle, and a faint

1RIFID.-E. i r i

similar transverse line beyond. Hind wings dull yellow, dusted
with orange-red, especially so along the costal region ;
nervures yellow-brown. Body pale tawny-brown with a red
flush ; front portion of the legs purple-brown with orange-
crimson tufts.

Hardly ever variable, but in the collection of Mr. S. J.
Capper, at Huyton Park, Liverpool, are two in which the
shape of the gold spot is altered into an irregular
rhomboid.

On the wing at the end of June, in July, and even August.
A second generation has been met with in September in
Ireland, and has also been reared in October from larvae kept
in a warm greenhouse.

Larva when full grown provided with only six prolegs ; it
has a habit of greatly lengthening the anterior segments
when feeding or walking, so as to make them appear very
slender in comparison to the rest of the body. Colour bright
rich green ; dorsal line narrow, darker green ; on the sides
are three wavy white longitudinal lines, but so slender as
hardly to be noticeable ; all the portion below the spiracles
darker green than the upper surface ; head green with black
mandibles and a black stripe on each side ; on the anal seg-
ment are two dark points. (Mrs. Battersby.) Mr. Buckler's
figures show also a yellowish-white spiracular stripe and the
spiracles and raised dots white. When young it is wholly dull
green.

August to May or the beginning of June, hybernating when
about half an inch in length. On stinging nettle, blind
nettle [Lamium album), groundsel, hawkweed, dandelion,
hdney suckle, and in the spring it feeds readily on cow-parsley
(Chcerophyllum). In confinement it has also been known to
feed upon lettuce and plantain. If kept in a warm greenhouse,
and quite protected from cold, the young larvae may sometimes
be induced to feed up rapidly in the autumn and to produce
the imagines before wii-ter.

H2 LEPIDOPTERA.

Pupa apparently undescribed, in a semi-transparent cocoon
of white silk.

The moth sits during the day among herbage, but has
occasionally been seen to fly in the sunshine. At dusk it is
very lively and active, and eagerly seeks the blossoms of
honeysuckle, ragged-robin [Lychnis fios-cuculi), Silcne inflata ,
Epilobmm august if oliiun, even wild thyme, thistle, and knap-
weed ; and in gardens the Martagon lily, sweet-william, white
rocket and Viola comuta. In very rare instances it has been
found attracted by light. Its home is mainly in the northern
half of England — Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire,
Cheshire — formerly rather common near Macclesfield — Yoi'k-
shire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Durham, and
Northumberland — especially near Morpeth. Doubtless it is
to be found in Wales, but except of the capture of a single
specimen in Carmarthenshire, evidence is lacking. In Scot-
land it is widely distributed, Berwick, Hawick, Wigtonshire,
lioxburghshire, Lanark, Stirlingshire, Perthshire, Ayrshire,
Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Oban, Balmuto, and
elsewhere in the districts of the Solway, Clyde, Forth, Tay,
Dee, Moray, Argyle, and West Ross. In Ireland also found
in numerous localities in Wickiow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry,
Dublin County, Meath, Kilkenny, Westmeath, Clare, Gal way,
!i:ligo, Fermanagh, and Donegal, and in some of them in
plenty. Abroad it is somewhat more addicted to mountain
districts, and is found in Germany, Switzerland, Livonia,
Finland, Central Russia, the Ural Mountains, Tartary, the
mountainous regions of Central Asia, and Japan.

6. P. festucae, L. — Expanse, If to If inch. Fore wings
rich chocolate-red, shaded with brilliant gold and ornamented
with three conspicuous spots of burnished gold, two in the
middle and one toward the apex. Hind wings smoky brown
with purple cilia.

Antennas of the male simple, finely ciliated, coppery-brown ;
palpi curved up and attaining the top of the head, rich

TRIFIDjE. i ) 3

chestnut-red ; eyes black, back lashes abundant, dark red ;
head densely covered with scales, the tufts divided by a deep
channel on the top and again by a transverse one just below
the antennas, brilliant orange-chestnut ; thorax purplish-
chestnut or coppery-red and densely crested at the back, the
long erect scales tipped with darker purple-brown ; fas-
cicles slender, dusky yellowish-white ; abdomen purple-brown
with long yellow- white hair-scales on the basal segments,
almost concealed by which are short chestnut-coloured dorsal
crests on the first two or three segments ; lateral tufts
spreading, anal tuft small, all purple-brown. Fore wings
pointed, not very broad, costa nearly straight, hollowed a
little in the middle, faintly arched before the apex, which is
sharply angulated ; hiud margin oblique, very nearly straight
but rounded off at the anal angle ; dorsal margin very grace-
fully curved ; colour rich dark tawny or orange-chestnut
shaded with burnished gold ; a golden dash from the base is
shaded off along the subcostal region ; another from the dorsal
margin points obliquely across the wing, and indicates the
usual first line, which otherwise is hardly perceptible ; at the
top of this golden streak is a horizontal rather pear-shaped
or ovate spot of brilliant gold, and outside it another rather
smaller ; between these runs a faint slender dark chestnut
line from the dorsal margin representing a central shade, and
beyond them another, indicating the second line, but only
perceptible near the margins ; outside this, in the costal half
of the wing, is another brilliant gold marking or spot, narrower
but shaded off in fainter gold to the apex ; subterminal line
a faint obscure series of dark chestnut angles ; cilia dark
purple. Hind wings rather large, dark smoke colour with a
purple flush ; nervures dark brown ; cilia light purple.
Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black with the costal
and hind-marginal regions purple, and two obscure smoky-
black transverse bars through the costal area. Hind wings
smoky pale yellow strongly shaded with purple, especially so

VOL. VI. H

ii4 LEP1D0PTERA.

toward the apex ; central spot black; beyond the middle is a
sinuous smoky transverse stripe, outside which the nervures
are tinged with the same colour. Body and legs purple-brown
with black shading.

Usually not variable, but Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher has
examples of a rich pale chestnut colour devoid of darker
shading ; sometimes also the two gold spots are separated
only by a faint line. Some years ago I saw in Liverpool
some unusual forms which had been reared in autumn from
larva? found near Warrington. Of these some had the pair
of gold spots quite joined together, while others, in which
they were separate, had the first spot of double the normal
breadth. Some variation in this direction seems also to occur
in Ireland.

On the wing in June and July, and as a second generation
in August and September. This, however, appears only to
have been observed locally, more especially in Cheshire, and
in Scotland and Ireland, and probably depends in some
degree upon the season.

Larva pale green with a yellow cross-streak on each seg-
ment ; dorsal line deep green edged with white, and having
on each side several fine yellowish longitudinal lines ; spira-
cular stripe white, shaded with dark green ; head brownish-
green. (Hofmann.)

April to June, and in a second generation at the end of
June and in July or even August, on various species of
Car ex, (sedge) and Fcstuca (grass), also on Sparganium
ramosum (bur-reed), Iris pseudacorus (yellow-flag), and even
Alisma plantago (water-plantain).

Pupa at first greenish-yellow or bone-coloured, with the
dorsal region brown, when more mature pitchy-black, the limb-
cases rather more pitchy-brown and shining, the wing-covers
very dull black, yet hardly roughened and showing little or
no sculpture ; abdomen slightly glossy, the edges of the seg-
ments rather ridged and sharp ; cremaster thick, rather short,

TRIFID.-E. „5

furnished with a pair of hooked spikes and several attendant
bristles. In a very tough cocoon of greyish-white silk placed
usually on the underside of a leaf of yellow-flag, bur-reed
reed, or even broad grass which has been bent, and strono-ly
drawn down, so as to render the cocoon inconspicuous. Some-
times lower down, among the grass stems or under a leaf
lying upon the ground.

The moth frequents marshes, fens, swampy meadows, and
the banks of streams, and usually sits concealed during the
clay among tne herbage, but on warm afternoons will some-
times fly immediately after sunset, looking very bright and
pretty when hovering at flowers. Its usual flight is, however
at dusk, and it then comes eagerly to blossoms of yellow-flag'
purple loosestrife, mint, ragged-robin {Lychnis Jlos-cucuU),
L vespertine, Silene maritima (near the sea), S. injUUa
^chyspalustris, S. syhatica, turn-cap lily, rhododendron, and
bramble. It has even been captured hovering at sugar Not
common in the South of England, though recorded in Devon
Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, and rarely in Sussex, Wilts'
iterks and Gloucestershire ; more frequently in Essex, Suffolk'
and Norfolk; less so in Warwickshire, Staffordshire Derby-
shire Leicestershire, Herefordshire; much more commonly
in Cheshire, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire, aad usually in two
generations yet in Yorkshire apparently in one only; and
rather locally in Westmoreland, Cumberland, Northumber-
land Durham. Generally distributed in marshy spots
in South Wales, being recorded in Glamorganshire and
Carmarthenshire, and found by myself rather freely in Pem-
brokeshire; apparently local in North Wales. Veryjgenerally
distnbuted in Scotland to the districts of Moray and Argyll
n Ireland the Hon. Emily Lawless found it in plenty in
iverry on the very margin of the sea, and also in Connemara
Further recorded in Cork, and widely though sparingly dis-
puted through the middle of the countr/to Armagh A^-

^t^t^' ItS «* ab-d * through^ntl
Europe, the temperate regions of Northern Europe, Spain,

1 1 6 LEPIDOPTERA .

Corsica, Northern Italy, Southern Russia, Tartary, and the
mountain regions of Central Asia.

7. P. pulchrina, Haw.; v-aureum, Gn. — Expanse 1|
to If inch. Fore wings rather pointed, rich light purple-
brown, much waved and mottled with velvety chocolate ; in
the middle is a golden Y, usually broken, and there is a fine
gold edging to the reniform stigma. Hind wings smoky
yellowish-white with blackish-brown nervures and hind-
marginal band.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, purplish-
drab ; paipi rather long, upraised, the points extending to
above the head, light purple-red ; eyes black, front and back
lashes reddish-brown ; head purple-red, very strongly tufted
on the face and between the antennas, the tufts divided by a
deep transverse channel ; thorax chocolate-red, the collar edged
with pink, the shoulder-lappets barred and edged with the
same, and the crests, which are tall and occupy all the middle
space, hollowed, divided, and tipped with white ; fascicles
yellowish-white ; abdomen pale purplish-brown, the basal
portion covered with loug yellow-white hair-scales and orna-
mented with three chestnut-coloured dorsal crests, of which
the first and third are tall and conspicuous ; lateral tufts
spreading, and, with the anal tuft, dull purplish-brown. Fore
wings narrow at the base, broad behind, costa very nearly
straight but a little arched toward the apex, which is pointed
and slightly produced ; hind margin below it straight, almost
retuse, prettily crenulated, and rounded off to the anal angle;
dorsal margin very gracefully hollowed and curved ; colour
singularly beautiful, bright purple-red, abundantly rippled
and shaded with velvety chocolate ; basal line double but par-
tial and obscure, faintly silvery-white in a chocolate cloud; first
line very oblique from the dorsal margin and rather direct to
the median nervure, thence bent deeply back, then curved
forward considerably and again bent back to the costa,
silvery-purple, edged on both sides with chocolate ; secand

TRIFID&. ii7

line double, oblique, deeply indented above the dorsal margin,
cloudy chocolate ; subterminal line only distinct above the
anal angle as the edge of a chocolate streak, but obscurely in-
dicated here and there in a burnished golden-chocolate cloud
which lies along the hind margin to the apex ; this below
the middle is suffused with a shot-golden tinge ; orbicular
stigma faintly indicated, but its base rather more distinctly
by a slender curved pale golden line ; this attains the top of
an oblique burnished golden Y-mark, which, however, is very
commonly broken into a V and a round spot below it ; reniform
stigma obscure and placed in a chocolate cloud, but constricted
and defined by an excessively slender golden margin ; below
this the middle area of the wing between the first and second
lines, and enclosing the Y-mark, is occupied by a large choco-
late-red cloud, and immediately below by a chestnut cloud
edged with chocolate, but the ground colour asserts itself
toward the dorsal margin ; extreme hind margin edged with
pale purple and a chocolate line ; cilia purplish-white with
chocolate clouding. Hind wings large with the apes rather
angulated and the hind margin sinuous and crenulated, smoky
yellowish-white ; nervures smoky-brown ; across the middle
is a slender similar cloudy stripe ; hind margin broadly
clouded with the same; cilia brownish-white clouded with
brown, but having also a purple flush. Female extremely
similar, but with a thicker body.

Underside of all the wings pale golden-brown with two
transverse darker stripes beyond the middle, and the fore wings
clouded with smoke colour, the hind with yellowish-white.
Body and legs reddish-brown.

Variation is usually very slight, and confined to the degree
of completeness of the Y and the extent of chocolate shading.
Some specimens, however, taken in Gloucestershire by the Rev.
Alexander Nash, are pale pinkish-purple with violet reflections
and a very pretty curved stripe of paler colour close to the
base, In Sligo, Westmeath, and elsewhere in Ireland it is
found in a rich, dark, strongly rippled form, and at Armagh

ii8 LEP1D0PTERA.

with a large orange spot in the middle of the fore wings.
Very dark forms are found in the North of Scotland.
On the wing in June and July.

Larva stout with a bristly appearance from numerous stiff
short hairs, anterior segments rather tapering ; head small,
rounded, glossy green; mouth and a stripe on each side black ;
body pea-green with the dorsal surface almost white, having
broad dorsal and subdorsal lines and five intermediate loncn-
tudinal more slender lines white, so as to fairly crowd all this
portion of the body ; spiracular stripe yellowish-white ; spi-
racles yellowish-white, edged with brown; undersurface darker
green. Sometimes the central dorsal line is deeper green
and the white stripes become rather more lateral, or are
reduced in number, to the increase of the green area.

Mr. Porritt says that the newly hatched larva is greyish-
white, indistinctly spotted with black, and with the segmental
divisions smoke-colour.

August to May, hibernating when little more than half an
inch in length. On honeysuckle, white dead-nettle, common
avens, cow-parsley, groundsel, and other herbaceous plants;
feeding mainly at night and hiding frequently under the
leaves of the food-plants by day.

Pupa of the usual form, provided with a thick tongue-case,
projecting beyond the wing-covers, in front of the abdominal
segments ; wing-covers, back of the thorax, and the tongue-
case, dull pitchy-black, remaining surface rather more glossy
brown-black, almost devoid of sculpture ; cremaster black,
short, thick, and rather bulbous, with very short hooked
bristles. In a thin but tough dirty-white cocoon, under a
leaf or among rubbish on the ground.

The moth hides in the daytime among herbage, often in
the more bushy annuals in gardens or the plants on hedge
banks. At dusk it flies actively to flowers of honeysuckle,
turn-cap lily, thistle, nettle, Lychnis, and probably to any

TRIFIDsE. 119

honey-producing blossoms. It is particularly fond of gardens
and lanes, but is also to be met with in the more open rides
of woods, and is found sparingly all over the South of Eng-
land, though rarely in Cornwall ; also throughout the rest
of England, becoming more common in the Midland and
Western counties and less so in the Eastern. Probably to
be found throughout Wales, and certainly at Pembroke in
the extreme west. In Scotland at Hawick and commonly
in Wigtownshire, also in Ayrshire and elsewhere in Clydes-
dale, Cantire and other parts of Argyle, Perthshire, Aber-
deenshire, and Kincardineshire ; indeed, Dr. Buchanan White
recorded it throughout the country to Moray, West Ross,
and the Orkneys. Generally common in Ireland. Abroad
it probably has a wide range, but its localities seem to be
mixed with those of P. iota. It extends through Central
Europe, the temperate parts of Northern Europe. Northern
Italy, and some portions of Russia, if not farther.

8. P. iota, L.— Expanse 1| to If inch. Fore wings
rather pointed, rich light purple-brown, with a large rhom-
boid dorsal chocolate blotch which extends across the wing
sufficiently to enclose the golden Y, either complete or broken.
Hind wings pale golden-brown ; nervures darker.

Antennae of the male long, simple, minutely ciliated, light
purple-brown ; palpi short, slender, pointed, rather oblique
but hardly upraised, orange-red ; head tawny, strongly tufted,
and between the antennas conspicuously ridged ; eyes leaden-
black ; collar large, orange- red shaded slightly with brown,
and edged with white; remainder of thorax orange-brown,
back crest very large, divided, and produced into high ridges
tipped with tawny ; shoulder-lappets also rather raised and
tipped with the same, or else frosted with purple ; fascicles
pale yellow ; abdomen dull pale purple-brown, the basal half
abundantly covered with long dull yellow hair-scales, but
having a large broad chocolate crest upon the basal segment,
followed by a shorter broad tuft, and this by a very conspicuous

i2o LEPIDOPTERA.

similar crest, behind which is a thick dusky yellow tuft ;
lateral tufts large, purple-red; anal tuft small, red-brown.
Fore wings pointed, moderately broad behind ; costa almost
straight or faintly concave to near the tip, where it is a little
arched ; apex angulated ; hind margin rather oblique, very
gently curved, and full at the anal angle ; dorsal margin
gracefully curved ; colour light purple-red clouded with
chocolate ; basal line faintly visible but broken, pale choco-
late, followed by a parallel, obscure, similar transverse cloud ;
first line very oblique, straight, double and distinct from the
dorsal margin to the median nervure, thence obsolete ; second
line equally oblique and almost straight, terminating unusually
near to the apex of the wing, double, faintly rippled, choco-
late ; bounded by these last two lines, and above by the
median nervure, is a large conspicuous rhomboid blotch of
velvety chocolate, and in its upper area is placed a brilliantly
golden Y-mark either complete or divided; subterminal line
irregularly angulated, edged on the inside with a broad
clouded chocolate band, and having, half-way up the outside,
a similar cloud shot with a golden gloss, as is also the con-
tiguous portion of the inner band ; along the costa is a
succession of faint cloudy chocolate spots, one of which
extends itself and forms the extremely faint edging of a
hardly perceptible reniform stigma ; extreme hind margin
edged with a slender brown line ; cilia pale purple dashed
with light brown. Hind wings broad, faintly hollowed
below the apex but fairly rounded ; pale smoky-brown
shading into a darker smoky cloud along the hind margin,
the whole with a slight yellowish gloss ; there is also a
smoky-yellowish transverse central stripe, in which more
particularly the nervures appear darker brown ; cilia dusky
pale yellow, or yellowish-white, dashed with brown. Female
extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale golden-fulvous clouded
with smoke colour, especially so on the nervures, the reni-
form stigma, and two slender transverse stripes. Hind

TRIF1D&. I2i

wings orange-yellow, dusted with smoky-brown, and having
a slender, sinuous, ceutral, transverse smoky-brown stripe.
Body and legs orange-red or tawny-red.

Very little variable except in the completeness or division
of the central gold Y ; but in the collection of Dr. P. B.
Mason is a specimen of a very beautiful pale grey tinged
with purple, except the usual rhomboid chocolate dorsal
blotch.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva velvety, attenuated in front, segmental incisions
rather deep ; body with a pulsating dorsal vessel and nume-
rous short inconspicuous pale bristles ; head small, rounded,
shining, pale green with the mouth brown ; body bright
light yellowish-green ; dorsal line slightly darker, dilated in
the middle of each segment, and edged with curved whitish
lines; subdorsal stripe composed of numerous whitish curved
lines ; spiracular line threadlike, yellowish ; between the
dorsal and subdorsal lines are traces of pale curved dashes ;
usual raised dots white ; undersurf'ace slightly darker than
the ground colour; prolegs tipped with dark brown.
(C. Fenn.) Mr. Buckler says that the young larva imme-
diately after hatching is dirty-white, or of a brownish-white
gelatinous appearance, the raised dots dark brown ; the
mouth and side markings of the head dark grey-brown.
Hybernation takes place while still small, not more than
half au inch in length, and it is then bright yellowish-green,
the dorsal stripe darker, edged with whitish-yellow lines,
outside which are similar lines, followed by the subdorsal and
spiracular of the same colour, the latter rather the broader ;
raised spots shining white, each with a dark brown hair.

August till .May on Lamium album and L purpureum
(white and purple dead-nettles), Stachys sylvatica, Heracleum
sphondylium, Anihriscus sylvestris, nettle, honeysuckle, and
even hawthorn. Hofmann says especially upon species of
Mentha and Stachys.

1 2 2 LEPID OP TERA .

Pupa rather elongate ; tongue-case forming a large ventral
projection ; tail hooked and attached to the cocoon ; colour
deep pitchy-brown, almost black, the incisions of the seg-
ments tinged with green. In a thin oval cocoon of pale
brown silk among leaves or rubbish on the surface of the
ground. Mr. Buckler says that in its earlier stage the pupa
is green with crimson spots down the back, and that it
gradually changes to pitchy-black.

The moth hides in the daytime among herbage on hedge
bauks and waste places and in the more bushy plants in
gardens, and seems to be more especially attached to such
situations. At dusk it flies eagerly to the blossoms of various
labiate plants and of honeysuckle, Lychnis flos-cuculi, and
L. vespertina, and occasionally comes to light. It seems to
be found throughout England, rarely in the south-eastern
corner, yet commonly in Essex, and moderately so in most
districts. Probably also throughout Wales, since it is common
in Carmarthenshire and has been taken in Pembrokeshire.
In Scotland it is less common, but is found in Berwickshire,
"Wigtownshire, Ayrshire, Perthshire, Dumbartonshire, where
it attains rather a large size, Argyle, where it is scarce, and
elsewhere to Moray, West Ross, and the Orkneys. Rather
local in Ireland, but has been found near Dublin, in Wicklow,
Meath, Westmeath, Galway, Sligo, Monaghan, Armagh,
Antrim, and Deny. Abroad its localities, as already re-
marked, seem to be rather mixed up with those of the
preceding species, but there seems to be no doubt that it
is well distributed over Central Europe, the temperate
portions of Northern Europe, North Italy, Russia, Armenia,
Siberia, and Persia.

(P. verticillata, On. ; acuta, Walker. — A specimen
was recorded in the year 1870 as having been captured in a
drawing-room at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, attracted by a
light. This specimen I have not seen, nor do I know where
it now is, but Dr. H. G. Knaggs reported in the Entomolo-

TRIFIDsE. 123

gists' Annual for 1871 that it agreed to the minutest detail
with the type of P. acuta in the British Museum. The types
of P. verticillata , Gn., and of P. acuta, Walk., in the British
Museum, are now placed as forms of P. criosoma, Dbld., a
species closely allied to P. iota and P. pulchrina, especially
to the latter, but having the upper portion of the Y-mark
filled up into an irregular spot, and the lower portion sepa-
rated to a greater distance and forming another spot of nearly
the same size. There is before this marking an obscure-
double curved line or stripe placed obliquely almost across
the base of the wing. Still, it might readily be pasfed
over as a variety of P. pulchrina.

Dr. P. B. Mason has recently identified this with the
species named P. bimacidata by Stephens, of which but one
reputed British example was known. In the National Col-
lection this species— from North America— is placed next to
P. eriosoma. In these various forms the insect is found, not
only in North America, but over large portions of Asia,
Africa, Australia, and New Zealand ; but the two or three
specimens reputed to have been found in this country can be
.nothing more than accidental introductions.)

9. P. gamma, L.— Expanse l\ to If inch. Fore wings
rather pointed, silvery-grey, or purplish grey-brown, hinder
portion extremely glossy ; a complete and very distinct Y-spot
in brilliant silver in the middle is surrounded by black cloud-
ing. Hind wings smoky yellowish-white with a broad smoky-
black hind border.

Antennas of the male simple, long, minutely and closely
ciliated, grey-brown ; palpi rather short, moderately tufted,
dark slate-brown ; eyes large, leaden-brown, lashes erect ;
head prominently tufted, the tufts divided by a deep cross-
channel beneath the antennae; thorax dull brown, crossed
. with fine lines of deeper brown and white which doubly bar
the collar, triply the shoulder lappets, and edge every tuft of
the large compound back crest ; fascicles smoky-white ; abdo-

124 LEPIDOPTERA.

men smoky-brown, abundantly covered from the base to the
middle with long smoky-white hair-scales, behind with shorter
smoky-brown ones ; on the back of the basal segment is a
large and conspicuous dark-brown crest tipped with white,
and on the third segment another, a very short one occupying
a similar position on the second segment ; lateral and anal
tufts small. Fore wings long and pointed at the tip ; costa
very gently arched at the base and apex, nearly straight
between ; the apex sharply angulated ; hind margin oblique,
slightly crenulated, straight to near the anal angle, then
rounded off ; dorsal margin gracefully curved ; colour shining
silvery-grey, marbled with dark purplish-grey and black ;
basal line restricted to two black curves edged outwardly
with white ; first line very obscure, oblique, rather direct to
the median nervure, above this much angulated, yellowish-
white, clouded on each side with black ; second line obscure,
dusky-white edged with light brown, twice deeply indented
near the dorsal margin, above this direct and oblique ; sub-
terminal line abundantly angulated, black, edged outside with
purplish-white, and bounding or dividing a large shining
slate-black cloudy stripe shot in patches with silvery reflec-
tions, which runs into the apex, but is sharply cut off below
by the ground colour ; orbicular stigma oblique and narrow,
but very indistinct ; attached to it from below the median
nervure is a conspicuous burnished silver Y (whence the
moth receives its names), which is sometimes contracted, but
rarely, if ever, broken ; it is set off by a deep black edging
which shades off outwardly, but all the adjacent portion of
the wing is clouded with black, purple-grey, or purple-brown ;
reniform stigma placed far back, deeply constricted, mainly
indicated by a faint silvery margin ; cilia pale grey barred
and spotted with black-brown. Hind wings broad, with
sinuous and faintly crenulated hind margin, smoky-white to
the middle, often with a yellowish gloss, nervures smoky-
brown ; hinder half of the wing occupied by a very broad
ill-defined black or smoky-black band ; cilia white, spotted
with black-brown. Female very similar.

TRIFID&. 125

Underside of the fore wings dark smoky-brown, with two
yellowish-white clouds in the middle. Hind wings smoky-
white dusted with brown, and with a broad smoky-brown
band occupying the hind marginal space ; central spot very
small, black ; cilia of all the wings white, strongly spotted
with smoky-brown. Body and legs dull smoky-brown, fore
tibiae barred with white.

Variable in size, specimens sometimes occurring of less
than one-half the ordinary area of wings, with all inter-
mediate sizes. Mr. Porritt has recorded the rearing from
larvae found in Kent, of the smallest form, in some numbers.
Variable also in the ground colour and general tone of colour
of the fore wings, from silvery whitish-grey to deep slate-
grey, brown-grey, and purple-grey. A specimen taken on
Dartmoor by Major Still in September 1894, and now in
Mr. Hanbury's collection, is of a very rich velvety-black,
with the Y-mark conspicuously silvery-white — a most
remarkable example. Another almost as unusual, in the
collection of Mr. Sydney Webb, has the silver Y reduced
to a V.

On the wing at apparently all times of the year — even
sometimes emerging in December and January — but common
in the spring and early summer, and most abundant towards
autumn, being sometimes to be seen in myriads in August.

Larva attenuated in front, the ordinary raised dots emit
long pale bristles ; it loops in walking, possessing only
twelve legs ; head small, rounded, shining, pale green with a
conspicuous black dash on the outside of each lobe ; body
velvety, pale or dark green, pulsating dorsal line darker,
edged on each side by a very sinuous white thread ; sub-
dorsal line also much waved, dark green; between it and
the white edging of the dorsal line is a broad whitish shade ;
spiracular line distinct, whitish or yellowish, margined above
by a darker shade of the ground colour; usual spots distinct,
whitish surrounded with green ; undersurface slightly darker

126 LEPIDOPTERA.

than the ground colour, irregularly and sparsely dusted with
white ; legs brownish, their bases black ; prolegs green tipped
with ferruginous. Extremely variable, from bright light
green almost to black. A variety found in some numbers
in Kent by Mr. Charles Whitehead, of Maidstone, from
which were reared the small form of the moth already
mentioned, is thus described by Mr. G. T. Porritt : " Length
when full grown about one inch. Ground colour dark olive-
green, in one specimen nearly black ; head and legs intensely
black and shining ; two very fine, interrupted, almost incon-
spicuous yellow lines extend through the dorsal region,
followed outside by a broad, bright yellow, double subdorsal
stripe, the outer of the two being narrower than the inner ;
spiracular stripes also broad and light yellow ; raised dots
large and distinct, black, surmounted by a pale greyish-yellow
spot, though these paler spots are less conspicuous on the
lateral than on the dorsal dots ; spiracles greyish-yellow,
narrowly edged with brown ; bristles grey, short, and stiff ;
ventral surface dark olive-green, the prolegs having on the
outside a large cup-shaped black mark.

In the greatest abundance in the summer and early autumn,
apparently not confined to any season, but in continuous
broods. On almost every description of low-growing plant,
and sometimes very destructive to clover, peas, and other
green crops. It has even been reared upon the leaves of
lime-trees and the green pods of scarlet-runner (Phasedus).

Pupa rather slender, with a conspicuous tongue-case pro-
jecting down over the front of the abdomen ; black-brown or
pitchy-black, but it has been found of a green colour,
remaining so almost till the emergence of the moth. In a
white silken cocoon, which is semitransparent, under a leaf,
or among vegetable debris.

The moth sits by day on all sorts of low-growing plants,
but particularly upon heath and the stiffer herbaceous plants,
and usually head downwards, but is excessively restless, flying

TRIFID.-E. 127

off at the least disturbance if the weather is at all fine. But
on warm days it also flies most actively, of its own accord, in
the sunshine, and sips the honey from blossoms of clover,
thistle, thrift, honeysuckle, and any other attractive flowers.
In the colder districts it will even bask in the sunshine on
walls and rocks. At early dusk it is again upon the wing
and comes into gardens, where it revels in the flowers of
sweet william, Phlox, Tropccolum, Nicotiana ajinis, Virginia
stock, and every other flower from which honey is obtainable.
Later at night it comes, very much more rarely, to light, and
lias even been known to hover at the sugar placed on trees.
Its powers of flight are considerable, its migrations extensive,
and apparently more frequent than those of any other species.
It is a common occurrence to find it quite suddenly in multi-
tudes in every field where, the day before, not a specimen
was to be seen, and where no traces of the ravages of its
larva had existed. This is so especially the case along our
ooasts that no other explanation than migration can well be
accepted. Indeed, it has been observed by Mr. R. South.
and since by others, that on a hot still evening moths of this
species will rise from grass or corn, perpendicularly, until lost
to sight, very much as though for a distant flight. I well
remember an instance in Pembrokeshire when the extensive
warrens of the coast suddenly became enlivened with this
species to such an extent that thousands were to be seen
buzzing in the daytime around the large patches of blooming
thistles. At sea it has been observed to come on board
vessels in such multitudes that when they alighted they are
•described as clustering in masses all over the ship. More-
over, Herr Gatke compares to "snowstorms" the vast flights
of this species which were observed in 1882 at Heligoland
" all going west." Thus this species is altogether irregular
in its appearances, but is found more or less plentifully
throughout the three kingdoms to the Shetland Isles ; also
all over the rest of Europe ; India, Persia, and all Northern
Asia ; most abundantly in Morocco and the remainder of

128 LEPIDOPTERA.

Northern Africa ; and in North America through Canada,
the Hudson's Bay Territory and California. Indeed, the
form known as P. oil, which is probably only a darker variety
with a smaller Y, is found in Colorado, Oregon, Texas,
Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and even New York. Although
so widely distributed, the range of the present species seems
to be wholly on the north side of the equatorial regions ;
among vast numbers of insects collected promiscuously for
me in South Africa not a single specimen of this species has
been received ; its place there seems to be taken by P. circum-
Hexa, P. criosoma, and other allied species.

10. P. ni, Hilb. — Expanse 1\ inch. Fore wings short,
broad behind, rosy-grey, or yellow-grey, much marbled with
dai'k brown ; the central Y silvery- white, broad and complete.
Hind wings pale smoky-brown shading darker behind.
Lateral tufts of the abdomen yellow-brown.

Antennae of the male simple, almost naked, pale brown ;
eyes naked, black-brown, lashes brown, distinct but nearly
prostrate, palpi short, broadly tufted, pale brown clouded
with darker; head pale brown, a broad tuft of long scales
flattened down lies, pointed forward, between the antennae ;
collar light brown, faintly barred twice with darker and
whiter in alternate bands ; remainder of the thorax grey-
brown dusted with dark brown and white ; crests prominent,
whitish, the long scales thickened and flattened at their tips,
which are dark brown ; fascicles long, sinoky-white ; abdomen
brown, its basal portion covered with long smoky-white hair-
scales, the dorsal ridge ornamented with three large pale
brown crests, which are barred and tipped with dark brown ;
these are somewhat fugitive ; lateral tufts tawny or yellow-
brown ; anal tuft grey-brown. Fore wings rather triangular,
costa straight to near the apex, which is bluntly rounded,
almost angulated ; hind margin rather straight, but curved
off at the anal angle and a little crennlated ; dorsal margin
concave and gracefully curved ; colour grey-brown shaded

TRIFID^E. 129

with golden-brown, or yellow-grey or rosy-grey marbled with
dark brown ; basal line faintly indicated by two small blackish
carves ; first line curiously placed, its dorsal extremit}^ not
far from the base and leaning outwards, incomplete but
double, golden brown enclosing a whitish line ; second line
obscure but duplicated, straight, reddish-brown, enclosing a
faint white thread ; subterminal line a series of black angles,
some of them almost right angles, partially edged outside
with white, and those above the middle having on their inner
side long black wedge-shaped streaks ; orbicular stigma
altered into an elongated loop with a whitish edging ;
touching it, but below the median nervure, is an oblique
thick silvery-white Y-shaped spot occasionally divided into
two, the upper U-shaped, the lower round and nearly touching
the second line ; at the extreme hind margin are two very
slender parallel white lines ; cilia rich brown, dusted with
whiter. Hind wings rather long and ample ; dull brown,
paler at the base, but with brown nervures ; cilia white.
The female has broader fore wings, which are less suffused
with golden brown, the markings more sharply denned, and
the silvery spot or spots a little broader ; the tawny colour is
obscure on the lateral tufts but extends to the underside of
the anal tuft.

Underside of the fore wings pale drab, obscurely clouded
with pale brown ; nervures darker. Hind wings dusky white,
abundantly dusted with brown, less so toward the base.
Body and legs grey-brown, the tibise of the latter black-brown
barred with dull yellow.

Apparently not variable beyond the degree already men-
tioned, except that there is some reason to believe that the
second generation is darker than the first.

On the wing in May, and as a second generation in August
and September.

Larva like the rest, having only twelve legs ; head small
and rather flattened ; body tapering and becoming largest at

VOL. VI. 1

13© LEPIDOPTERA.

the anal segment, which, however, is very abruptly cut off
behind ; colour semi-transparent pale green or yellow-green ;
dorsal line slender, white ; subdorsal similar ; spiracular
stripe broad, white ; spiracles black ; raised dots white, with
a dark hair.

June and July, and doubtless in April, but we have little
information ; on cabbage, turnip, nettle, lettuce, celery,
tomato, and other herbaceous plants.

Pupa yellow-brown, enclosed in a slight cocoon. Not
further described.

The moth flies in the daytime about flowers, or if the
weather is dull rests head downwards upon a plant or in a
tuft of rushes ; at dusk it flies more freely, and while on the
wing can only be discriminated from P. gamma by its greyer
colour. It is very little known here, and is apparently one of
our rarest species, but there are rumours that it is not so
scarce in the far west of England. The first specimen recorded
in this country was captured flying about blossoms of red
valerian by Mr. D'Orville in his garden at Exeter in August
1868. The next was taken by Miss Carne, of Penzance,
hovering at flowers in her garden in May 1869, and was
recognised by Mr. W. E. Jeffrey, in whose collection it still
is. Of further captures in the same district, in both imago
and larva state, definite information has been refused. The
third recorded specimen was taken in Dorsetshire by Mr.
Nevinson in 1885, and the fourth at the Isle of Portland, in
the same county, in September 1888, by Colonel Partridge,
to whose lamp it was attracted while he was sugaring. In
1894 Mrs. Richardson found two larva? in the same locality,
from which the moths were reared early in September ; and
in the same year Mr. C. A. Briggs was allowed to exhibit
two of the mysterious Cornish examples. The last of which
I have any reliable information is a specimen taken sitting
upon a fence at Norbiton, Surrey, in May 1896, by Mr. Percy
Richards ; but there is a sj^ecimen in Dr. Mason's collection

TRIFIDvE. 131

which may safely be held to be British, since it was found,
overlooked, among a lot of the allied P. gamma in a British
cabinet. Thus its range with us, so far as known, is confined
to Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and Surrey. Abroad it has a
wide range through Southern Europe — very common in Italy
— Hungary, Carniola ; Algeria and other portions of Northern
Africa to Aden; Asia Minor, Syria especially, Armenia,
India, China, Japan, the Cape de Verde Islands, St. Vincent,
Haiti ; and apparently in North America (under the name of
P. brassicce), throughout the United States, and in Canada.

11. P. interrogationis, L— Expanse If to \\ inch.
Fore wings silvery-grey, abundantly marbled and rippled with
velvety-black; usual Y-spot short and thickened. Hind
wings yellow-brown with a dark hind-border.

Antennae of the male simple, minutely ciliated, light brown ;
palpi short, broadly tufted and extremely hairy, the stiff
hair-scales bristling in front, dark purple-brown mixed with
white ; eyes black-brown, naked, thickly surrounded by long
dark lashes ; head purple-black, densely tufted, with longer
tufts between the antennas, but with the transverse channel
indistinct ; thorax pale purple-brown repeatedly barred with
black and white on the collar, shoulder lappets, and crest,
which last is large and broadly tipped with white ; fascicles
dusky yellowish-white; abdomen yellowish-grey, basal
portion covered with long paler hair-scales; dorsal ridge
ornamented with three or four black crests tipped with
white, the third the longest ; lateral and anal tufts rather
compressed. Fore wings narrow, the costa almost straight ;
apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin oblique, crenulated,
and faintly curved ; anal angle prominent and rather pro-
duced ; dorsal margin hollowed and gracefully curved ; colour
rich, silvery, purplish-grey, clouded and stippled with black ;
basal line double, composed of black curves edged outside
with white ; first line a series of silvery-white crescents and
angles, edged on both sides with deep black; second line

132 LEPIDOPTERA.

more direct and oblique but obscurely similar ; subterminal
line a series of deep black angles and irregularities partially
clouded inside with black, arid extending from the anal angle
to the costa before the apex ; before and behind this the
surface is dappled with silvery-white ; orbicular stigma
irregularly formed, open below, bordered with white, its
lower margin opened so as to extend below the median
nervure, and there join an irregular brilliant silvery U-shaped
marking, which usually is followed by a similar round spot,
forming a broken Y ; reniform stigma upright, outlined with
cloudy-black and partially with a very slender silvery edging ;
the portion of the wing from the stigmata to the dorsal
margin blacker than the rest; extreme hind margin edged
with a black line, and inside this by a row of elongated white
dots backed by black crescents ; cilia dusky-white dusted
with black-brown. Hind wings rounded, smoky brownish-
white clouded with darker ; nervures dark brown ; hind-
marginal region broadly bordered with a smoky-black band
which shades off inwardly ; cilia white, dashed with dark
brown. Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings dull smoky-brown with two
faintly darker transverse stripes, one in the middle, the other
near the hind margin ; cilia white, broadly dashed with
smoky- brown. Hind wings smoky brownish- white dusted
with brown, with a slender darker brown transverse stripe in
the middle and a broad one along the hind margin. Body
silvery whitish-brown ; leg tufts smoky-brown ; tibiee black-
brown much barred with white.

Usually only variable in the depth of the black clouding
and in the shape of the Y, which is very irregular. In a
specimen in the collection of Mr. A. C. Vine it is produced
into a long attenuated and enlarged stripe of rich gold colour
toward the base of the wing. Those taken at Londonderry
by Mr..Milne have a beautiful flush of purple over the fore
wings.

On the wing at the end of June and in July.

TRIFID^E. 133

Larva rather elongate, slightly attenuated in front and
swollen behind, having a few scattered dark bristles ; head
rounded and shining, green dusted with purple; body dull
grass-green with a blackish tinge on the sides and under-
surface ; dorsal stripe of the ground colour, distinctly edged
with white, these white lines converging on the third
segment; subdorsal line white, and between these runs an
irregular whitish thread-line; spiracular stripe conspicuous,
pale yellow or yellowish-white ; raised dots white ; legs and
prolegs tipped with purplish-grey. When young all the pale
markings are yellow or yellowish. (0. Fenn.)

September to June on heather (Calluna vulgaris), whortle-
berry ( Vaccinium myrtillus), and V. uliginosum.

Pupa elongate, tapering, a projection or elongation of the
tongue-case lies above the front of the abdomen; anal
extremity hooked ; colour dark pitchy-brown, the incisions
of the segments tinged with green. In a thin cocoon of
white silk among heather twigs.

The moth sits in the daytime head downwards upon the
stems of heather on heaths and moors, especially the dead
stems of burnt heather, or occasionally upon some other
plant, or even on a stone or rock or stump of a tree, or even
upon a stone wall, and is very restless, flying swiftly away
if disturbed, to settle again at a short distance. Occasionally
it will fly to flowers in the hot sunshine, and its movements
then are very wild and swift. Its ordinary flight, however,
is at dusk, when it visits the blossoms of honeysuckle, wood-
sage, privet, and the " melancholy " thistle (Garduus hetero-
phyllus). A species of northern distribution, attached to
heathery mosses, moors, and mountain sides, yet found on
rare occasions in most unexpected places, as, for instance,
a specimen which was secured at Battle, Sussex, in 1870, by
Mr. J. H. A. Jenner, and exhibited soon after at a meeting
of the Entomological Society of London; and another by
Mr. A. Eobinson on a gas-lamp at Cambridge ; while two

134 LEPIDOPTERA.

were recorded in Devonshire many years ago. Apparently
the most southern locality in which it is known to have been
a constant resident is Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, where it
was at one time common ; and from this place going north-
ward it is found occasionally on the Pennine and other hills
in Shropshire, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire — where
also it frequents the moors in various localities — Lancashire,
Westmoreland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and Durham.
In Wales the only locality on record appears to be in
Radnorshire, though surely it must occur elsewhere. In
Scotland it seems to frequent suitable spots throughout the
country, and often commonly, from Berwick to Sutherland
and Argyle, including Arran ; but otherwise I find no record
from the Isles. In Ireland it is found in Westmeath, Galway,
Sligo, Fermanagh, Roscommon, Tyrone, and Londonderry,
and according to Mr. Kane is common on many heathy
moors and hillsides.

Abroad it seems to have a somewhat more southern range,
occurring in mountain regions in many parts of Central
Europe, as well as Northern Europe, North Italy, the Ural
Mountain district, Eastern Siberia, and Tartary ; apparently
also in Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Hudson's Bay Territory,
but under the name of P. octoscripta.

Genus 87. HABROSTOLA.

Antennas nearly naked, slender, simple ; palpi rather
short, ascending ; tongue long ; eyes naked, having front
and back lashes ; thorax strongly crested and usually having
black ovals on the collar ; abdomen ornamented with several
crests ; fore wings somewhat triangular, without metallic
markings but provided with ridges of raised scales on their
surface ; hind wings broad, plain, the cross-bar slender,
angulated, vein 5 arising below the middle and rather
curved.

TRIF1DM. 135

Larvae with sixteen legs, but the first pair of prolegs less
developed than the remainder ; the twelfth segment swollen.

PuPiE with but a small ventral projection ; in a silken
cocoon.

We have but two species, readily discriminated.
A. Ground colour of the fore wings silvery-grey.

H. urticce.
A2. Ground colour of the fore wings yellow-brown.

H. triplasia.

1. H. urticee, Hilh. ; tripartita, Stated. Cat. — Expanse
1| to 1J inch. Fore wings moderately broad behind, blunt,
silvery-grey, with a very broad dark brown transverse band
in the middle, ornamented with raised black lines. Hind
wings smoky-brown. On the collar are two oval silvery-grey
spots ringed with black.

Antennas of the male simple, almost naked, grey-brown,
dotted at the base with white ; palpi slender, almost erect
but hardly extending above the head, black frosted with
white ; eyes brown-black, the front and back lashes very long
and curling over ; head blackish-brown, very strongly tufted,
the face covered with an erect tuft which is separated by a
deep transverse channel from another above the antennas ;
collar silvery-grey, divided distinctly into halves by a black-
brown bar, and each half ringed with black-brown in such
a manner as to present a most curious resemblance to a pair
of spectacles, each ring being flattened and hollowed so as
to increase the similarity ; shoulder-lappets greyish-white ;
remainder of the thorax occupied by a large erect curved
and hollowed crest, light brown in front and above, greyish-
white at the back ; fascicles broad, white ; abdomen dusky
grey-brown, the basal segments covered with long dusky
white hair-scales ; dorsal ridge brown-black ; upon it, on the
third segment, is a large erect expanded black-brown crest
followed by a smaller oblique one and faint indications of

136 LEPIDOPTERA.

two more ; lateral tufts broad, ashy-brown ; anal tufts small,
brown. Fore wings somewhat triangular, not very broad,
blunt behind ; costa nearly straight ; apex bluntly angulated ;
hind margin rather rounded, full in the middle, and not very
oblique, faintly crenulated ; dorsal margin nearly straight ;
colour silvery-grey, broadly banded and clouded with blackish-
brown ; first line much curved, red-brown edged with purple-
brown and closely followed by a parallel line of deep black
upraised scales ; second line gently curved but not indented,
pale chocolate, preceded by a parallel line of raised deep
black scales most conspicuous on the dorsal region ; the
space between the first and second lines forms a broad
central purplish-grey-brown band in which are short lines
of distinctly raised deep black scales forming the anterior
and posterior edges of the spaces which should be orbicular
and reniform stigmata, and of a similar space obliquely
below the median nervure, in this last case the black ridges
being bordered inwardly with white; at the apex of the
wing is a small oblique black dash faintly intersected by a
whitish commencement of the subterminal line, which other-
wise is merely the border of a purplish-brown cloud along
the hind margin ; this extreme margin is edged by a sinuous
black line, outside which the cilia are loug, pale purplish-
brown with a smoky clouding. Hind wings rounded, smoky
purplish-brown, rather paler at the base but the nervures
dark ; cilia white, clouded with brown. Female quite
similar.

Underside of the fore wings dull purple-brown, with four
white spots on the costa toward the apex. Hind wings
smoky-white with brown nervures to the middle, thence
smoky-brown ; central spot dull black ; cilia white clouded
with brown. Body and legs very dull brown, front tibias
blacker.

Usually not variable, but a specimen in the collection of
Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher has the ground colour, as shown near
the base and hinder part of the fore wings, dark steely-grey ;

TRIFID^E. 137

and Mr. J. Gardner possesses one in which the fore wings are
of a curious unicolorous slate-brown, except that the portions
usually pale are shining slate-grey.

On the wing at the end of May and in June, and occa-
sion ally as a second generation at the end of August.

Larva elongate, tapering considerably in front, first pair
of prolegs ill-developed and not used in walking; twelfth
segment swollen, and having two dorsal points united by a
curved line ; fifth, sixth, and seventh segments arched ; head
large, rounded, dull green, slightly polished, a grey dash in
the middle of each lobe, and a whitish projection on each side
of the mouth ; body furnished with a few scattered short
hairs ; colour pale green, with a series of dark green > -shaped
dorsal markings, of which the apex is behind, most distinct
from the fifth to the twelfth segments ; these markings are
broadly edged on both sides with white ; dorsal line green,
contained in a white loop inside each of the above markings ;
subdorsal line, and a line below it, whitish, threadlike and
indistinct, except on the four anterior segments ; spiracular
stripe conspicuous, white, bordered above with dark green,
and joined to the white edging of the dorsal markings by
vertical white dashes ; a row of oblique dark green dashes
lies upon the sides and prolegs beneath the spiracles ; under-
surface yellowish-green irrorated with grey or darker green,
and furnished with a rather paler central stripe ; legs dark
brown ringed with paler brown. It loops in walking. (C.
Fenn.)

July, sometimes August and September, on stinging nettle
( Urtica dioiea), feeding at night ; resting during the day on
the underside of the leaves, to which it so closely assimilates
in colour as to be difficult of detection. Hofmann says that
it is rather gregarious.

Pupa of the usual noctua form, except that the tip of the
tongue-case is raised and forms a knob in front of the
abdomen, the points of the wing-covers running into it; the

i38 LEPIDOPTERA.

covers of the tongue and limbs are also thickly sculptured
with rather coarse, cross, incised channels and lines, and the
\vino--covers more thickly and minutely ornamented with
irregularly-placed lines ; while the dorsal region and all the
segments are dull from close pitting of fine punctures, except
the hinder edge of each abdominal segment, where is a
narrow, shining smooth band, ridged behind ; colour chestnut-
red ; dorsal region a little darker ; cremaster also rather
darker, elongated, and tapering, but flattened and very
rough, the tip furnished with several strongly-hooked bristles
by which it fixes itself very firmly in the cocoon. This is
formed of tough silk, covered with earth, and is placed on,
or under, the surface of the ground.

The moth sits during the day on palings or among herbage,
and is not known to fly except at dusk, and at night, when
it frequents the flowers of red valerian (Centranthus ruber),
the various species of Silcnc and Lychnis, nettle, honeysuckle,
and raspberry. Especially fond of garden-flowers, and
formerly to be taken in gardens in the outskirts of London ;
from these it has of late disappeared, but continues to be
found, though generally in but moderate numbers, all over
the southern half of England, including the Scilly Isles, and
is common in Norfolk and some other counties. In the
Midlands very local, but recorded in Leicestershire, Stafford-
shire and Derbyshire ; also in Herefordshire, Cheshire, York-
shire, rarely in Lancashire, more frequently in Durham,
Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. The
only record that I find in Wales is at Barmouth ; but in
Scotland it has a wide range, being found near Hawick, in
Roxburghshire, near Bonhill in Dumbartonshire, Ayrshire,
Perthshire, Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Ross-
shire, and the Orkneys; and in many other places in the
more southern portions of that country. In Ireland it appears
almost to be generally distributed, since it is recorded from
Dublin, Wicklow, Louth, Westmeath, Carlingford, Monaghan,

TRIFID^. 139

Galway, Sligo, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Armagh, Donegal,
Antrim and Londonderry. Abroad it is found throughout
Central Europe, the temperate portions of Northern Europe,
the South of France, the North of Italy, the Balkan States,
Southern Russia, Eastern Siberia, and the mountainous
regions of Central Asia.

2. H. triplasia, L. — Expanse \\ to 1^ inch. Fore wings
rather blunt, blackish-brown ; base, and a band before and
beyond the middle, chocolate-brown ; on the transverse lines
and central markings are some deep black raised scales.
Hind wings smoky-brown, with the base, except the nervures,
paler. Spectacle marks bright light brown.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, brown ;
palpi rather slender, curved up, and rising slightly above the
head, black-brown, lower portion furnished with projecting
tufts of straight black scales, that on the second joint so
pointed as to make each palpus appear forked ; eyes brown-
black, with long, curled over, front and back lashes ; head
roughly tufted with erect scales, black-brown, a deep cross-
channel below the antennas cuts off the upper portion, which
is narrow and sharply ridged ; collar broad, bright light
brown, divided and bordered with black-brown, and within
so clouded as to simulate a pair of spectacles ; remainder of
thorax pale purple-brown, except a very large crest which
occupies the middle area, and is tall, most conspicuous, and
of a pale yellow-brown ; fascicles yellowish-white ; abdomen
dark smoky-brown, the basal segments covered with long
yellowish-white hair-scales, and the dorsal ridge furnished
with a series of black-brown crests, of which the third is by
far the tallest and most conspicuous ; lateral tuft spreading ;
anal tuft small. Fore wings not broad, bluntly pointed ; costa
very faintly rounded ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin
gently rounded and very obscurely crenulated, but hollowed
above the anal angle ; dorsal margin very slightly filled out ;
colour black-brown ; the basal space dull yellow-brown with

i4o LEPIDOPTERA.

an outer edge of purple-red which is bounded by the curved
and sinuous deep black first line ; second line also deep black
in the dorsal half, broadened and much curved, but obscure
above the middle ; in both lines the scales, more especially
in the deep black portions, are tilted or upraised, and in the
second are edged on both sides with purple-red clouding,
much shaded off near the anal angle into a patch of purplish-
white ; from this springs the subterminal line as a series of
pinkish-white streaks and angles, and from it, near the apex
of the wing, three deep black streaks pointing inward ; orbi-
cular and reniform stigmata very large, only indicated by
interrupted edgings of deep black upraised scales ; beneath
these are similar, or more conspicuous, raised margins, and a
similar rounded spot ; extreme hind margin edged by a deep
black line ; cilia smoky-brown. Hind wings rounded, smoky-
browu, except a patch of smoky-white at the base ; nervures
black-brown ; cilia white, clouded with brown. Female quite
similar.

Underside of the fore wings unicolorous smoky-black. Hind
wings smoky-white to the middle, with the central spot black,
and much smoky dusting toward the costal margin ; beyond
the middle the whole area is occupied by a broad smoky-
black band, ill-defined on its inner margin ; cilia white with
smoky clouding. Body dusky white with smoky-black lateral
tufts ; legs dusky white, the tibias black-brown.

Hardly variable, except that its colours are rather darkened
in more north-western districts.

On the wing in June and July, and occasionally, though
rarely, in a second generation at the end of August or
beginning of September.

Larva provided with sixteen legs ; smallest at the head,
increasing in size to the fifth and sixth segments, which are
swollen, those following being almost cylindrical to the
twelfth, which is raised and furnished with two dorsal points
connected by a raised line ; anal segment sloping at an

TRIFIDJE.

141

extreme angle. Head small, rather flattened, blackish-brown,
legs similar ; body dull green irrorated with white ; dorsal
line white upon the first four segments, slightly darker
beyond ; there is a row of curved darker dorsal markings,
faintly edged with white from the fifth to the twelfth seg-
ment, these curve behind and bisect the dorsal line ; on the
fifth segment are two lemon-yellow blotches connected by a
> -shaped whitish line pointing backwards and joined in
front to a curved white line from the head ; the enclosed
spaces velvety dark olive-green ; on the sixth segment is a
similar curved line clouded with velvety olive-green, uniting
two white dots ; on the apex of the twelfth segment is a
dark olive-green blotch, margined behind by a whitish line
which unites two white raised dots; another whitish line
runs laterally from the first pair of dorsal spots on the
twelfth segment to the anal prolegs ; spiracular line rosy-
grey, emitting a series of oblique pale streaks below the
spiracles, which are white ; usual spots white in dark grey
rings ; the sides from the head to the sixth segment shaded
with dark olive-grey ; on each side of the fifth segment is a
small whitish blotch.

A variety, having the same pattern of markings, has the
ground-colour bright reddish-purple with pinkish cream-
coloured markings in place of the yellow and white ; the
oblique lateral stripes and the three dorsal blotches are rich
deep brown. All the legs are used in walking; in repose
the fifth and sixth segments are arched, and the anal segment
raised. (C. Fenn.)

End of July till September on stinging-nettle and hop,
resting by day on the undersides of leaves, and feeding at
night.

Pupa tapering at each extremity, the front portion swollen
into a rather long hooked projection ; deep dark purplish-
red, covered with a slight bluish efflorescence, which, when
removed, causes the abdominal segments to appear red.

142 LEPIDOPTERA.

Enclosed in a compact silken cocoon lined inside with brown
papery-looking silk, among leaves or rubbisli on the surface
of the ground. (0. Fenn.) The winter is passed in this
state.

The moth sits occasionally on palings or posts in the day-
time, but more generally among herbage, and is never, I
think, known to fly at that time either voluntarily or from
being disturbed. It flies actively at dusk, and is strongly
attracted by the flowers of red valerian (Centranthus ruber),
nettle, honeysuckle, Silene and Lychnis, and by any suitable
cultivated flowers, being especially fond of gardens. Thirty
years ago it was quite common in the outskirts of London,
and might be found on any fine June evening in the gardens
at Camberwell and Peckham. Even yet a specimen may
occasionally be seen, and one came into the room in which
I am writing last summer, evidently attracted by the light.
Rather rare on the coast of Kent and in the south-west
corner of the kingdom, but otherwise found throughout the
southern half of England, and often rather commonly ; scarcer
and more local in Norfolk and the northern Midland Counties ;
and to be met with in Herefordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire.
Yorkshire, and Cumberland. In Wales the only record of
which I am aware is my own at Pembroke, where it was very
scarce. In Scotland it is found in Ayrshire and other parts
of the Clyde Valley, also in the districts of the Solway,
Tweed, and Forth, and in Kincardineshire. In Ireland it is
more widely distributed and much more plentiful, being found
in the counties of Galway, Sligo, Carlingford, Monaghan,
Westmeath, Louth, Armagh, Antrim, Donegal, and London-
derry, and also in the extreme south-west, in Kerry.
Abroad its range is over the whole of Europe, except the
extreme north, Northern Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, and
Siberia.

TRIF1D&. 143

Genus 88. CHAKICLEA.

Antennae ciliated ; palpi short ; eyes naked, without lashes ;
head very blunt ; thorax faintly crested at the back ; abdomen
rather short, having a crest on the basal segment. Fore
wings short, rather truncate, richly coloured and with con-
spicuous transverse lines or bands ; hind wings broad, the
cross-bar oblique and very slender, veins 4 and 5 parallel.

Two species are known here, but one of them only by
ancient records. They bear no resemblance to each other.

A. Fore wings orange-yellow, banded with purple.

G. marginata.
A2. Fore wings brilliant purple-pink banded with darker.

G. dclphinii.

1. C. delphinii, L. — Expanse 1£ inch. Fore wings rich
brilliant purple-pink ; transverse lines darker and shaded
with brown ; hinder area lilac or pale crimson ; reniform
stigma dark purple, large and irregular. Hind wings white
with a broad smoky-brown band.

Antennae of the male simple, minutely ciliated, pale drab ;
palpi short, moderately tufted, orange-red ; eyes naked, red-
brown ; head densely tufted, the lower portion with incurved
scales, pale yellow shaded with orange-red, divided by a
channel from the upper portion, which is pale reddish-drab ;
underneath the base of each antenna is a pointed white
tuft ; collar large, not peaked, but rather pointed forward in
the middle, pale drab barred with red-brown ; remainder of
the thorax drab, the shoulder-lappets edged with tawny ;
top crest small, placed in the middle of a tawny cross-bar ;
back crest larger, of the same colour but divided ; fascicles
yellowish-white ; abdomen rather short, pale brownish-drab ;
a small tawny crest on the basal segment ; lateral tufts
purple ; anal tuft purplish-white. Fore wings rather short,
costa straight almost to the apex, which is bluntly angulated ;

144 LEPIDOPTERA.

hind margin below it straight and nearly perpendicular, but
below the middle suddenly bent in to the anal angle ; dorsal
margin straight ; colour rich glowing purple-pink disposed
in bands with brown shades ; first line forming a rather full
curve, indented at the nervures ; purple-brown, shaded off
inside, but outwardly sharply defined by a pink- white edging ;
second line faintly scalloped near the dorsal margin, thence
making a bold sweep outward and bending sharply back near
the costa, purple-brown shaded off outside, inwardly dupli-
cated by a fine crimson line ; the subterminal line forms the
outer margin of the purple-pink colouring ; outside it the
marginal space being white with a lilac or pale-crimson
tinge ; orbicular stigma only indicated by a white cloud
which extends to the costa ; reniform large, dark crimson
edged with purplish-black, which also extends to the costa ;
space between the stigmata crimson, and all the central band
rippled with lines of the same colour ; cilia brownish-white
with a faintly browner stripe. Hind wings white to the
middle, with the nervures dark brown ; hind-marginal region
filled up by a broad smoky-brown band in which the nervures
are still rather darker ; extreme hind-margin tinged with
purple ; cilia white. Female very similar, rather stouter.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown, flushed with
purple, and having a broad purplish-white hinder stripe ;
costa clouded with purple ; reniform stigma visible as a
blackish cloud. Hind wings white with a broad delicate
purple-pink band before the hind margin, and a similar cloud
on the costa. Body white, tinged with pink on the sides ;
legs and tufts white, similarly tinged in front.

On the wing in May and June.

Larva slender, violet-grey with an interrupted black dorsal
line bordered on both sides with yellow, and with four large
black dots on each segment ; on each side paler, with a broad
yellow band above the feet, above which stand five large
black dots on each segment ; head round, yellow, with three

TRIFIDjE. 145

large black dots and a black hind border to each hemisphere ;
front triangle black ; dorsal plate also black, divided in the
middle by a yellow cross line ; anal plate yellow, dotted with
black.

July and August, on the flowers and seeds of larkspur
{Delphinium consolida) on fallow laud. (Hofmann.)

Pupa with a wart-shaped projection on the head ; red-
brown with greenish wing-covers. In an earthen cocoon
deep in the ground. (Hofmann.)

The habits of the moth are not known to me, nor am I
aware of any instance of its capture in this country for a very
long period. Haworth (1803) stated that it was found in
gardens, and that five specimens had been recorded in Eng-
land. In the Transactions of the Entomological Society
(1807) he goes more into particulars. Treating of the work
of Benjamin Wilks (1773) he says, "He likewise delineates
in the most charming aud complete manner, giving ail its
phases from the egg to the wing, the lovely Noctua Delphinii,
Fab. (Pease-blossom moth), along with its favourite food the
wild larkspur ; and says that ' it has been bred in England
by the Honourable Mrs. Walters, and by Nathaniel Oldham,
Esq., but that it is very rare.' A wing of this beautiful moth
is said to have been found in a spider's web at Bulstrode, by
that great patroness of Natural History, the late Duchess of
Portland ; and another in St. James's Park ; and my friend
Mr. Jones, of Chelsea, has a very perfect specimen which he
captured in his garden a few summers since. Further than
the above instances the species is not known to us as British."
Donovan (about 1800) referred to the specimen taken alive in
Mr. Jones's garden at Chelsea as establishing the species as
British. Stephens (about 1830) stated that specimens in his
own collection, and in that of the British Museum, were
caught in the neighbourhood of Windsor, about fifteen years
earlier, in June ; and Curtis writing about the same date
confirms this statement. These appear to be all the records

VOL. VI. K

1 46 LEPID OP TERA .

in this country. In the cabinet of Dr. P. B. Mason the fore
wing mentioned by Haworth, and found by the Duchess of
Portland, is still in existence, and in good condition ; and he
has besides two specimens from the cabinet of the late Mr.
Edwin Shephard recorded as taken at Windsor, and one
labelled "Taken in a clover field near Reading." Mr. C. W.
Dale states that he possesses, in the collection of his late
father, an example " which appears to be a hundred years
old, damaged and without an abdomen ; it came out of the
collection of old Dr. Lathom."

The above localities are principally in Middlesex and Berks.
Abroad it is found in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe,
Northern Italy and Sweden ; also in Asia Minor.

This appears most distinctly to indicate a species which, so
far as this country is concerned, has died out since the begin-
ning of the present century.

2. C. marginata, Fab. ; umbra, Stand. Cat. — Expanse
1£ to 1^ inch. Fore wings orange-yellow ; nervures, lines,
and edges of the stigmata rust-red ; space beyond the second
line frosted with purple. Hind wings pale yellow, with a large
black central spot, aud a broad black hind-marginal band
edged outside with orange-red.

Antennas of the male simple, regularly ciliated with minute
tufts of white bristles, otherwise orange-brown ; palpi rather
short, closely tufted, tawny ; eyes naked, leaden black ; head
thickly but smoothly tufted in front, and with a small pro-
jecting tuft above, tawny ; thorax of the same colour, rather
smooth but the collar a little pointed forward in the middle ;
back crest obscure, tipped with chestnut ; fascicles pale
yellow ; abdomen orange-brown, paler at the base, the long
hair-scales pale yellow, but on the dorsal ridge of the first
segment gathered into a loose crest, coloured chestnut at the
tip ; on one or two more segments a clouding of similar
colour suggests an additional crest ; lateral tufts spreading ;
anal tuft rather compressed. Fore wings broad behind and

TRIFID^E. I47

rather truncate ; costa nearly straight ; apex bluntly angu-
lated ; hind margin faintly hollowed below it and then filled
out, very little oblique except where rounded off to the anal
angle ; dorsal margin straight ; colour orange-yellow with all
the nervures distinctly tawny ; basal line incomplete, angu-
lated, first line complete, repeatedly angulated, both slender,
rust-red ; second line very oblique, direct and almost straight,
but bent sharply back close to the costa, purple-red, and
forming the inner margin of a broad frosted orange-purple
stripe or band which occupies the hind-marginal space and
contains the subterminal line— irregular, indented, tawny, and
shaded outside with orange-yellow ; orbicular stigma round,
a distinct slender tawny ring ; reniform stigma broad, with
a slender tawny margin, and containing a faint cloud of the
same colour, it is invaded and cut by a distinct, angulated,
rust-red transverse line which represents the usual central
shade; cilia orange-purple. Hind wings glossy pale yellow,
with the nervures, a large clouded central spot, and a broad
band beyond the middle, all smoky-black; extreme hind
margin orange-red ; cilia white. Female very similar in all
respects.

Underside of the fore wings yellow, shading paler toward
the dorsal margin ; a black streak arises at the base ; orbicular
and reniform stigmata both indicated by smoky-black spots ;
beyond them is a very broad similar transverse stripe ; cilia
purple. Hind wings yellowish-white dusted with purplish-
orange along the costal region ; clouded with purplish-brown
beyond the middle; central spot obscure, smoky-black.
Body pale purplish-brown, legs purplish-orange, tufts paler.

Not very variable, but the ground colour ranges from
orange-yellow to pale yellow, and the outer dark band from
purple-red to purple-grey. On the east coast of Scotland,
where it occurs very locally, the ground colour is more dull
and is clouded in some degree with reddish-brown.

On the wing from the end of May to the beginning of
July.

148 LEP1D0PTERA.

Larva elongate, cylindrical, not attenuated ; head rounded
and shining, reddish-umbreous ; horny shining yellowish-
brown plates on the second and anal segments, the former
edged with black ; general colour grey, irrorated with white,
dorsal stripe broad, dark grey distinctly edged with white ;
subdorsal line less conspicuous, whitish tinged with reddish-
brown ; space between tinged with bronzy-brown and con-
taining a thin white waved thread ; spiracular stripe broad,
lemon-yellow, edged above with white ; above it is a stripe
of a shade similar to the dorsal ; raised dots black, shining
and distinct, those on the sides edged with white ; spiracles
inconspicuous, dark grey ; legs and outside of the prolegs
black ; ventral shade dull pale green.

Or, black irrorated with whitish or yellowish; a broad
dorsal stripe of the ground colour edged on each side by a
whitish line ; subdorsal line distinct, yellow shading toward
white at the incisions ; between these lines is a whitish inter-
rupted thread ; spiracular stripe yellow, very conspicuous,
shading into white at its upper edge ; undersurface dark
green with broadly paler central shade ; head dull brownish
yellow or amber ; spiracles black ; raised dots, legs, outside
of prolegs, and dorsal and anal plates shining black.

Or, similar to the last, but the yellow lines replaced by
white.

Or, pale green irrorated with white ; dorsal stripe dark
greenish-grey ; subdorsal white, distinct ; spiracular yellowish-
white edged above with black ; sides otherwise dusky greyish-
green ; spots shining black, the lateral often ringed with
white.

When very young semitransparent pale green; head
yellowish, spots shining black. (Chas. Fenn.)

July and August on restharrow (Ononis arvensis and
0. spinosa), feeding especially upon the flowers and young
seeds ; but when young gnawing the undersides of leaves at
the top of a young shoot. In confinement it will eat Poly-
gonum aviculare and P. pcrsicaria, and Mr. F. Norgate, after

TRIFID&. H9

finding lame on Ononis, fed them up upon the green pods of
the scarlet-runner (Phaseolus vulgaris). The Eev. J. Hellins
has placed upon record that he beat out larvae of this species
from birch and hazle, and reared them upon those trees.

Pupa rather elongated, very smoothly rounded and com-
pact, the limb-covers closely laid down ; whole surface glossy
dark red-brown ; sculpture on the wing-covers very faint ;
segments sparingly pitted round the anterior edge ; abdomen
regularly tapering ; anal segment rather fully rounded ; cre-
master a large nipple-like projection armed with two long,
parallel, tapering spikes. Subterranean, enclosed in a very
slight fragile earthen cocoon.

The moth is rarely seen in the daytime, doubtless it hides
among herbage ; at dusk it comes readily to sugar, and is
attracted by the blossoms of Silene inflate, Lychnis, and
other flowers ; occasionally it will come, later at night, to a
strong light. Not usually a common species, but found in
woods, or on chalk hills, in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hants,
Dorset, Wilts, Somerset, Berks, Oxfordshire, Herts, Cambs,
Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex; in Devon
and Cornwall more especially on the sea coast ; also found
in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Salop, very
rarely in Derbyshire, more frequently on the coasts of
Cheshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland, and sometimes even
plentifully on that of Durham ; in Yorkshire also on the
coast, and inland as well, but very locally. In Wales it has
been found on the North and South coasts ; in Scotland in
Berwickshire ; rather commonly on the coast of Forfar ; in
Perthshire ; at Forres, Moray ; and elsewhere in the districts
of the Solway, Tweed, Forth, Tay, and Dee. In Ireland it
seems to be rare, but has been taken in the counties of
Dublin, Wicklow, Waterford, Kerry, Galway, Sligo, and
Louth. Abroad it has a very wide range through Central
Europe, Northern Italy, Sicily, Southern Sweden, Livonia,
Southern Eussia, Northern Persia, Tartary, the mountainous

150 LEPIDOPTERA.

regions of Central Asia, Japan, and, in a rather more yellow
variety, in India.

Genus 88. HELIOTHIS.

Antennae ciliated ; tongue of moderate length ; eyes naked,
devoid of lashes ; thorax smooth, without crests ; abdomen
also smooth and not crested ; fore wings somewhat trigonate,
the usual pattern of markings obscure, but the reniform
'stigma large and produced to the costa ; hind wings broad,
the cross-bar angulated, vein 5 apparently carried through to
the base of the wing.

Larvae smooth, of regular thickness, feeding on low-growing
plants.

PuPjE of ordinary form, without ventral projection, in a
slight earthen cocoon.

The four species may readily be discriminated.

A. Fore wings yellow-brown with darker reniform stigma

and sub-marginal band.

B. A black dot at the anal angle. H. peltigcra.
B.' No black dot at the anal angle. H. armigera.
A." Fore wings olive-brown ; hind wings yellow with black

markings. H. dipsacca.

A.3 All the wings white, with broad grey-black markings.

H. scutosa.

1. H. armigera, Hilb.; armiger, Stated. Cat. — Expanse
1^ inch. Fore wings rather blunt, yellow-brown or tawny,
with a broad darker band before the hind margin, and a
darker reniform stigma. Hind wings yellowish-white with a
broad blackish-brown hind border and dark nervures.

Antennaa of the male simple, minutely ciliated, light brown ;
palpi small, slender, horizontal, whitish-brown ; eyes naked,
deep brown, spotted with black and devoid of lashes ; head

TRIFID.E. 151

moderately tufted with scales, but more strongly so on the
top, pale brown or whitish-brown ; thorax similar, very
smooth, the long collar-scales laid back to the general sur-
face, no crests, but very faintly collected tufts at the back ;
fascicles expanded, dirty white ; abdomen whitish-brown
with a powdered appearance from the abundance of short
superficial white hair-scales, and without crests ; lateral
tufts inconspicuous ; anal tuft narrow. Fore wings in some
degree triangular ; costa nearly straight ; apex angulated
and rather pointed ; hind margin oblique and faintly
rounded ; dorsal margin straight ; colour yellow-brown,
brownish drab, or tawny ; no basal line, but the first line
placed rather near the base, most obscure, partial, or almost
obliterated, when visible much angulated, smoky-brown ;
second line a series of faint smoky-brown crescents edged
outwardly by a narrow line of the pale ground-colour ; beyond
this the whole hind-marginal space is occupied by a broad
cloud of darker or redder brown or smoky-brown, or else a
broad band of the same occupies the space between the
edging of the second line and the subterminal line, which
then is visible as a series of faint smoky crescents ; orbicular
stigma sometimes indicated by a faint smoky cloud or cloudy
spot, or by a large pale spot hardly margined with darker ;
reniform stigma hardly more distinct, but usually enclosing
a rather crescent-shaped or ovate black-brown or red-brown
spot, very often a reddish cloud surrounds the stigmata, and
sometimes a slender reddish transverse thread or two repre-
sent the central shade ; cilia concolorous. Hind wings broad,
rounded, smoky-white, with the nervures and a large central
spot cloudy-black ; along the hind margin is a broad ill-
defined but conspicuous smoky-black cloud or band ; cilia
white shaded with brown. Female rather stouter but closely
similar.

Underside of the fore wings brownish-white or yellowish-
white with very conspicuous markings ; the orbicular and
reniform stigmata and a broad band before the hind margin

152 LEPIDOPTERA.

being black, but the latter shades into pink toward the apex,
the rest of the hind marginal region is often smoky-black.
Hind wings white with a broad, rather patchy, smoky-black
band before the hind margin, which, like that of the fore
wings, becomes purple-pink at the apex of the wing. This
rich colour soon fades as the insect becomes worn. Body and
legs whitish-brown.

Variable in the depth of colour of the fore wings and
distinctness of their markings, the latter sometimes almost
filling up the whole wing, in other cases almost absent,
leaving the whole surface softly shaded with reddish-brown
on a creamy ground.

Here found only in August, September, or October. Abroad
having two or more generations in the year.

Larva when full grown of moderate thickness, attenu-
ating a little to each end ; head of the size of the second
segment, shining brown, slightly mottled with darker shades;
dorsal plate horny and shining as though wet ; dorsal and
subdorsal area raw-sienna brown with a tinge of green, and
pencilled in fine broken parallel lines of yellow and darker
shades, varying a little in tone in different individuals ;
dorsal line slight and interrupted, forming on each segment
two slender oblong dark spots edged with yellow ; subdorsal
line still less distinct, indicated by dark-coloured raised dots,
two or three on either side of each segment, each emitting a
short bristly hair ; spiracular line sharply defined, pale
ochreous, edged above by a fine yellow and a dark um-
breous line, and below by a white line ; legs and prolegs
pale ochreous ; ventral surface pale grey, with three white
lines. (W. H. Tugwell.) Extremely variable ; sometimes light
green with the raised dots white, and an extremely broad
pale yellow or ochreous-yellow spiracular stripe which shades
off to white beneath ; sometimes dull chocolate or liver-brown
with the raised dots either white or black, the dorsal line
white, or yellow, or hardly indicated, the spiracular stripe

TRIFID&. 153

usually some shade of yellow, or when younger, yellow-
brown.

September and October ; but abroad, where more than one
generation is found in the year, it is said to feed in June and
August. Upon very many species of herbaceous plants.
Mr. Tugwell fed his larvae upon scarlet geranium. He says
that for the first fortnight they gnaw only the undersurface
of the leaves of the food plant, but after this eat holes in the
leaves "and no sooner is the hole sufficiently large to admit
the head than they crawl slowly through it, only to commence
another hole, and repeat the process again and again so as to
make the plant look as though riddled with shot. They also
now commence to eat holes in the succulent stems and shoots,
burrowing quite into the plant, and evince a strong liking
for the buds and flowers. When about half grown they
become terrible cannibals, eating their companions with a
zest and pertinacity quite horrible. They are mean and
cowardhr, generally seizing their weaker and more helpless
brethren when about to cast their skins. As they become
full-fed they appear to hold each other in mortal fear ; for
when touched by another, ever so lightly, they will wriggle,
twist, and throw themselves off the plant to escape a fate
which they had possibly inflicted on others. They are most
troublesome, since it is necessary to isolate them. Yesterday
I had three full-fed that appeared to desire to pupate, so I
put them into a large case to do so, but presently discovered
two of them making another meal off the third, one eating
his head, the other his tail. Imagine my disgust ! I never
met their equals as cannibals. I think they would eat me
without much ado, at any rate they bit my hand sharply."

It is possible that the geranium used by Mr. Tugwell may
not have been a thoroughly favoured food ; or that some
change of food-plant is desired as the larva grows. Its
range of food is very large — common groundsel, especially
the seeds, lucerne, wild mignonette (Reseda lutea and B.
lutcola), green peas, young pumpkins, Gladiolus (boring into

154 LEPIDOPTERA.

the stems), Indian hemp, tobacco, henbane ; also the ears of
maize, devouring both grain and envelope, but hiding itself
in the husk ; very destructive to this crop in Illinois, Kentucky,
Kansas, and other parts of the United States, as well as in
New Zealand. But in the United States it is even more
mischievous to the cotton crop, and is — from its habit of
boring into the seed-pod or boll — there well known as the
boll- worm. Long reports upon its destructiveness appear in
the papers issued by the Departments of Agriculture of
various States, and in some years its ravages have caused
great alarm. A careful observer in Texas says : " There is
one other insect that has destroyed more cotton in this
locality within the last four years than all other insects com-
bined. The moth deposits eggs by piercing the square at
the base of the bud. The egg hatches in a few days and
the worm devours the young boll before it fairly blooms.
Then it crawls upon the limb to another boll, bores in and
eats out the contents, then to another, and so on, until all,
or nearly all, that are upon the stalk are destroyed. Its
numbers are increasing so rapidly and its destruction is so
great that it is becoming a terror to cotton planters in this
locality." (It is hardly necessary here again to point out
that the worm of American writers is the caterpillar, or, as we
usually say, the larva.) In the cotton district there appear
to be several generations in a season, the first brood of moths
appearing in May, and the lame sometimes feeding up, from
hatching to full growth, in twenty days ! Professor Comstock's
report (1879) furnishes an enormous mass of information
which I am quite unable to reproduce. Professor Riley has
also written largely on the subject, and he mentions another
crop to which this larva has become terribly destructive.
" The glutton is not even satisfied with ravaging these two
great staples of the country, cotton and corn, but, as I dis-
covered in 1867, it voraciously attacks the tomato in South
Illinois, eating into the green fruit and thereby causing much
fruit to rot. In this manner it often causes serious loss to

TRIFID.E. 155

the tomato-grower, and it may justly be considered the worst
enemy to the tomato in that section of the country." Another
writer says : "In Maryland in 1869 these worms did great
injury to the tomato-crop, eating alike the ripe and the unripe
fruit, gnawing great holes in them, and rendering them unfit
for market use. One worm would sometimes entirely ruin a
number of tomatoes on one plant." Other observers have
found this voracious creature feeding on the "chick-pea"
(Ciccr arictinum), the young larvae upon the leaves, the larger
boring into the pods, the common scarlet-runner (Phaseolus
vulgaris) and other leguminous plants, boring into the pods
and eating out the contents. One further detail must not be
omitted — Professor Comstock states that " on a plant, and
undisturbed, large boll-worms have been seen to catch smaller
ones, which they devoured, or simply pierced the skin with
their mandibles so that the juice could be sucked, and the
refuse dropped ; " and that whenever these creatures were
sent him from the South, although plenty of food was
enclosed, " in case more than one boll-worm was mailed in
the same box one only would reach us alive, all the others
having been destroyed." And further, that in a state of
nature this larva preys frequently upon the pupa of the
cotton-worm {Aletia argillacea), forcing its way " into the
leaves folded and pre-occupied by Aletia, the latter having
already passed into the pupa state, for the express purpose
of feeding on these pupae. Many cases of this sort were
seen." In some sense, therefore, this most effective destroyer
seems to assume also the character of a protector of the
crop!

Pupa stout, red-brown, anterior surface shining, mouth
with a projecting ridge ; front portion minutely granulated,
wing and limb-covers finely sculptured with shallow incised
lines ; the anterior margin of the segments also sculptured
with coarse punctures ; cremaster very short and rounded,
producing two long straight tapering spikes. In a smooth

156 LEPIDOPTERA.

earthen chamber, faintly lined with silk, beneath the surface
of the ground, often to the depth of several inches. Appa-
rently in this condition through the winter in this country ;
but in North America it is believed to hybernate in both
pupa and imago- state.

The moth flies swiftly and eagerly in the daytime in hot
sunshine and may then be seen, occasionally, hovering at the
blossoms of clover, and hardly to be distinguished from the
Phosia gamma buzzing around it, except that its colour is
much lighter and browner. In dull or cool weather it hides
among herbage, sitting with its head downward. At dusk it
frequents ivy-bloom, or the flowers of Aster tripolium, Cen-
tranthus ruber and Arbutus unedo ; I have taken it at sugar
and it seems to be rather strongly attracted by a powerful
light. Bare in these islands, indeed, possibly only occurring
as an immigrant, since the larva appears never to be met with
here, those described by Mr. Tugwell having been obtained
from eggs laid by a captured female. The first British
specimen seems to have been recorded from Salford, Lanca-
shire, in 184-0 by the late Mr. R S. Edleston, and the second
by the Rev. Murray A. Mathew, who found it in the year
1858 in Devon, flying in a field. More recently it has become
rather frequent in that county, being taken almost every
year on the coast near Torquay ; and it has occurred in Corn-
wall, Dorset, Hants, Sussex, Kent — even so near to London
as West Wickham ; Surrey, Middlesex ; once near Reading,
Berks ; Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Cambridge-
shire, Suffolk. Norfolk, where, at Cromer lighthouse, no less
than twenty specimens were obtained in 1875-6 by Mr. W.
H. Thornthwaite ; Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and
Durham. In Wales I took a single specimen in a clover
field near Pembroke, in one of those years in which Colias
Eihisct was common.

In Scotland it is recorded by the late Dr. Buchanan White
in the Solvva}- district; and in the past year (1898) the

TRIFIDsE. 157

capture of several specimens took place at Burnmouth, Eye-
mouth and elsewhere near Berwick-on-Tvveed. In Ireland it
has been found near Dublin and in Kerry.

Abroad it has an immense range, through Southern,
Central and Western Europe, Southern Germany, Switzer-
land, and Livonia ; Asia Minor, Armenia, India (whence a
small variety has received the name of succinea), Japan, the
Barbary States, Egypt, Aden, the Canaries, South Africa
(where it abounds and varies exceedingly in size as well as
colour) ; Australia, New Zealand, Java, Formosa ; and as
already expounded at some length, in multitudes in the
Central and Southern portions of North America.

2. H. peltigera, Schiff.; peltiger, Staud. Cat. — Expanse
1J inch. Fore wings light red-brown with a faintly darker
transverse band ; reniform stigma dark brown, extended to
the costa ; a round black dot at the anal angle. Hind wiDgs
smoky-brown, toward the base whitish.

Antennae of the male simple, minutely ciliated, reddish-
brown ; palpi small, horizontal, moderately tufted, whitish-
brown ; eyes large, black-brown ; head whitish-brown, the
scales pressed down level and pointing forward ; thorax
smooth, pale reddish-brown or reddish-drab, the back portion
paler and the scales only drawn together in the faintest
manner; fascicles yellowish-white; abdomen very smooth,
whitish-brown ; lateral and anal tufts well developed, the
latter reddish-drab. Fore wings rather pointed, costa very
slightly arched throughout ; apex sharply augulated ; hind
margin gently curved ; dorsal margin straight ; colour soft
reddish-drab or pale reddish-brown, clouded with fawn
colour ; no basal line ; first line faintly indicated, arising
from a brown dot on the costa, and forming rather deep
angles of the faintest possible redder shade ; second line
almost equally faint, formed of a series of deep crescents,
their points of junction each marked by a minute white dot ;
subterminal line a curved pale shade which bounds, outwardly,

158 LEPIDOPTERA.

an oblique transverse stripe of brighter red-brown, becoming
at the costa a dark brown blotch ; orbicular stigma only-
indicated by a reddish -brown dot ; reniform stigma large
and distinct, leaden-brown edged with red-brown, except at
the upper side, where it is apparently extended to the
costa by a red-brown cloud, and forms the most noticeable
marking upon the wing ; but the most reliably distinctive
marking is a round black dot which is placed just within the
anal angle ; cilia smooth pale fawn-colour, faintly dashed
with brown. Hind wings rounded, smoky greyish-white to
the middle, but with the nervures dark ; the whole surface
beyond the middle is occupied by a very broad smoky-black
band, which also throws a shade up the dorsal margin ; cilia
white with a yellow -brown line along the basal portion.
Female rather stouter, very similar.

Underside of the fore wings yellowish-white with a large
black spot at the position of the reniform stigma, followed by
a smoky-black transverse stripe, beyond which the hind
marginal region is dappled with smoky-brown. Hind wings
white with a more obscure smoky-black band along the hind
margin, rather dappled at its edge with white ; cilia whiter.
Body and legs yellowish-white, the tibia? pale brown.

Variable in the intensity of the ground colour of the fore
wings from pale creamy-brown or buff to rich tawny and
chestnut-red. Along with such extreme forms, in the collec-
tion of Mr. Sydney Webb, is one in which the blotch at the
reniform stigma is the only noticeable marking. One in the
cabinet of Mr. Charles Fenn has a large whitish blotch in
the dark border of the hind wings.

On the wing in June and July, and as a partial second
generation in August and September.

Larva plump and full, very slightly narrowed toward the
head, and still less so toward the hinder extremity ; hairs
short and bristly, single ; head well rounded, green or yellow ;
body deep green with the dorsal and subdorsal stripes dis-

TRIFJD/E.

159

tinctly deeper green, and the spiracular line forming a still
darker stripe, bordered below with white; the divisions of
the segments also deeper green ; spiracles and raised dots
white ; legs and prolegs green.

Or, green with broader dorsal and subdorsal stripes dull
red, or rich bright purple-red, and short streaks of the same
upon the spiracular stripe, which is edged below with
yellowish-white.

Or, rich yellow clouded with pinkish-red, the dorsal and
subdorsal stripes darker red, and the undersurface and legs
green.

Or, reddish-brown, the stripes darker and dashed with
black-brown, and the under portions green.

Or almost any other dorsal combination of green, grey-
green, brownish-pink, light brown, purple, purple-grey and
yellow. A wonderfully variable larva ! Apparently in some
degree affected in colour by that of the blossoms upon which
it may chance to be feeding.

May or June to August, and a partial second generation in
September and October ; on restharrow {Ononis arvensis and
0. spinosa), henbane {Hyoscyamus niger), Pyrethrum inodo-
rum and P. maritime/,, Arenaria rubra, Senecio, Salvia, even
Ulex (furze), Calendula (common garden marigold), Erodium
(stork's-bill), and Datura stramonium (thorn-apple) ; feeding
on leaves, blossoms, and seed-capsules.

Pupa slender, brown ; in a slight cocoon in the earth.
Not further described. A portion produce the moths in the
same autumn, others lie through the winter, and some few
through one or more succeeding winters.

The moth is, in this country, more particularly attached to
the southern coast. It sits by day in fields, especially clover
fields, or among herbage on sandhills, and is readily dis-
turbed, flying for a short distance and settling again, and
most likely flies voluntarily to flowers when the sun is hot,
indeed there is a record of its capture when so attracted by

160 LEPIDOPTERA.

blooming heather. It has also been found, rarely, sitting on
the sand. It flies more particularly at dusk, and then fre-
quents blossoms of clover, Silcnc inflata, Gcntranthvs ruber,
and other plants, and will even come to sugar ; but for some
unexplained reason is rarely seen in the moth state, although
in some seasons its larvas have been found in considerable
abundance. The late Mr. J. J. Heading recorded that in the
years 1853-4, on the Cornish coast and that of Devon,
hundreds, or even thousands, of the larvae were to be found
on Ononis spinosa, but there is no record that many moths
were seen. Usually a rare species, but long known as an
inhabitant of this country ; indeed, Donovan recorded its
capture by himself, in a lane near Tottenham, Middlesex,
in 1793 ; and, as already stated, most frequent in Devon and
Cornwall ; but also recorded in the Scilly Isles, Dorset, Hants,
Sussex, Kent, once each in Surrey, Herts, and Gloucester-
shire ; also in Somerset, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire ;
several times in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk, and
rarely in Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Durham. In
Wales it has been taken near Neath and along the Glamorgan-
shire coast ; and at Pembroke my eldest son secured a single
specimen flying about red valerian on a railway embank-
ment.

In Scotland the only record that I can find is that by Dr.
Chapman of a specimen taken in Ayrshire. In Ireland it
has been met with near Cork and Wicklow. Like the last
species, it has an immense range abroad ; through Central,
Southern, and Western Europe, Southern Germany, Hungary,
Switzerland ; Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, with the Taurus
Mountains, Kertch, the Himalayas ; Madeira, the Canaries ;
the Barbary States — most abundant in Morocco — Egypt,
South Africa, and New Zealand.

3. H. dipsacea, L. — Expanse \\ to If inch. Eore wings
yellow-drab or reddish-drab, with olive clouding and a red-
brown central band. Hind wings yellowish-white with a

TRIFID.E. 161

large black central spot, and a broad black hind-border con-
taining a white blotch.

Antennae of the male simple, apparently naked, red-brown ;
palpi small, horizontal, whitish-brown, red-brown at the tips ;
eyes bright chestnut ; head densely but rather smoothly
tufted, brownish-drab; thorax smooth, olive-drab, the scales
at the back long and rather curved in ; fascicles smoky-
white ; abdomen yellowish-brown, thickly dusted with black ;
lateral tufts small, anal rather broad, all pale yellow. Fore
wings somewhat trigonate ; costa straight to near the tip,
where it is a little rounded ; apes bluntly angulated ; hind
margin nearly straight, hardly more curved toward the anal
angle ; dorsal margin straight or very faintly concave ; colour
olive-drab or reddish-drab ; no basal line ; first line scarcely
perceptible as a faint angulated thread ; at the middle of the
wing is a broad brown transverse band the inner edge of
which is sharply defined, the outer expanded in the dorsal
area ; second line almost imperceptible, but sometimes trace-
able in dots and curves ; outside it is a second transverse
brown band, sometimes incomplete, but the costal portion
then visible as a brown triangle, its outer edge seems to form
the subterminal line ; hind margin faintly dotted with black ;
cilia olive-brown. Hind wings rounded, yellowish-white to
the middle, except that the ordinary central spot is a large
black blotch and extends as a stripe of the same colour along
the costal margin to the base of the wing ; beyond the middle
is a broad dull black marginal band, near the middle of which
is a large yellowish-white spot partly divided by a dark
nervure, and near the anal angle another, much smaller ;
down the dorsal region is a smoky-black clouding covered by
long whitish hair-scales ; cilia yellowish-white. Female quite
similar.

Underside of the fore wings creamy-white, with smoky
clouding upon the margins; from the base is a straight black
line, above it a round deep black spot ; beyond this another,
much larger, followed by a black transverse stripe shading

VOL. VI. L

1 62 LEPIDOPTERA.

off toward both margins of the wing. Hind wings dusky
white, with the whole pattern of the upper side obscurely
visible except that the dark marginal band possesses another
large excavated pale blotch. Body white ; legs whitish-:
brown.

Not very variable, but examples from the New Forest
district of Hants are rather smaller and darker in colour and
also more strongly marked than those from the Eastern
Counties. In the collection of Professor Meldola is one in
which all the usually black markings of the hind wings are
of a glossy light red ; it was taken in Essex.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva moderately stout, thickest at the middle segments,
tapering a very little towards the head, and rather more
towards the anal extremity, with a sudden slope down on the
back from the middle of the twelfth segment, the thirteenth
being rather elongated and the anal prolegs extended behind
it ; the head, which has rounded lobes, can be partially with-
drawn into the second segment, its colour is green or pale
pink, freckled with black or brown on the crown of each lobe ;
ground colour of the body varied, straw-colour, light drab,
greenish-ochreous, full green, brilliant yellowish-green, rather
glaucous-green, olive-green, rose-pink or deep purplish-
brown ; dorsal line a fine thread of the ground colour enclosed
between two much darker lines, which commence on the
third segment and thicken gradually as they approach the
middle of the body, whence they, by degrees, narrow again ;
on either side of the back run two pairs of longitudinal,
rather meandering lines, a little darker than the ground
colour ; the subdorsal stripe, of uniform width, is either white
throughout, or white on the second segment and afterwards
pale yellow, or becoming faintly tinged with the ground
colour, or else greenish throughout ; immediately beneath
this conspicuous stripe is a broad longitudinal band of ground
colour, greatly filled up with darker, its upper edge the

TRIFID^. 163

darkest ; spiracular line whitish, pale green, or pale yellow ;
on it are placed the circular pale or white spiracles, outlined
with black ; beneath is a stripe of the ground colour or else
ochreous or green, followed by a white line which passes in
front of the anal prolegs ; undersurface of the ground colour,
with a darker, rather interrupted, band above the legs, which
are of the ground colour or else greenish. The texture of
the skin on all the darker portions is rough, being composed
of extremely short and minute bristly blackish points, while
in the intervals and on all the pale stripes it is smooth.
(W. Buckler.)

July, August, and September ; on the flowers and unripe
seeds of wild carrot, thistle, toadflax, chicory, scabious, knap-
weed, purple clover, hawkweed, restharrow, Gr&pis vircns,
Lychnis vespertina, and Silcne otites ; and in confinement even
on the green legumes of the scarlet-runner bean (Phascolus).
Sometimes to be found on flowers in the daytime.

Pupa of moderate bulk, the head and palpi rather sharply
produced ; back of the thorax swollen ; wing-covers broad at
the ends : abdomen tapering and ending in two rather long
anal points ; abdominal segments roughened in the middle ;
colour pinkish-red-brown or dark brown. (W. Buckler.)
In a weak thin silken cocoon in the earth. In this state
through the winter, and sometimes continuing over another
year, or more.

The moth is very lively in the daytime, in the hottest
weather buzzing at the blossoms of clover, sainfoin, or bugloss,
in cultivated fields, or at those of sea-holly and birds-foot
trefoil on the coast sandhills. When the weather is less hot
it prefers to sit on the ground in bare places in fields of
clover, Trifoliiim incarnatum, Anthyllis vulneraria, and
Melilotus, starting up in the most active manner when
approached, flying round and settling upon another bare spot,
to rise with equal or greater agility if followed. Indeed, its
capture under these circumstances necessitates some careful

1 64 LEPIDOPTERA.

stalking. On heaths, which it sometimes frequents, its habits
are similar. At night it flies again and pays another visit to
the flowers.

A very local species, sometimes to be found in plenty in
one or two fields, and hardly to be seen elsewhere for miles ;
also rather irregular in its appearances — perhaps from the
habit of the pupa of often lying quiescent till a favourable
season. Formerly said to be abundant on heaths near
Farnham, Surrey ; still in that county, but less common ;
also to be met with, in the uncertain manner already stated,
in Kent, Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Glou-
cestershire, Essex, and particularly in the district of the
"Breck" sands of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk; in
the latter county it has also been found on the coast sandhills
near Yarmouth. Beyond this range it is very rare, but has
been recorded from Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, and
in single examples from Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Appa-
rently quite absent from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Abroad, however, it seems to extend over the whole of the
Continent of Europe except the extreme north, Northern
Africa, and a large portion of Asia, including India.

4. H. scutosa, Schiff. — Expanse 1£ inch. Fore wings
white, clouded and banded with smoky-brown ; the three
stigmata large, black-brown. Hind wings white with a large
black central spot and a divided black hind band.

Antennas of the male simple, very minutely ciliated,
blackish-brown ; palpi small and short, of the same colour,
but tufted with dusky-white hair-scales ; eyes brown ; head
rather smooth, olive-brown ; thorax similarly coloured, not
very stout ; fascicles dusky-white ; abdomen dark brown,
thinly dusted with hoary scales ; lateral and anal tufts
golden-brown.

Fore wings somewhat trigonate ; costa very faintly arched
throughout ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin oblique
and gently curved, but the anal angle distinct ; dorsal margin

TRIFID^E. 165

rather gracefully curved ; ground colour white faintly clouded
with brown, but very much obscured by dark markings of an
olive-brown or black-brown colour, the nervures especially
white ; basal line indicated by two black dots, or short streaks,
edged with white ; first line most visible in its middle portion .
where it is oblique, black, and rather thick, its remainder
dark brown ; second line a somewhat obscure series of black -
brown dashes between nervures, but broken outside the
reniform stigma ; subterminal line only visible as the interval
between an olive-brown oblique transverse band divided by
white nervures, and a creamy-white irregular stripe close to
the hind margin, which last is edged narrowly with olive-
brown ; orbicular stigma large, olive-brown, edged with
black, joined to a similar large spot below the median nervure
which appears to be the claviform stigma ; reniform of the
same colour, large and conspicuous ; costal margin clouded
with olive-brown ; cilia white shot with brown and margined
inwardly by two rows of black streaks enclosing white dots.
Hind wings hollowed beneath the apex ; creamy-white,
clouded at the base, on the dorsal margin, and on the nervures,
with brown ; central spot large and conspicuous, dull black ;
across the middle of the wing is a slender irregular olive-
brown line, immediately followed by a very broad smoky-
black band which occupies the hinder half of the wing but
contains three or four creamy- white spots ; cilia white, spotted
with black-brown. Female quite similar.

Underside of all the wings shining creamy-white ; fore
wings with two large black spots before the middle, and a
larger one beyond it, followed by a clouded black band ; hind
marginal region streaked and clouded with smoky-black.
Hind wings as on the upper side but the markings not so
dark, the pale spots in the marginal band larger and coales-
cing. Body and leg-tufts white ; legs brown.

Rather variable in the size of the dark spots and
bands.

On the wing in July and August. Abroad it is said to

1 66 LEPIDOPTERA.

appear also in May and June in an additional and earlier
generation.

Larva. Dorsal region dark grey-green, almost blackish ;
lateral and undersurfaces yellow ; on the back lie on each side
three interrupted yellow longitudinal lines, of which the two
middle ones are the darkest ; raised dots black and distinct ;
spiracles black ringed with white ; on the sides of the second
and third segments are placed, in the situation of the spiracles,
two black tenon-shaped raised dots, over the feet is a dark-
margined paler irregular longitudinal stripe ; prolegs black.
Head yellow, dusted with black and with a black spot on each
side of the lower portion ; dorsal shield black, with three
yellow longitudinal lines. (Hofmann.)

June and July, and sometimes in a second generation in
August and September, on Artcmesia campcstris and other
species of wormwood ; occasionally upon Chenopodium.

Pupa red-brown with the wing-covers greenish. Not more
fully described. In a slight silken cocoon, in or upon the
earth.

The moth is said to fly by day as well as at night, and to
frequent the blossoms of thyme. Doubtless it is attracted,
like its allies, by any suitable honey-producing flowers. It
is, however, so exceedingly rare in this country that we have
little or no practical knowledge of its habits. The first
recorded British specimen was that figured by Curtis and
Wood, and taken "on the banks of the Kiver Caldew, near
the village of Dalston in Cumberland, in July 1835," by Mr.
James Cooper, of Carlisle. The next capture appears to have
been of three specimens near Skinburnness, on the shore of
the Solway Firth, by Mr. R. R. Rothwell, then a boy at
school, at about the same date. One of these examples came
into the possession of the late Rev. H. Burney ; another is, I
believe, in the collection of the late Mr. J. Sidebotham, and still
treasured by his son, Mr. J. W. Sidebotham, M,P. The third

TRIFID.F. 167

is said to have been destroyed. In 1875 and 1876 two
specimens were secured at a lighthouse at Cromer, Norfolk,
by Mr. R. Cumber, son of the lightkeeper, and sent unset
and unknown, with numerous other species, to Mr. W. H.
Thornthwaite, for whom the captor was collecting such
insects as came to the light. One of these Mr. Thornthwaite
most liberally placed in my collection. In the following
year another was recorded, taken flying at dusk over clover
at Weston-super-Mare ; and a year later Mr. W. H. Campbell
had the good fortune to secure one on August 19, flying in
the sunshine, at 3.30 p.m., over rough heathery boggy land on
a hillside near Buncrana, on the shores of Lough Swilly, in
the north of Ireland. In the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason,
at Burton-on-Trent, is a specimen labelled, " Captured by
A. Coburn, flying in the sunshine, 24th June, 1880, near
Attleborough." This is, therefore, a third Norfolk example.
In 1891 Mr. W. Eeid, of Pitcaple, recorded the capture, in
July 1878, of a specimen at Bay of Nigg, near Aberdeen,
Hying in bright sunshine over rough ground and stones.
This seems to complete our record, which therefore includes
Somerset, Norfolk, and Cumberland in England, Aberdeen in
Scotland, and Donegal, Ireland. Abroad the insect is common
throughout Central Europe, Southern France, Northern Italy,
Livonia, Northern Turkey, Southern Russia, Morocco and
other parts of Northern Africa, India, China, and the moun-
tainous regions of Central Asia.

Genus 89. HELIODES.

Antennas naked, dark brown ; palpi very small and
blunt, quite inconspicuous, whitish-brown ; eyes naked and
without lashes ; thorax small, almost round, shaggy, crested
at the back ; abdomen short and small, without crests ;
fore wings broad, short, and very blunt; hind wings
small, brightly coloured, cross-bar long, angulated, very

1 68 LEPID OP TERA .

slender ; vein 5 arising below the middle. Among our
smallest Nocture.

We have but one species.

1. H. arbuti, Fab. ; tenebrata, Stand. Cat. — Expanse
§ inch. Fore wings broad and very short ; red-brown shaded
with black-brown or black in obscure bands. Hind wings bright
yellow with the base, and a broad hind-marginal band, black.

Antenna? of the male short, simple, naked, black-brown,
barred at the back with white ; palpi very short, horizontal,
bluntly tufted, purple-brown ; eyes shining black ; head
tufted, purplish-brown ; thorax small and rounded, collar
and shoulder-lappets raised, all purple-brown ; abdomen very
small, blackish-brown, dusted with yellowish scales ; lateral
tufts hardly perceptible ; anal tuft small. Fore wings small,
short but rather broad and very blunt ; costa faintly arched ;
apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin gently curved, not
very oblique ; dorsal margin straight ; colour velvety choco-
late-brown, faintly dusted with ashy-white ; first and second
lines imperceptible, except under a lens, which merely shows
them chocolate-brown without ashy scales ; between them is
a central shade or band of chocolate-black, velvety and
forming three faint loops ; before and beyond it are scattered
most of the ashy-white scales ; subterminal line distinct at
the costa, sharply edging a chocolate space, aud dividing it
from an apical and marginal space which is much dotted
with bluish-white scales, and extends one-half the distance to
the anal angle, beyond this the liue almost disappears ; stig-
mata not indicated ; costa beyond the middle spotted with
pale yellow, the largest spot extending round the apex ; cilia
pale chocolate at the apex of the wing, the middle of the
hind margin, and the anal angle, the intermediate spaces
being creamy-white with an intersecting brown line. Hind
wings rounded, black at the base, and having a broad black
band round the hind margin ; the middle area of the wing
being rich orange-yellow ; there is also a faint superficial

TRIFIDjE. 169

dusting of orange-red upon the black band ; cilia yellowish-
white. Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black, broadly dusted
along the costal and hind-marginal regions with pale yellow,
along the dorsal margin greenish-white ; just beyond the
middle is a large orange-yellow blotch. Hind wings orange-
yellow, abundantly dusted with black, and having the
marginal black band obscurely reproduced in black dusting.
Body and legs pale grey-brown dusted with black ; tibias
barred with black.

Hardly ever variable, but in the cabinet of Mr. S. Stevens
is a specimen in which the yellow hind wings are much
suffused with black.

On the wing in May and the beginning of June.

Larva when full grown about 4 inch long, moderately
stout and of true Noctua form; with the twelfth segment
plump ; thoracic segments slightly tapering toward the small
and rather flattened head, which with the dorsal plate is of a
glossy pale green ; colour of the body light green ; dorsal line
dark green ; subdorsal line whitish, finely edged above with
dark green ; spiracular stripe yellowish- white or pale yellow,
well relieved along the upper margin by a conspicuous dark
green stripe ; spiracles white, faintly outlined with black ;
raised dots brown, but almost imperceptible ; undersurface
and legs rather paler green than the back ; the skin soft and
smooth. When about to spin up all the lines disappear and
it becomes of a uniform green tint.

When newly from the egg it is white with a brown head
and a narrow brown dorsal plate. At a fortnight old the
head is brown, spotted and streaked with darker brown, and
the body either pale watery-green, or else tinged with pinkish-
grey, with a dark green dorsal line, a whitish subdorsal, and
a broader white spiracular line, the prolegs clear and nearly
colourless. After the next moult the head and second seg-
ment are pale brown with slightly darker brown markings,

1 70 LEPIDOP TERA .

the body much more richly and deeply coloured than before,
greenish-grey or pinkish-grey ; dorsal line slate-green, in the
middle of a broad softened stripe of paler ground colour ; the
subdorsal line and spiracular stripe conspicuously white.
After another moult the adult colour is assumed. (Adapted
from Buckler.)

June and July on Cerastium valgatum, C. arvcnsc, C. triviale
and C. glomeratum; feeding for the first fortnight inside the
green capsule upon the unripe seeds, afterwards exposed, but
still upon the seeds and flowers.

Pupa short and thick with a bluntly tapering abdomen
having at the tip two fine thorny points of great minuteness ;
colour shining reddish-brown. In a rather solid cocoon of
earth kneaded well together with silk, of close texture and
not very brittle, at the depth of an inch or two beneath the
surface of the ground. (W. Buckler.)

The moth flies in the sunshine in meadows and sheltered
fields, often being found only in the more sheltered sunny
corners ; here it buzzes and flits about, settling often on the
blossoms of the common daisy, or dandelion, or any other
flower that may be in bloom, including of course the mouse-
ear chickweeds. So far as is known it does not move at
night nor in very dull weather. Though rather local it is
common in suitable spots in most parts of the Southern,
Eastern, and Western Counties ; less so in the Midlands, but
extending to Lancashire, Yorkshire, and even Durham, where
it is rare. There is a single record, not contradicted, in
Scotland — near Glasgow. Probably it would be found if
looked for in many parts of Wales, but records are very few.
There is one such in North Wales ; and I found it quite com-
monly in two small fields in almost the extreme corner of
Pembrokeshire, near the little fishing village of Angle. In
Ireland it seems only to have been noticed in the counties of
Kerry and Sligo. Its range abroad is tolerably wide, the
whole of Central and Northern Europe except the most frigid

TRIFID^E. 171

portions ; Northern Italy, Sicily and the mountains of Greece ;
Northern Turkey, Southern Russia, and the Central Asian
mountain districts.

Genus 90. ACONTIA.

Antennas ciliated; eyes naked, without lashes; thorax only
moderately stout, crested at the back ; abdomen more slender,
not very short, not crested ; fore wings rather broad, of
moderate length, very blunt, brightly coloured ; hind wings
also usually brightly coloured, very broad, the cross-bar long
and angulated, and vein 5 from below the middle.

We have three species, widely different from each other.

A. Hind wings white with a broad black border.

B. Fore wings white, very broadly banded from the
middle with black-brown, but with a large white spot on
costa and at anal angle. A. Solaris.

B2. Fore wings black-brown with a large white costal
blotch. A. luctuosa.

A2. Hind wings greyish-white, shining.

B3. Fore wiugs pinkish-white with olive-brown or pale
chestnut blotches. A. vcnustula.

1. A. luctuosa, Esjp. — Expanse 1 inch. Fore wings
short and broad, black-brown rather marbled with grey and
white ; a costal white blotch beyond the middle extends more
than halfway across the wing. Hind wings black with a broad
central white band, and white clouds in the hind margin.

Antennas of the male short, simple, most minutely ciliated,
brown-black ; palpi of the same colour, short, slender, and
pointed, and having a small fringe of whitish scales along the
lower edge ; eyes glossy black-brown spotted with deep black ;
head unusually smooth, smoky-black ; thorax similar, narrow,
the scales large and tipped with a purple lustre ; back crest
depressed but divided into two tufts which are tipped with
chocolate ; fascicles smoky-grey ; abdomen slender, dark
smoky-brown dusted with white ; lateral tufts small, dusky-

r72 LEPIDOPTERA.

white ; anal tuft long, light brown. Fore wings broad,
almost truncate ; costa nearly straight, faintly more rounded
near the apex, which is bluntly angulated; hind margin a
little rounded but almost perpendicular ; dorsal margin
straight ; colour black-brown ; basal and first lines velvety-
black, each forming a series of short curves, the latter very
perpendicular ; second line very slender, black, forming two
strong curves above the dorsal margin, then bent out and
passing obscurely to the costa; touching it and occupying
the previous costal space is a large white or pinkish-white
blotch extending halfway across the wing and including part
of the usual situation of the reniform stigma, of which there
is no indication except that a previous upright black streak
in the discal cell possibly represents its anterior margin ;
orbicular stigma a small black ring ; subterminal line formed
by a row of deep black dots parallel with the hind margin,
but preceded by an incomplete series of irregular deep black
wedges and angles about which is a considerable dusting of
white; at the costa before the apex is a larger black spot
with bluish reflections and broken up by white costal dots ; at
the anal angle is a white blotch containing brown spots ;
extreme hind margin shaded with golden-brown ; cilia white
with a broad, brown blotch in the middle portion. Hind
wings rounded, smoky-black with a broad creamy-white
transverse band in the middle, and a dusted white spot near
the hind margin ; cilia white interrupted in the middle space
with black. Female closely similar.

Underside of the fore wings black clouded with white
on the margins; the large white spot beyond the middle
reproduced but more oval ; anal angle white ; and white
spots lie before the apex and in the cilia. Hind wings as on
the upper side but with rather more white clouding along
the hind margin. Body and leg-tufts dusky white ; tibias
black, barred with white.

On the wing from the end of May to the beginning of
July, and as a second generation in August.

TRIFIDsE. 173

Larva when full grown about an inch and a quarter in
length, slender, stoutest in the middle, tapering a little in
front and more toward the hinder extremity ; the folds and
divisions of the segments moderately indicated on the first
four or five, but hardly noticeable upon the remainder ; the
first and second pairs of prolegs less developed than the rest.
Head rather smaller than the second segment, slightly hairy,
very pale grey, having on each side four lines of black dots
in continuation of the dark stripes on the body ; dorsal plate
dull dark brown, through it run conspicuously the dorsal and
subdorsal pale stripes ; ground colour on the middle of the
back pale greyish-ochreous, brownish-grey, or reddish-grey,
the sides darker and browner; the dorsal stripe tapers at
each extremity of the larva, but is narrowest in front, and of
the pale greyish-ochreous already described, faintly outlined
interruptedly by short lines or dots of black, and sometimes
by freckles of a deeper ochreous-grey tint; while in some
examples two short black streaks appear at the beginning of
each segment almost forming a V pointing forwards ; a kind
of dorsal chain-pattern is formed by a rather broad sinuous
stripe of dark grey-brown, below which the subdorsal stripes,
a little paler than the ground colour, are edged with a line of
dark brown ; beneath this are placed three other dark brown
lines, the lowest of which is the spiracular, and is broader
than the other two, which last are slightly sinuous, the
second bearing a pale dot at the beginning of each segment,
and touching the spiracular stripe in the middle of the seg-
ment ; spiracles circular, black ; beneath them is a broad stripe
of very pale brownish-grey edged above with a paler thread
and below with a rather darker stripe of reddish or greyish-
brown, followed by a paler one above the legs ; undersurface
rather deeper greyish-brown, with a central brown stripe
bearing upon the middle of each segment, beyond the fourth
a round blackish spot ; legs pale brownish -grey ; prolegs
similar, with a dark brown dot on the outside. When young
it appears to be a veritable looper, twelve legs only being

174 LEPIDOPTERA.

visible, but as it grows larger the other two pairs of ventral
legs become visible, though the first pair is not used.
(Adapted from Buckler.)

End of May and June, and in a second generation in
September, upon Convolvulus arvensis, eating the leaves,
flowers, and seeds, feeding at night and reposing during the
day upon the stems close to the ground, lying along and
closely clasping the stems.

Pupa red-brown, in the earth. Not more particularly
described.

The moth flies in the sunshine in fields of clover, lucerne,
sainfoin, and Trifolium incarnatum, in meadows, fields, and
on chalk hillsides, buzzing at the flowers of these plants, and
at those of wild thyme and other Labiates, but in dull weather
it seems to be quiescent during the day. At late dusk it also
frequents flowers, but is difficult to see in flight, though it is
gentle and not swift in its movements, and may be taken
with the help of a lantern. Very rarely it has been observed at
light. Extremely local and very uncertain in its appearances ;
formerly plentiful in Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, and has even
been taken at Lewisham in the London suburbs, now scarcer
and much more local in these counties ; more frequent in the
Isle of Wight, Dorset, and the south coast of Devon ; much
more rare in Somerset and Gloucestershire, but found locally
in Wilts, Berks, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Essex,
and in more considerable numbers in the Breck-sand district
of Suffolk and Norfolk. This, however, seems to be the
extent of its range in these islands. Abroad it is common
throughout Central and Southern Europe, Livonia, Bithynia,
and other parts of Asia Minor ; Morocco and other portions
of Northern Africa, and in the mountainous regions of
Central Asia.

2. A. Solaris, Usj). ; lucida, Stand. Cat. — Expanse 1|
to 1^- inch. Basal region of fore wings broadly white, beyond

TRIFID^E. 1/5

olive-brown, with a squared white blotch toward the apex
and a white cloud at the anal angle. Hind wings white
with a broad black marginal band.

Antennas of the male nearly naked, simple, whitish-brown ;
palpi, head, and thorax pure white, the latter stouter than in
the last species and having the scales at the back slightly
raised into a flattened shelf-like crest ; abdomen silvery-
white with a dull smoky-brown anal tuft. Fore wings
rather trigonate, not very broad ; costa very gently arched ;
apex smoothly rounded ; hind margin also very smoothly
rounded but not very oblique ; dorsal margin nearly straight ;
basal portion of the wing pure white to near the middle and
throwing out a projecting angle into the next portion, which
is a broad central band of a leaden-brown ; on the median
nervure close to the base is a minute black dot, and beyond
it from the costa a faint brown cloudy dash ; no other traces
of the basal or first line ; second line, when visible, a deep
black series of small crescents and dots, which bounds the
central dark band, but is abruptly terminated by a large
quadrate white blotch upon the costa ; immediately outside
the second line is a faint series of whitish clouds, closely
followed by a second broad dark band, which is of a rather paler
leaden-brown, and is produced to the anal angle, but above
this is bounded by a rippled and curved white sub-terminal
line ; outside the lower half of this band the hind marginal
region is occupied by a large ovate white blotch in which is
a row of leaden-brown cloudy spots ; outside the upper
portion a more chocolate-brown blotch reaches the apex and
hind margin, and contains a partial row of white dots ; these
two portions of the margin extend their dark or white colour-
ing respectively to the cilia ; the reniform stigma is most
obscurely indicated by two whitish rings placed perpendicu-
larly. Hind wings shining pure white, with a broad, rather
sinuous, smoky-black band along the hind margin, but not
reaching the anal angle ; outside this band the extreme
margin and the cilia are pure white, the former a little dashed

176 LEPIDOPTERA.

towards the apex with dark colour from the band. Female
quite similar.

Underside a fainter copy of the upper, but with a black
spot on the costal margin of the hind wings. Body and legs
white.

There is a well-recognised recurrent variety, known as A.
lucida, in which considerable bluish-brown clouding in the
white basal area of the fore wings seems to suggest cloudy
basal and first lines ; in this the ovate white blotch at the
anal angle is also rather obscured, and smoky-black streaks
or shades run from the base of the hind wings, in the female
darkening them considerably.

On the wing in May, June, and August, in two genera-
tions.

Larva thick but rather attenuated in front, naked, having
only twelve feet, the eleventh segment rather raised ; head
small, red-brown edged with yellow ; body red-brown through-
out with delicate dull yellow flecks and rippling lines ; dorsal
plate angular, shining, of the body colour ; dorsal and side
lines only very faintly indicated ; raised dots small, dark
brown with their bases yellowish; anal plate yellowish dotted
with black ; spiracular lines very slender, waved, consisting
of the most minute yellow dots ; spiracles white edged with
black ; on the back of the fourth to the sixth segments
inclusive is a dark red-brown blotch edged by an oblique
yellowish line, and on the eighth and ninth a fine yellowish
line from the spiracular line downwards to beneath the pro-
legs, which are of the colour of the body.

June, July, and September, in two generations, upon
Convolvulus arvcnsis and Malm rotundifolia, in dry places.
(Hofmann.)

Pupa apparently undescribed, in the earth.

From its extreme rarity scarcely anything is known in this
country of the habits of this moth ; but it is on record that

TRIFID.-E.

177

a specimen was taken in a clover field near Brighton, flying
in the sunshine, by the Rev. Percy Andrews, on the 25th of
August, 1859. This specimen I have seen, carefully labelled,
in the collection of the late Rev. H. Burney. Stephens in
his '; Illustrations" states that two specimens were taken in
the metropolitan district and four more near Dover early in
the century. He intimates that the captors were unaware
of their rarity, saying that the specimens were "rescued
from oblivion by the late Mr. Stone." Mr. 0. W. Dale con-
firms the capture of four at Dover, saying that one of them
was actually captured by Mr. Stone in June 1825. One of
these is, I believe, in the collection of the late Mr. F. Bond,
in Mr. Sydney Webb's possession; apparently two others
came into the possession of the late Mr. Edwin Shepherd,
and are now in the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason at Burton-
on-Trent, with three more reputed British examples from the
cabinet of the late Mr. Edwin Brown. The above is all the
evidence that I can find for this insect as a British species.
Abroad it is widely distributed through Central and Southern
Europe, Northern Africa, Madeira, the Canaries, Armenia,
Asia Minor, India, and the mountainous regions of Central
Asia.

3. A. venustula, Rilb.— Expanse f inch. Body slender,
fore wings shining rosy-white, with a large tawny blotch,
capped with black, arising from the dorsal margin, and a
similar cloud along the hind margin. Hind wings shining
greyish-white.

Antennas of the male short, simple, minutely ciliated, light
brown; palpi short, pointed, curved up, narrowly tufted,
chocolate-brown; eyes large and prominent, black; head
rather smooth, purplish-brown ; collar dull brown edged with
white; thorax very small and slender, pink, with a small
crest tipped with chocolate ; fascicles small, white ; abdomen
very slender, shining pinkish-brown with a well-developed
light brown anal tuft. Fore wings rather ovate; costa
VOL. VI.

M

178 LEPIDOPTERA.

arched ; apex and hind margin rounded ; dorsal margin also
a little filled out ; texture very silky and delicate ; pale pink
clouded with pale olive-brown and pale chestnut ; first and
second lines undulating, white, not sharply defined, but the
latter is joined in the middle to another white line which
accompanies it to the costa, and also throws off above the
middle a broad white cloudy streak to the apex of the wing ;
from this last, just below the tip, a faint interrupted white
subterminal line passes to the anal angle, where it spreads
into a small whiter blotch ; before the first line arises an
olive-brown or pale tawny dorsal blotch which attains the
second line, and at its highest point, which is more than half-
way across the wing, is capped by a black elongated spot ;
this is edged outwardly by a curve of the white line which
branches from the second ; where these two divide is a cluster
of black dots, and another cluster lies at the inner edge of
the dorsal blotch ; costa mainly shaded with pale olive-brown ;
hind marginal region broadly with pale olive-tawny or
purplish-chestnut forming a large ovate blotch, the extreme
margin shaded, with fulvous ; cilia purplish-brown. Hind
wings silky dusky white, the nervures faintly brown and the
hind margin tinged with smoky-grey ; cilia white shaded
with brown. Female similar.

Underside of the fore wings dusky white dusted all over
with smoky-brown. Hind wings white rather dusted with
brown, and the nervures broadly indicated in the same. Body
and legs light pinkish-brown.

Vevj constant in colour and markings, variation being-
shown only in the whiteness or pink shading of the ground
colour.

On the wing at the end of May and in June.

Larva having sixteen feet, the fourth, fifth, and sixth seg-
ments much enlarged beyond the rest of the body, and the
twelfth slightly humped ; the colour generally is a rich warm
brown, with a row of eight dusky-red diamonds clown the back

TRIFID&. I79

enclosing the dorsal line of brighter red ; on the fifth seg-
ment are two irregularly-shaped lateral spots, either white or
reddish-orange, and on the sixth two smaller spots, black ;
the subdorsal line is blackish and very faint, except on the
eleventh and twelfth segments ; ventral surface dusky-grey.
(Rev. J. Hellins.)

July and August on the blossoms of Tormcntilla reptans
and T. officinalis, and occasionally upon those of bramble and
Potcntilla anserina.

Pupa undescribed, except that it is small and red-brown ;
in a cocoon in the earth.

The moth hides in the daytime in masses of tangled fern
and bramble, or among heather, and in warm and very favour-
able weather may occasionally be disturbed and induced to
fly a short distance in the daytime, but quickly darts down
and hides itself close to the earth. It flies freely for a short
time at early dusk, or even at sunset on a very calm evening,
but is hardly to be seen at any time on the wing if the
weather is in the least wet or chilly. Its flight is only for
short distances over the heather, or along glades or paths in
woods, and it quickly settles, to fly again a short distance,
but if struck at with the net and missed darts down at once
to the ground. It does not seem to be attracted by flowers
or any of the usual means of obtaining Noctucv. Excessively
local in this country, and confined to large woods or heathery
forests. The first known specimens with us appear to have
been two captured in 1792 in Epping Forest, Essex, by the
late Mr. James Francis Stephens, author of the " Illustra-
tions." In that work he mentions two more, taken about
the same date in the same place. No further examples seem
to have been noticed for over fifty years, but in June 1845
the late Mr. H. Doubleday, when walking through a heathy
part of Epping Forest, observed several specimens flying over,
and alighting upon, the common fern. Returning the next
day fully prepared for collecting a series, he was unable to

180 LEPIDOPTERA.

find a single specimen. A number of years again passed, but
in 1859 a good many were seen, and some captured, in the
same locality, and in 1860 it was found in some abundance ;
since then it has been found to inhabit several tracts of the
same Forest, and few years have passed without captures.
In 1874 it was discovered in plenty in St. Leonard's Forest,
near Horsham, Sussex, where it has often since been found,
by Mr. W. 0. Boyd and others, in greater plenty than in
the old Essex locality, so that most good collections are now
furnished with a series. These two are the only counties in
which it is known to me to occur in these islands. Abroad
it has a considerable range through Central Europe, the
Balkan States, Southern Russia, Armenia, and the moun-
tainous regions of Central Asia.

(A. catena, Sovjerby. — As figured by Curtis this species is
about the size of A. Solaris, its fore wings creamy white with
faint grey shades, a loop-like streak from the costa near the
base, a broad crescent-like streak in the middle of the costa,
a row of black rings in a white stripe along the hind margin
preceded by a blue-black stripe edged with pale yellow, and
the cilia light brown ; hind wings pinkish-white with brown
nervures — a curious creature, more like a design for an
imaginary insect than an actual species. His description does
not quite agree: "Pale cream colour, shining; antennas
ochreous ; eyes brown ; superior wings sublanceolate with a
brown and grey spot at the base upon the costa, margined
with yellow, and having three pale lines across ; a triangular
one of the same colour at the middle of the costa ; the pos-
terior margin with a lilac-coloured fimbria, the internal edge
yellow ; close to the base of the cilia, which are yellowish-
lilac, is a line of white spots with lilac centres forming a
chain, and decreasing in size to the apical one, which is
oblong, that at the posterior angle being the largest, bearing
a dark purple spot with a lilac centre, and a semicircular
ochreous line on the outside. Inferior wings pearly white, a

TRIFID^E. 181

small portion of the margin slightly tinged with yellowish-
brown." A single specimen was said to have been taken
at Brixton, London, about the middle of September,
1793.

This insect was subsequently recognised as a North
American species, brought to this country either accidentally
or otherwise ; and it would have been unnecessary to notice
it here but for the curious circumstance of the capture of
another specimen some years ago. In the year 1885 the Kev.
0. F. Thornewill wrote to The Entomologist that he had seen,
in 1878, in the collection of an engine-driver at Nottingham,
a remarkable Noctua which he was then quite unable to
identify. He says, " I had almost forgotten the circumstance
when one day turning over casually the first volume of ' Hum-
phrey and Westwood ' I came upon the figure of a moth
(Plate 54, Fig. 1) which I at once recognised as the identical
insect. This was named Euphasia catena. The collector in
whose boxes I saw it informed me that he had himself taken
it in a lane near Nottingham ; and from the little store he
seemed to set by it, I feel confident that this is a true account
of the matter." There can be no reason to believe it to be
more than accidentally introduced into these islands.)

Genus 91. HYDRELIA.

AntennEe ciliated ; eyes naked, without lashes ; thorax
slender, smooth, very flatly crested at the back ; abdomen
slender, not crested ; fore wings oblong, much squared,
brightly coloured and with abnormal markings; hind
wings plain, the cross-bar long, and the cell which it
crosses very broad ; vein 5 very slender, attached below the
middle.

Larvae slender, smooth, with the first and second pairs of
prolegs either aborted or incomplete.

We have but two species — very different.

1 82 LEPIDOPTERA.

A. Fore wings shining olive-chestnut, with two transverse
silvery white stripes. H. argentula.

A2. Fore wings rich olive brown ; a broad pale stripe along
the costa projects a finger into the middle area. H. uncana.

1. H. argentula, Hub. ; Bankiana, Fab. — Expanse
f to 1 inch. Body slender ; fore wings soft olive-chestnut or
orange-brown, with two irregular, oblique, clear white trans-
verse stripes, and the hind margin streaked with white.
Hind wings brownish-white.

Antennae of the male slender, simple, minutely ciliated,
pale brown, faintly barred at the base with white ; palpi
short and small, narrowly tufted, yellow-brown ; eyes reti-
culated, black ; head small, rather flatly scaled, whitish-brown;
thorax small and narrow, smooth, pale olive-brown, collar
edged at the back with white ; shoulder-lappets splashed with
the same, the scales at the back gathered into a small ridge-
like white tuft tipped with frosted black ; fascicles short,
white ; abdomen very slender, small, pale brown dusted with
white, lateral tufts rather spreading, anal tuft narrow, pale
brown. Fore wings short and broad, of thin texture ; costa
arched, especially so at the base ; apex bluntly angulated ;
hind margin faintly curved and hardly oblique, leaving the
anal angle distinct ; dorsal margin straight ; colour olive-
chestnut or pale orange-brown, very soft and shining ; before
the middle is a conspicuous white transverse stripe, edged
slenderly on each side with black, placed obliquely outwards
from the costa and produced inwards along that margin to
the base ; half-way down it is a small outward projection
occupying the usual position of a claviform stigma ; beyond
the middle is a second, equally conspicuous, white transverse
stripe almost parallel with the first, edged with black dots,
expanded on its inner edge above the middle so as to indicate
the place of the reniform stigma ; along the hind margin is a
straight white stripe, clouded with olive-yellow and dotted
with olive-black, which includes the cilia ; before the apex is

TRIFID^E. 183

a slender white oblique streak. Hind wings rounded, dusky
white, much dusted and clouded with pale smoky-brown,
especially on the dorsal region and along the hind margin ;
cilia white, intersected by a brown line. Female similar, with
the body a very little stouter.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown with a white
dash in the discal cell ; cilia dusky white. Hind wings white,
dusted with large brown scales, and with a faintly brown
hind-marginal band ; cilia white, dusted with brown. Body
and legs pale brown, dusted with white.

Hardly variable except that the ground-colour of specimens
from Ireland seems to be of a yellower-brown tinge.

On the wing in June.

Larva with four pairs of prologs, the pair upon the eighth
segment small and undeveloped ; strikingly slender, especially
so as it attains its full growth of one inch ; head round, light
green with the upper lip whitish and the mouth black ; body
yellow-green with yellow segmental folds ; dorsal line dark
green though faint; subdorsal stripe primrose-yellow; spiracles
flesh-coloured and rather round, placed upon a deep yellow,
thread-like trachaea which shows faintly through the skin.

When just hatched the young larva is of a pale yellowish-
green with very fine black dots and hairs, and at this time
the second pair of prolegs is ill developed and the first absent ;
at the end of a week the skin has become less clear and the
colour uniform light yellowish-green, with black raised dots.
In another fortnight it becomes longer and in proportion
more slender, of a more opaque velvety-green with the lines
beginning to show themselves. From this the adult colouring
is soon assumed. (Adapted from Buckler.)

End of June to the beginning of August, on grasses —
Poa annua, P. aauatica, P. pratcnsis and other species,
especially those growing in marshy places. When at rest
lying stretched along the stem of the grass. When very
young it eats only the lower surface and parenchyma of the

184 LEPIDOPTERA.

grass leaf. When full grown it may sometimes be obtained
by shaking the stems of the taller grasses in its favourite
haunts.

Pupa short and stout, the wing-covers well denned and
rather long, the thorax full ; abdomen tapering obtusely to
the tip, which is furnished with two fine points and some
minute curly-topped bristles ; colour light drab, but in the
spring it becomes of a dark brownish-green and is rather
shining. In a cocoon just beneath the crown of grass-roots
almost close to the surface of the earth. The winter is passed
in this state. (W. Buckler.)

The moth sits during the day among marsh grasses, sweet
gale and other herbage, and is readily disturbed in the after-
noon, flying rather heavily to a short distance and then settling-
down again. At sunset or early dusk it flies voluntarily, but
so far as I know has not been found to move about at night.
It is one of our most strictly local species, confined to fens
and bogs, but even in them to especially favoured spots only.
It appears to have been noticed in this country as early as
1775, and Fabricius described it (under the name of Pyralis
Bankianci) from British specimens. Mr. Haworth, however,
at the beginning of the present century knew it only as
represented in the cabinet of Mr. Swainson. Later he was
more fortunate, for Stephens says (Illust. 3, 118): "Mr.
Haworth found a considerable number of specimens in
Norfolk, I believe near Beachamwell, amongst reeds and
rushes in a boggy situation, and kindly supplied me with
specimens." It is said also to have occurred at Whittlesea
Mere before that rich collecting ground was destroyed.
Whether the Norfolk locality was correct or not seems now
doubtful, but no further occurrence of this species there is
on record, and it had become, as supposed, a lost species to
these islands when, somewhere about the year 1858, a visit
was paid to Killarney, in the extreme south-west of Ireland,
by Messrs. E. Birchall, A. A. Dunlop, and N. Cooke. One

TRIFID&. 1 85

of the most interesting results of their journey was the
finding of this pretty species in abundance among the sweet
gale and other herbage on the bogs about Tore cascade,
Mucross, and Dinas Island ; the wettest bogs appearing
to be the most to its taste. In 1877 two specimens were
taken at Wicken Fen, Cambridge, by Mr. A. B. Farn, and
the next year two more by Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, but it
was not till 1882 that the metropolis of the insect in that
county was discovered a few miles from Wicken Fen, at
Chippenham Fen, by Mr. W. Warren. Here it is taken
every year by those who have permission to collect in the
fen. It may also be still found in varying numbers in the
Killarney district by those who undertake the journey, and
has been observed in other places in Kerry, but I know of
no other localities for it in the United Kingdom. Abroad it
has a wide distribution, through Central Europe, Northern
Italy, Livonia, Northern and Eastern Turkey, Southern
Russia, Armenia, Persia, Tartary, China, and the Altai
mountain districts.

2. H. uncana, L. ; unca, Schif. ; uncula, Stand. Cat.
— Expanse 1 inch. Body slender ; fore wings olive-brown ;
costa broadly dusky white, with a white finger projecting
into the middle of the wing; hind margin striped with
white. Hind wings pale smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male simple but the joints visible, minutely
ciliated, light brown ; palpi small and slender but rather
pushed forward and curled up, blackish-brown ; eyes deep
velvety-black ; head rather flatly tufted, black-brown ; thorax
smooth, except a small flattened knob-like tuft at the back,
dull pale brown dusted with purplish-brown ; fascicles short
but distinct, yellowish-white ; abdomen slender, dull brown
dusted with black ; lateral tufts small, anal tuft rather long.
Fore wings somewhat oblong, costa distinctly arched ; apex
very bluntly angulated; hind margin hardly oblique, very
full but rounded off below the middle; dorsal margin

1 86 LEPIDOPTERA.

straight ; ground colour olive-brown, palest toward the
dorsal margin ; along the costa is a very broad stripe,
dusky-brown along the co3tal edge, shading inwards to
yellowish-olive and to white along its inner edge, having
a small swollen projection near the base and in the middle
throwing off a broad finger-like white mark into the
middle of the wing; beyond this the deep ground colour
is sharply cut off by an oblique white or rosy- white stripe,
which runs with a faint curve from the dorsal margin
near the anal angle to immediately below the apex of
the wing, leaving a sharp point of the dark ground
colour actually running into the tip ; this white stripe is
edged outwardly by a pale olive parallel line, followed by
a broader pale olive-brown stripe along the hind margin,
which last is edged with deep olive-brown, and outside
this with white ; cilia white, intersected and clouded with
olive-brown. Hind wings rather large in proportion,
pale smoky-brown, cilia rather whiter. Female closely
similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown, streaked with
yellowish-white toward the hind margin. Hind wings dusky
white dusted with brown, and having a slender irregular
brown transverse line beyond the middle. Body and legs
brown.

Usually not variable ; but there is in the museum at
Carlisle a specimen believed to have been captured in the
neighbourhood by Mr. 0. Eales, in which the pale costal
stripe is supplemented by another equally broad, joined to
it for three-fourths of its length, occupying the middle
portion of the wing from the base and throwing out a
long spur toward the hind margin ; in the middle of the
wing is a spot of the darker ground colour. So far as I
know this variation is unique.

On the wing from the end of May to the beginning of
July ; and there is a record of a second generation in August
in a very hot summer.

TRIFIDjE. 187

Larva slender, cylindrical, uniform in bulk throughout,
save that the third segment seems a little swollen, and the
last three taper slightly to the anal flap, which is bluntly
rounded or almost squared off; head hard and globular,
about as wide as the second segment ; there are two pairs
of ventral prolegs fully developed and effective, and the
rudiments of another pair unused. Head yellowish-green ;
colour of the body full velvety-green with a pulsating dorsal
vessel of a darker tint ; subdorsal line slender, whitish-
green ; spiracular line broader, very pale yellow ; hinder
segments paler than the dorsal portion of the remainder;
spiracles indistinctly brown ; undersurface paler but still of
a soft rich green. (W. Buckler.)

July and the beginning of August on Car ex sylvatica and
other sedges and coarse grasses. When at rest stretched out
at full length on the leaves or blades of its food ; looping in
walking, and jumping about angrily if touched.

Pupa short and thick, greenish-brown. In a cocoon of
earth and vegetable substances, under ground. (Hofmann.)

This moth is found only in marshy places, bogs, and fens.
Its habits vary in some degree in different places. In the
wet fens of Norfolk it hides among the coarse herbage in the
daytime, but if disturbed will start up and fly to some little
distance, then drop down into the herbage and hide at the
roots, so that it can hardly by any searching be discovered,
and can by no means (unless perhaps by smoke) be induced
to fly again. But in dryer marshes, such as often surround
fish ponds, where it is sometimes abundant, it behaves quite
■differently, starting up readily enough, but only to fly around
for a few yards, to settle and rise again and again if
followed. This contrast of habits I observed many times
in the same localities. In the boggy districts of the south-
west of Ireland it hides among the sweet gale (bog-myrtle)
and flies out with great readiness. In very hot sunshine it
flies voluntarily and is sometimes extremely active, as also is

i8S LEPIDOPTERA.

the case at its normal time of flight, from sunset till dark.
Locally common in fens in the Eastern Counties ; less
frequent in the South, but not scarce in marshes, and in
the West may sometimes be found in any tiny scrap of marsh
or bog on a heath or by the side of a little stream ; while in
the more northern districts its haunt is in the " mosses.''
Probably sometimes overlooked, but it has been found on the
marshy sandhills near Deal, Kent, and in boggy places on
heaths in Dorset, in the Dartmoor district of Devon, and in
Cornwall; in Somerset on the "moors"; in plenty in the
fens of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk ; in Yorkshire
at Ask ham bog, and in mosses in Cumberland. In Scotland
it has been taken rarely in Kirkcudbrightshire, and very
locally in Glenfalloch and elsewhere in Perthshire. In
Wales abundantly in Glamorganshire, and more sparingly
in marshes in Pembrokeshire. Much more plentifully in
Ireland, where it sometimes abounds in the bogs of Kerry ;
also in Wicklow, Westmeath, Gal way, and Louth. Abroad
it occurs in suitable spots throughout Central Europe and
the temperate portions of Northern Europe, in Piedmont.
Turkey, Southern Russia, Tartary, and the mountain regions
of Central Asia.

Genus 92. AGROPHILA.

Antennas ciliated ; eyes naked, without lashes ; head
squarely tufted ; thorax slender, smooth, without crests ;
abdomen slender and smooth, but with one small depressed or
prostrate dorsal crest ; fore wings oblong, brightly coloured,
the markings abnormal ; hind wings plainly coloured, the
cross-bar angulated ; vein 5 curved, arising near to vein 4.

We have but one species.

1. A. sulphuralis, L. ; trabealis, Stand. Cat. — Ex-
panse f to | inch. Body slender; fore wings clear pale
yellow, striped and spotted with black. Hind wings smoky-
brown.

TRIFID^. 189

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, dull black ;
palpi very small, horizontal, black, but covered on the inner
surface with yellow scales ; eyes black, naked ; head very
squarely tufted, pale yellow barred with black, and with a
black tuft at the base of each antenna ; collar black, divided,
and also margined above and below, with yellow ; thorax
yellow, with a black stripe down each side of the middle, and
another, shorter, on each shoulder-lappet ; fascicles yellowish-
white ; abdomen yellow, with a broad cloudy black band
across the basal half of each segment; lateral tufts large,
yellow ; anal tuft narrow, smoky-black. Fore wings oblong,
not broad ; costa very gently arched throughout ; apex rather
bluntly angulated ; hind margin hardly oblique, very smoothly
rounded ; dorsal margin straight ; colour clear yellow ; a
broad black stripe from the middle of the base, and another
along the dorsal margiu, run parallel until they unite with
a more irregular black transverse stripe in the position of
the usual second line ; this last is twice constricted and in
some individuals broken in its upper portion ; on the costa,
at a short distance from the base, is an oblique black spot
followed by two others more rounded ; below these in the
discal cell are two more ; a series of three or four black
spots, often joined together by black dusting, occupies the
usual situation of the subterminal line ; extreme hind margin
edged with black dots ; cilia outside the apex white, remain-
der purplish-black minutely streaked with white. Hind
wings rather broad, with the hind margin sinuous ; smoky-
brow u with a purplish gloss, darkest along the hind
margin ; cilia white intersected with a brown line. Female
similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black in the middle,
costa yellow, with a black spot beyond the middle and another
at the apex ; hind margin yellow, with black and white cilia;
dorsal margin pale yellow. Hind wings straw-colour much
streaked with smoky clouding ; central spot a slender black
crescent ; beyond it is a curved irregular smoky-black trans-

190 LEPIDOPTERA.

verse stripe, and along the hind margin another. Body and
legs pale yellow.

Variable in the shade of colour of the fore wings, from
bright to extremely pale yellow ; and in the size of the mar*
ginal black dots, those near the hind margin being occasionally
almost obliterated. Mr. Herbert Goss has one in which they
are almost totally so. On the other hand, in some specimens
the black stripes are broadened and joined by cross black bars,
or their margins clouded, considerably darkening the surface.

On the wing in June, and in a second generation at the end
of July and in August.

Larva, when full grown, about 1 inch long, having twelve
legs ; the body cylindrical, thickest at the fourth segment ;
the segmental divisions deeply indented ; when at rest the
middle segments are generally arched and the head bent
down ; colour rich chocolate-brown ; dorsal line rather darker
and edged with very fine paler lines ; subdorsal line also
darker but scarcely visible ; spiracular stripe broad, pale
yellow, and with a fine brown thread running through its
length ; in it are also some rich yellow and orange spots
which after the last moult disappear, and the whole stripe
becomes paler.

When first hatched a dingy little looper with a black trans-
verse dorsal hump on each of the four middle segments, but
at each moult these humps become less until nothing remains
but the usual dorsal dots, black and distinct, and these also
afterwards disappear. (Eev. J. Hellings.)

There is a green variety with white dorsal line and spira-
cular stripe, and the head, dorsal shield, and anal plate and
legs brown ; prolegs green.

July and September in two generations, on Convolvulus
arvensis (field bind-weed), feeding upon both leaves and
blossoms ; very sluggish and hardly moving more than from
one plant to another.

Pupa small, red-brown ; among grass-stalks. (Hofmann.)

TRIF1D&. igi

The moth frequents open fields, especialty those which are
roughly cultivated or lying fallow, or in which lucerne grows
in irregular patches. It hides among the herbage, not par-
ticularly selecting its food plant, but rather the coarser plants
which furnish better cover, such as lucerne, knapweed and
scabious. From these it is readily disturbed in the daytime
if the weather is fine, still more so if it is hot. It then flies
briskly away to another patch to settle down, and again rise
if followed, and requires careful approach and a quick hand
for its capture. Between sunset and dusk it flies briskly
of its own accord, keeping rather near to the ground. I have
not met with it flying at night, but that it must sometimes
do so is proved by the occasional though very rare capture of
a specimen at light. An exceedingly local species in this
country, almost restricted to the peculiar district of loose sand
known as the " Breck-sand," which lies in the west of Norfolk
and Suffolk and the east of Cambridgeshire ; here it is
moderately common, in some seasons very so, and is easily
secured, but although its food plant is equally abundant over
large extents of land throughout the country, the insect occurs
elsewhere only in a very rare and casual manner. Donovan
recorded in the beginning of this century that it had been
taken at Margate, Kent, but was very rare. In 1847 its
favourite haunt in this country seems to have been discovered
by Mr. J. W. Dunning, who took several specimens at Bran-
don, Suffolk, and the next year many more. In 1858 or 1859
I found a scorched specimen in a gas lamp at Dulwich in the
London suburbs. In 1860 it seems to have been rediscovered
in the " Breck-sand " district, this time in Norfolk, and from
that time onwards it has been constantly obtained around
Thetford, Brandon, Tuddenham, and other places in that dis-
trict, and is still to be found in apparently undiminished
numbers. In 1871 single specimens were obtained at Erith,
Kent, at the Hackney Marshes, Wandsworth, and at Lower
Clapton, all three places close to London, so that there must
in that year have been a very partial migration without

192 LEPIDOPTERA.

permanent effect. One has been secured in a gas lamp at
Exeter, and one in Wicken Fen, Oambs. (by Mr. W. H. B.
Fletcher). Two or three casual specimens each, on the south
coast of Kent, near Dover and Folkestone, close the record
for these islands. Abroad its range is extensive. Spain,
Turkey, Syracuse, and the rest of Southern Europe, Central
Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia, Persia, Turkestan,
Afghanistan, Beloochistan, China, Japan, the mountain
regions of Central Asia, Mauritius and Northern Africa.

Genus 93. THALPOC HARES.

Antennas slender and short, ciliated ; palpi short, ascending ;
eyes naked, without lashes ; thorax smooth but with a minute
back crest ; abdomen slender, without crests ; fore wings
small, trigonate, rather brightly coloured but the normal
pattern indicated ; hind wings plain, with an angulated cross-
bar, and vein 5 arising near to vein 4.

Very little is known of the larvae or pupas of our three
British species, but Stainton says that the former have twelve
legs, are thick, and pointed at each end. The moths may
readily be discriminated — all are small insects, and likely to
be overlooked at the first glance for members of one of the
groups of micro-lepidoptera.

A. Fore wings purple-brown or grey-brown, a brown streak
from the base, the cross lines arranged in loops. T. ostrina.

A2. Fore wings fawn colour, first line direct, oblique,
darker. T. parva.

A3. Fore wings pale greyish-drab, both lines oblique, rather
direct, white. T. paula.

1. T. ostrina, Hi'ib. — Expanse f to f- inch. Body slender ;
fore wings trigonate, brownish-white streaked with olive-
brown and black and shaded with purple, lines in pointed
curves. Hind wings brownish- white.

Antennas of the male small, slender, brown ; palpi small,

TRIFIDJE. I93

oblique and curved up, moderately tufted, white, tinged out-
side with purple-brown ; eyes prominent, black ; head smooth,
dull brown or white; thorax slender, smooth, pale greyish-
brown or brownish-white, the crest or tuft at the back very
small . fascicles white . abdomen ^^ grey[sMii ^

out lateral tufts, anal tuft pointed, very small. Fore wino-s
rather triangular, costa very faintly curved, nearly straight;
apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin a little oblique, gently
rounded and expanded near the anal angle, where the cilia
are rather long; dorsal margin straight ; colour brownish-
white often suffused with pale purple ; a black-brown basal
streak lies below the base of the median nervure, and a minute
one below that of the subdorsal ; first line near the middle of
the wmg, as an irregular tawny-brown shade, or series of broken
streaks, almost thrown into loops ; second line white, oblique
very irregular, indented and almost looped, with long black
and white points thrown back; between these two lines is a
broad band of pale purple-brown, streaked in its costal portion
with white, with black-brown in the remainder; hind-marginal
region striped alternately with fawn colour and brownish-
white the extreme margin with chestnut; cilia white, inter-
sected and tipped by brown shades. Hind wings rounded
smoky white with a golden gloss, darkest along the hind
margin; cilia white. Female similar. Dr. Wallace states
hat specimens of the second brood are smaller and yellower
than those taken in June.

Underside of the fore wings white, much clouded with
smoke colour m the upper half, but the costa streaked and
spotted with white. Hind wings white with a small central
dark dot and a faint smoky hind-marginal cloud. Body and
legs white. Variable in the degree of purple shading which
sometimes is nearly absent.

On the wing in June, and as a second generation in August
and September. Where more at home, in the South of
Europe, from April till October.

VOL. VI.

194

LEP1D0PTERA.

Larva apparently undescribed. Staudiuger says that it
feeds in shoots of thistles ; Hofmann that it lives in three
generations on Helychrysum angustifolium and Carlina vul-
garis.

Pupa undescribed.

Scarcely anything is known with us of this very rare species.
It has been taken flying in bright sunshine, but apparently
only when disturbed from its resting-place among brambles
and other herbage ; probably it flies naturally about sunset.
The first specimen recorded in this country was taken in June
1825 by Capt. Blomer, near Bideford. Devon, and was given
to Mr. Curtis, by whom it was figured. No other specimen
seems to have occurred for upwards of thirty years, but on the
8th June 1858 one was secured by Miss Battersby on the sea
coast near Torquay, South Devon. This fortunate capture
induced Dr. Battersby with his family to search along the coast
wherever the cliffs were accessible, and in the next two days
several more were secured ; about the same time and upon the
same coast two more were seen, and one captured, by another
observer; and two were obtained by Dr. Wallace in the Isle
of Wight. In the same year a single specimen was taken
in Ayrshire, Scotland, and recorded by Mr. J. P. Duncan. It
was disturbed from a clump of thistles on the sandhills near
Troon and captured by Mrs. Duncan. Dr. T. A. Chapman
saw the specimen shortly afterwards, and is fully satisfied of
the truth of the statement, and of the correctness of determina-
tion of the species. The next year Dr. Wallace recorded six
specimens taken in hot sunshine on the Culver Cliffs in the
Isle of Wight, but of these it is reasonable to believe that two
were those previously mentioned, which had been exhibited
at a meeting of the Entomological Society the year before.
In 1865, Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn recorded the capture, by him-
self a few years earlier, of a specimen on the sandhills at Pem-
brey, South Wales. He says : " The spot where I secured it
was rather barren and sandy, in a sheltered situation. An

TRIFID&. 195

abundance of dwarf-sallow grew in the vicinity, and also, as
far as I can remember, thistles, bedstraw, wild thyme, and a
short kind of grass, from which latter I expect that I dis-
turbed it ; at any rate the insect was Hying low over the barren
sand when I caught it. The clay was showery, with occa-
sional gleams of sunshine. During one of these gleams I
took the insect." Possibly some small migration of this
species may have taken place about 1858. At any rate, I
know of no subsequent capture in Wales, and of very few
indeed elsewhere ! These seem to have been in 1880, when
one was secured on September 8th on the cliffs at Dover by
Dr. Battershell Gill, and another near Swanage, Dorset, by the
Eev. C. R. Digby. I am not aware of any subsequent captures,
and its range, if it may so be called, seems to be limited
in this country to Kent, Dorset, Devon ; Glamorganshire
in South Wales ; and the single capture in Ayrshire, South
Scotland. Abroad it is found in France, Southern Germany,
Spain, and most other parts of Southern Europe, includ-
ing Turkey; Madeira, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and other
parts of Northern Africa ; and the Cape Colony, South Africa.

2. T. parva, Hub. — Expanse § inch. Small and very
slender, fore wings pale fawn colour shaded with white ; a
straight oblique richer brown central stripe is edged out-
wardly with white ; hind margin shaded with orange-brown.
Hind wings smoky brownish-white.

Antennas of the male very small, simple, light brown ; palpi
ascending, white ; eyes large and prominent, black ; head and
thorax smooth, white or brownish-white, the knob or crest at
the back of the latter minute ; fascicles white ; abdomen pale
brown barred with white, lateral and anal tufts small. Fore
wings rather triangular, costa faintly rounded ; apex bluntly
angulated ; hind margin oblique and very faintly curved ;
dorsal margin straight ; pale fawn colour shaded with white ;
first line near the middle of the wing, straight and oblique,
forming the edge of an oblique transverse deeper fawn-

196 LEPIDOPTERA.

coloured band which is edged outwardly by black dusting and
outside this by a more oblique white stripe ; this shades off
gradually into another band of pale frosted purplish-brown,
the outer edge of which is the usual second line, tolerably
direct, oblique, and composed of brown and black dusting, this
in the middle throws out a curve or swelling ; a yellow-brown
or red-brown cloud lies above the anal angle, and a lighter
brown cloud containing black dots beneath the apex ; these are
edged by the obscure, and partial, white subterminal line, out-
side which the soft fawn ground colour is shaded with white ;
close to the base of the wing, in the discal cell, is a small black
dot, and several more, very minute, are placed in the situation
of the reniform stigma ; cilia white shaded with fawn colour.
Hind wings white at the base, shading off to smoky- brown at
the hind margin ; cilia white. Female similar.

Underside of the fore wings white, shaded with smoky-
brown, especially toward the costa, on which toward the apex
are alternate white and black dots. Hind wings white, faintly
dusted with brown and shaded with pale yellow. Body and
legs pale brown.

A little variable in depth of colour of the fore wings, of
which the base is sometimes quite white, and the bands,
especially the outer, vary from the softest obscure fawn-brown
to chestnut or purple-brown.

On the wing in June and July ; but in its home in Southern
countries, during the whole season, even from January, but
most plentiful in August.

Larva apparently undescribed. In the flower shoots of
Inula montana, I. viscosa and Ccntaurea calcitrapa, in October
and November.

Pupa undescribed.

This is even a greater rarity in this country than the last,
and scarcely anything is known here as to its habits. The
first specimen known to have occurred with us was captured

TRIFIDjE. 197

in July 1844 by the late Mr. C. Jordan and Dr. R. C. R.
Jordan at Teignmouth, Devon. The latter says : " It came
to light as we were sitting by an open window facing the
river." This specimen he also allowed me to examine, and
of its identity I am fully satisfied. In 1858 another was
recorded as taken in June at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset,
by Mr. W. D. Crotch. Since then there have been reports
of specimens captured in the Isle of Wight, and even the
Isle of Man, all of which seem to require confirmation.
There is no such necessity, however, in the case of one
secured in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, on the 8th of June
1892, by Mr. Eustace R. Banks. He says: "The greatest
prize this year was met with when I was working a salt
marsh at the edge of Poole Harbour. As I was walking
slowly along the border of the marsh at about 6 P.M. a queer-
looking pale moth flew up from among the rushes under my
feet and settled again three or four yards further on and
within a foot of the edge of the water. As there was a strong
breeze blowing straight off shore across the harbour I crept
up cautiously (with my heart in my mouth) and held my net
over the water behind the moth ; then on my bending clown
to try to box it as it sat it flew up and was carried by
the wind safely into the bottom of the net."

The very reasonable conclusion of its captor was that it
might have migrated from the Continent in company with
the myriads of Colias Eclusa, Vanessa cardui, and other
species which had undoubtedly about that time crossed the
Channel. These are all the captures of this species with the
details of which I am at all acquainted. There is an example
in the collection of the late Mr. Bond, but it is unfortunately
unlabelled. Abroad it is found throughout Southern Europe,
including Turkey ; Syria, Asia Minor, some parts of India ;
Egypt, and Morocco, and doubtless other parts of Northern
Africa.

3. T. paula, Hub. — Expanse § inch. Body slender,

198 LEPIDOPTERA.

fore wings triangular, pale greyish-drab with both lines
white, edged with pale reddish-brown, oblique and rather
direct. Hind wings pale smoky-brown, paler at the base.

Antennas of the male small, simple, light brown ; palpi
small, upraised, white ; head and thorax smooth, white ; the
tuft at the back of the latter extremely minute ; abdomen
dusk}T-white ; anal tuft tinged behind with brown. Fore
wings triangular ; costa nearly straight ; apex and hind
margin rounded, the latter full above the anal angle ; dorsal
margin straight ; colour pale greyish-drab, base white
clouded with pale brown ; first line represented by an
oblique white line edging a broad equally oblique reddish-
brown stripe ; second line similarly oblique and direct, white,
forming the inner boundary of an obscure reddish-brown
cloud, which in its dorsal portion seems to form a partial
stripe and thence fades off; on the costa are three cloudy
white spots ; subterminal line perceptible as the outer
whitish edge of the cloudy band which borders the second
line ; along the hind margin is a more distinct whitish line ;
cilia dusky white clouded with pale brown. Hind wings
smoky-white shading off to pale smoky-brown near the hind
margin and still darker before the cilia, which are white.
Female similar.

Underside of the fore wings grey-drab, shading off to
dusky white at the base and dorsal margin ; costa narrowly
paler ; cilia dappled with paler dashes ; hind wings white ;
body and legs brownish-white.

Apparently not variable.

On the wing in July and August.

Larva. Head dark green ; body whitish-green with a
slender double darker dorsal line ; hairs minute, white,
arising from black raised dots ; spiracles white, ringed with
black ; dorsal plate brownish-yellow. June, in the stems of
Chnwphalium arenarium. (Hofmann.) It also feeds on other
species of Chia-phalium (Cudweed).

TRTFIDjE 199

Pupa thick, yellow-brown, in the earth among the roots of
its food-plant. (Hofmann.)

Nothing, or next to nothing, is known here of the habits
of the moth. The first record of its occurrence in this
country was in 1873, of two specimens iu the collection of
the Rev. Henry Burney, the origin of one of which was
doubtful, but of the other the statement of the owner was as
follows : " It was picked out from an old collection made
years ago by a boy at school, and its rarity never suspected
until I looked over the insects and discovered the little
stranger, which was placed in my cabinet under another
(erroneous) name. The boy in question was in the habit of
collecting during the holidays upon the South Coast, and as
he had no opportunity of getting insects from abroad or
from dealers there seems no reason to doubt the genuineness
of the specimen." These two examples are now in the collec-
tion of Mr. P. M. Bright at Bournemouth. Another was
captured by Mr. J. Moore at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, in
June 1872. He says: "I took it in a cornfield close to the
cliffs. A friend and I were in search of another species at
the time, and at first I thought it a Tortrix and took little
notice of it, but put it among my unset insects. A friend
looking over them after my return pointed this one out to
me, and I relaxed and set it, and exhibited it at a meeting of
the Haggerstone Entomological Society as parva." I have
seen this specimen, and found it to be without question the
present species. This is confirmed by Mr. Eustace R. Banks,
in whose possession the insect now is. I know of no other
instances of its occurrence in these islands. Abroad it is
found in the South of Sweden, South of France, Germany r
Hungary, Switzerland, Livonia, and Southern Russia.

LEP1D0PTERA.

Genus 94. ERASTRIA.

Antenna ciliated ; eyes naked, without lashes ; thorax
narrow, crested at the back, and the collar raised ; abdomen
slender, having three or four dorsal crests. Fore wings
short, somewhat ovate, broad behind, the markings more of
the normal character ; hind wings plain, cross-bar angulated ;
vein 5 curved, arising near to vein 4.

We have but one species.

1. E. fuscula, Bhh. ; fasciana, Stand. Cat. — Expanse
1 to 1| inch. Body rather slender; fore wings broad,
blackish-brown, with a very large ovate white blotch occu-
pying much of the hind-marginal space above the anal
angle ; stigmata edged with white. Hind wings pale
smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male simple, shining purplish-black,
barred at the back with white ; palpi oblique, rather
prominent, yellowish- brown inside, outwardly dusky-black;
eyes prominent, black ; head rather smooth, purplish-black
dusted with white ; thorax narrow ; collar small but raised
and well divided, mixed black and brown, and edged in two
arches with white ; remainder of the thorax possessing a
frosted appearance, the black-brown scales being each tipped
with white ; at the back is a broad raised convex crest, and
immediately beneath it a drawn-together tuft of scales ;
fascicles small, white ; abdomen slender, black-brown,
abundantly dusted with white, on each of the first four
segments an erect black dorsal crest, those on the third and
fourth the largest ; lateral and anal tufts tipped with whitish-
brown. Fore wings short, blunt, and very broad behind ;
costa gently arched ; apex angulated ; hind margin below it
hardly curved and nearly perpendicular, but bent or elbowed
in the middle and much more oblique below, yet with the
anal angle distinct ; dorsal margin straight ; colour black,
abundantly dusted with golden-brown ; basal line indicated

TRIFIDsE. 201

by two or three small black spots edged with cloudy-white ;
first line rather upright, much angulated, formed of obscure
white dusting ; second line deep black, rippled throughout
and much bent, and followed by a more slender similar
parallel line ; between these parallel lines and broadly out-
side them a large ovate white blotch from the dorsal margin
extends more than half-way across the wing, occupying a
large portion of the hind-marginal space, its outer area
rather dusted with black ; subterminal line white but
obscure and much waved, and broken before reaching the
costa ; orbicular stigma golden-brown, edged by a dusting
of white ; reniform stigma similar, with a more definite
outline of white, and a black spot in its base ; claviform
stigma faintly indicated by white dusting in a black curve ;
between the two upper stigmata is a black blotch devoid of
the golden-brown dusting ; a similar streak runs from it to
the costa ; just outside the reniform stigma is a sort of
imitation thereof, and beyond this are several longitudinal
black streaks ; extreme hind margin edged with short black
lunules ; cilia long, grey-brown dashed with white, and inter-
sected by a black-brown line. Hind wings rounded, shining
pale smoke colour ; cilia white, dashed and intersected with
smoky-brown. Female similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black, with an obscure,
dusky yellow, curved transverse stripe just beyond the middle.
Hind wings yellowish-white dusted with black, and shaded
with brown toward the hind margin ; central spot a black dot ;
beyond it is a very slender transverse line of black dusting.
Body and legs whitish-brown dusted with black ; tibise barred
with black.

Usually very constant in colour and markings. Among
the insects from Haworth's collection, now in the possession
of Dr. P. B. Mason, is one labelled Albilinea, which is
certainly an example of this species, having the usual white
blotch, and the apical region grey, except a white line between
the two parallel second lines.

2o2 LEPID OP TERA .

On the wing in June and July, sometimes even at the end
of May.

Larva f inch long, rather slender, even in bulk almost
throughout ; the twelfth and thirteenth segments taper a
little ; head full aud round, light brown ; the prolegs on
segment seven absent, on eight rudimentary, those on the
two following segments well developed ; colour on the back
pale yellow, with a broad greenish pulsating dorsal vessel;
subdorsal line thin, clear yellow, edged above with brown,
and below with pale green ; spiracles round, black, placed on
a thin reddish line ; raised dots dusky-black edged or ringed
with pale red ; undersurface yellow with its dots black ; anal
prolegs frequently purplish. Sometimes of a more reddish
tint, each longitudinal line edged with more decided red ;
a brownish stripe between the lower edging of the subdorsal
and the spiracular line ; and below this again a yellow
line, then a red line, and the undersurface pale brown .
(Buckler.)

July to September on Molinca ccerulca (blue moor-grass)
growing in damp places. (Buckler.) I am inclined to think
that some other stiff' hard grass must also be eaten, since the
Molinea does not seem to grow in some of those woods in
which I have found the moth most plentifully.

Pupa cylindrical, stout about the thorax, the abdomen
smaller and short in proportion, ending rather bluntly in
a spike set with several curled-topped spines ; the skin very
glossy, rich red-brown ; wing-cases more golden-brown ; eyes
blackish. In a cocoon very firmly and neatly made of a thin
coating of silk stuck all over with hue earth or sand.
(Buckler.)

The moth sits during the day, head downwards, upon
trees, especially fir-trees, and when approached often darts
down toward the ground and tries to escape among the
undergrowth of brambles, heather, or whortleberry. There

TRIFIDAl. 2°3

is hardly any moth more deceptive in appearance. The
large white blotch shown when the wings are shut together,
with the dark dusting and lines in its margin, has so abso-
lutely the appearance of a patch of white lichen that one
may look straight at it and be unable to realise that it is a
moth. This, and the activity and suddenness of its first
movements into the undergrowth, where the latter is
present, serve as a considerable protection from capture.
When it sits, as is often the case, between the dead lower
branches of young firs, it usually contrives to elude the net.
Where the fir-trees are large it is more readily secured, and
those which sit out of reach may be induced to dart down by
the blow of a heavy stick on the trunk. In the South-west
of Ireland it is said to avoid the fir-trees and to sit upon the
stems of Myrica gale (sweet gale), and the common bracken
fern, at the edges of the bogs. With us it is certainly most
attached to those woods which are surrounded by, or mixed
with, heath, and which have damp marshy spots full of stiff
hard grasses.

In such spots it is abundant in the New Forest and Wool-
mer Forest, Hants, in Surrey, and Berks ; also found in more
moderate numbers in Kent, Sussex, Dorset, around Dartmoor
and elsewhere in Devon ; rare in Cornwall ; not very common
in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, and
Cambridgeshire ; more so in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk ; and
local in Worcestershire. I find no records for the Midlands
nor for any locality north of those here noted. At one time
it occurred in the immediate neighbourhood of London on
the Kentish side, but has now disappeared from that district.
In Wales it is found in Glamorganshire, and there is a record
from North Wales. In Ireland abundant in the bogs of
some parts of the County of Kerry, but apparently not
otherwise noticed. Its range abroad is through Central
Europe, Northern Italy, Sicily, Corsica, Livonia, Southern
Kussia, Armenia, the mountain regions of Central Asia, and
Japan.

2Q4 LEPID OP TEN A .

Genus 95. BRYOPHILA.

Antennae ciliated, tufted at the base ; eyes naked, without
lashes, head much tufted and rough, thorax slender, and with
a flattened prostrate back crest ; abdomen smooth but with
several dorsal crests ; fore wings oblong, rather uniform in
breadth ; hind wings thin, the cross-bar very obscure, vein 5
arising near its middle.

Larvae smooth with large shining raised spots. On wall
and rock lichens, forming habitations therein for conceal-
ment during the day.

PuP^E of ordinary form, in similar habitations.

We have but two species, readily separated.

A. Fore wings white, marbled with slate grey ; hind wings
with transverse grey stripes and a central dark spot.

B. perla.

A.' Fore wings some shade of green, usually with black
markings ; hind wiDgs nearly plain. B. glandifcra.

1. B. glandifera, Hub. ; muralis, Stand. Cat. — Expanse
1 to 1£ inch. Body slender; fore wings some shade of pale
green or olive-green, marbled with black lines and curves ;
costa spotted with black and white ; hind wings pale smoky-
grey or smoky-white.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, leaden
brown ; palpi curved up, slenderly tufted, white, broadly
barred with black, the terminal joint long and pointed ;
eyes prominent, deep black ; head moderately tufted with
raised scales, brownish-white or greenish-white ; thorax
narrow, green, with a rather loose flattened back crest tipped
with white ; shoulder lappets rather uplifted ; fascicles white ;
abdomen whitish -brown thickly dusted with dull brown, but
with a white band along the hinder edge of each segment ;
on the dorsal ridge are three or four short oblique white

TRIFID^E. 205

crests tipped with black ; lateral and anal tufts small. Fore
wings oblong, a little broader behind ; costa very faintly
arched or almost straight ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind
margin slightly obliqne and very little curved to below the
middle, where it is bent in, and above the anal angle almost
hollowed ; dorsal margin straight, colour dull green, bluish-
green, olive-green, or brownish-green, fading to yellow -
green ; basal line slender, broken, angulated and curved,
deep black ; first line equally black, thicker, rather angulated,
edged inwardly with white, terminated at some distance
from the dorsal margin ; second line also black, slender,
rippled into numerous small crescents, edged outwardly with
white, terminated at some distance from the costa ; sub-
terminal line an interrupted series of angulated black
markings, broken and abruptly set back before the costa,
where it forms three parallel streaks ; orbicular and reniform
stigmata rounded, olive- or smoky-green, edged with deep
black ; beneath the former is a rather squared similar spot
similarly edged, but larger ; costal margin regularly spotted
with black, the intermediate spaces filled in with white ;
extreme hind margin regularly spotted with minute Y-
shaped black streaks which project into the cilia, the latter
being otherwise greenish-white. Hind wings rounded
behind, very glossy, smooth, pale smoky-grey or smoky-
white, palest toward the base ; central spot a hardly
perceptible smoky-black crescent ; near the hind margin is
sometimes a faintly visible partial blackish transverse line ;
hind margin edged with black ; cilia white. Female very
similar, but with the abdomen broader and rather flat-
tened.

Underside of the fore wings shining smoky-brown,
shading off to white along the dorsal margin ; costal margin
spotted and shaded with white ; cilia white with smoky-
brown dots. Hind Avings smoky- white, dusted with brown ;
central spot a black crescent ; along the hind margin is a
broad smoky-black stripe shading paler toward the anal

206 LEPIDOPTERA.

angle. Body and legs greyish-white ; front tibias white,
broadly barred with black.

Variation is, as above indicated, very great in the shade of
ground colour on emergence, and this is complicated by a
tendency to fading even during life, but much increased after
death. There is also irregularity in the distinctness of the
black markings, which sometimes are thick, very conspicuous
and deep black, in other examples slender or partially
suppressed, and in one well-known variety devoid of the
black pigment, and changed into olive-brown shades most
visible from their whiter edgings. In a form which has the
ground colour very pale-green, almost pale yellow, these
lines, though black, are the merest fragmentary indications
or edgings of lines ; other specimens, again, are of peculiar
brilliancy both in colour and markings ; some such, of a most
brilliant green, have been obtained on walls in the Kentish
coast towns, and among them I have seen one of a dark-
green colour having the lines white. Still more remarkable
for their extreme variations are specimens from South Devon.
In a series of these sent up by the Eev. 0. F. Benthall of
Starcross are specimens having the usual black markings,
but the ground colour very dark deep green, or in another
case orange-brown ; others blue-green or grey-green, with
the black markings either sharply edged with white or
exchanged in part for white ; another of an orange-olive
colour, in which the black and white markings are spread out
into cloudy-black, and more slender white, stripes ; another
in which the ground colour of the right fore wing is dull
green, that of the left pale smoky-grey ; another has the
fore wings white, with faint yellowish-olive suggestions of
the usual markings ; and again, another has the outer
margins of these wings whitened. From the same district,
Mr. F. C. Woodforde has brought a specimen of which the
ground colour is pale yellow banded with orange ochreous
between the very slender black markings. A series of
specimens taken at Chippenham, Wilts, by Professor

TRIFID^. 207

Meldola, has the series of black clots along the costal margin
doubled, so as to be very closely and regularly ornamented
with sharp black spots ; among these is one of an otherwise
unicolorous green, and another equally devoid of black
lines, but of a buff colour. Mr. E. Adkin has a singular
form, obtained from Cork in the South of Ireland, almost
unicolorous dull greenish-slate, with the markings only
faintly indicated ; also others somewhat similar from the
Scilly Isles, along with some more strongly marked, but
leaning toward the peculiar Cambridge form. It is time that
this curious local race should be mentioned, since it is
supposed by some to be a distinct species, and has been
commonly recorded under the names of par (which belongs
to another variety) and impar (which was simply a joke). It
has rather a robust appearance, especially in some examples,
and in a few the base of the fore wings seems slightly
narrower, so as to give them a more triangular form •
the ground colour often shows no trace of green, but is
white, greyish-white, or brownish-white ; the markings more
obscure, cloudy, or shaded off, and the whole surface dusted
with grey or clouded with black. This form is found year by
year upon the walls of the colleges at Cambridge University,
and on houses in that city, and is very rarely mixed with
normal specimens ; on the other hand, the variation in coast
specimens extends so as to unite with and include this ;
indeed individuals inseparable from the Cambridge specimens
have been taken at Deal. It is difficult to do justice to the
endless variations of a species like this.

On the wing in July and August, and occasionally into
September.

Larva smooth and soft, rather limp, slightly thickest in
the middle, head smaller than the second segment, prominent,
shining, deep black, with the mouth white and rather hairy •
body rather flattened above and below ; green or smoky -
green or grey-green, the raised dots shining, almost metallic,

208 LEPID OP TERA .

paler ; undersurface pale green or yellow ; doi-sal plate black,
divided by the commencement of a white or yellow dorsal
line, which is continued as a dorsal row of elongated yellow
streaks or spots, one on each segment ; subdorsal lines
sometimes shown on the dorsal plate as lines, in other
cases as dots, in all continued in dots of white or yellow
on the body segments ; legs dull green or greenish-grey.
When just hatched the young larva is black and hairy,
afterwards more grey, and only gradually assumes the greener
colouring.

October till May on the minute powdery or scaly lichens,
especially yellow lichens, which grow upon the perpendicular
surfaces of walls and rocks ; feeding upon these only when
moist with dew or rain, and usually at night or early morn-
ing ; making for itself a chamber of silk and lichen on the
surface, or in a crevice, aud there hiding during the day, or
even for days and nights so long as the weather remains dry
and without dew. So much is this the case, that in long
spells of drought it will sometimes become quite thin and
starved, the head looking large in comparison to the shrivelled
body, but should rain commence it will occasionally come
out from this chamber to feed in the daytime. It is said
not to return always to the same domicile, but will enter any
such chamber which it finds open and empty, and close it
up, while the lawful owner will travel farther till it also
finds an empty chamber, with the same result, no larva ever
striving to eject another, but if unable to find a chamber
ready-made searching out a suitable crevice and quickly
building a new home. Unfortunately the sparrows, with
the peculiar instinct for mischief with which those familiar
birds seem to be provided, have discovered the secret of
these lichen-covered chambers, and may often be seen cling-
ing to a wall, and giving themselves ten times as much
trouble as it would cost them to find some common but
injurious larva, to hunt out and devour this perfectly harmless
tit-bit. The house in which Mr. G. C. Bignell — some of

TR1F1D&. 2og

whose drawings of larva? are figured in this work — used to
live, was opposite to a portion of the dockyard at Stonehouse,
which was surrounded by a massive wall overgrown with
minute lichens ; from his front windows the operations of
the sparrows up and down this wall were plainly visible.
Hybernation takes place when very small, doubtless in a
similar but smaller chamber.

Pupa apparently undescribed, either in the larval chamber
or a loose cocoon among moss, or in a chink of the wall, but
so accurately covered with the material of the wall as to be
almost undistinguishable.

The moth sits in the daytime on walls and rocks, and
though sufficiently visible to a trained eye, is undoubtedly
protected to a great extent from its enemies by its close
resemblance to a small patch of lichen. It flies at dusk, and
comes readily to sugar in its very restricted localities ; also
has been taken at clematis blossom and at light. When
attention was first called by Mr. W. Warren to the peculiar
form inhabiting Cambridge he found several of his specimens
inside houses. This may have arisen from some unusual
cause, such as a violent wind ; at least I do not hear that
such a habit has been further observed. Common on old
walls at Sheemess, Deal, Dover, Folkestone, and probably
all coast towns in Kent, and at Brighton, Lewes, Eastbourne,
aud elsewhere in Sussex ; more local in Dorset, where it has
been found in the Isle of Purbeck ; common again in the
coast towns of Devon from Sidmouth to Plymouth ; also od
the north coast, and in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles ; more
local in Somerset. In this county it is found also inland, at
Bath and Wells ; in Wiltshire at Marlborough and Chippen-
ham ; and extends into Gloucestershire. The Cambridge
locality, already so much alluded to, seems to be quite an
isolated out-station, since I know nothing of its occurrence
in the surrounding towns, and it is certainly very scarce in
the rest of the Eastern district, being recorded as rare in

VOL. vi. o

210 LEPIDOPTERA.

Suffolk, and taken only once — by Lord Walsingham — in
Norfolk. In Wales it is probably widely distributed on
the coast, since it has been found in plenty at Swansea ;
also at Laugharne, Carmarthenshire ; and I took one speci-
men on a rock near Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire, and two
on walls at Pembroke. It is also recorded at Pwllheli,
North Wales. In Ireland in the counties of Cork and
Galway. Abroad its range seems to be restricted to Central
and Southern Europe. Asia Minor, and Armenia.

2. B. perla, Fab. — Expanse 1 to 1£ inch. Body slender;
fore wings white, mottled and marbled with bluish-grey ;
costa and hind margin dotted with black. Hind wings
white, shaded and barred with smoky-grey.

Antenna? of the male short, simple, rather fully ciliated,
purplish-brown, barred at the back with white ; palpi small
and slender, white, shaded on the basal portion with black-
browu ; e}res prominent, deep black ; head rather strongly
tufted, white, a distinct white tuft at the base of each
antenna ; thorax slender, rather coarsely scaled, white, the
back crest prostrate, tipped with dark brown ; fascicles
white ; abdomen slender, white, the basal portion of each
segment clouded and dusted with brown ; on the back of the
first segment is an obscure oblique white crest tipped with
brownish-black ; lateral tufts very thin ; anal tuft thick,
yellowish-white. Fore wings rather oblong ; costa gently
arched; apex rounded; hind margin also gently rounded,
not very oblique ; dorsal margin rather full ; colour white,
shaded and marbled with bluish-grey ; basal line deep black,
angulated, incomplete ; basal area within it tinged with
grey; first line very perpendicular, repeatedly angulated,
black, not attaining the costa ; second line also black,
slender, abundantly rippled and angulated, bending outward
below the reniform stigma, above it curving back and running
parallel with the costa; subterminal line an obscure and
incomplete series of black dots and angles ; orbicular stigma

TRIFID.-E. 211

round, ill-defined, slate-grey, its margin rather streaked with
black but quite open below, where it joins a large slate-grey
cloud from the dorsal margin ; reniform stigma large, slate-
grey, edged with white and some black dots and streaks ;
costal margin distinctly and regularly spotted with black,
the last two spots towards the apex obscured, in another
smaller slate-grey cloud ; hind margin more faintly clouded
with the same, and edged with a series of short black streaks ;
cilia white, regularly chequered with slate-black. Hind wings
white, shaded with smoky-grey; central spot large, dull
black ; before the hind margin are two parallel smoky-grey
transverse stripes, forming a broad band, ill-defined, shaded
off, and frequently quite obscure, usually showing in its
extreme margin a series of white spots ; cilia dusky-white.
Female very similar, but the body stouter and more flattened ;
very often the slate-grey or blue-grey clouds of the fore
wings are more extended, and of a deeper tint, and the hind
wings more darkly shaded.

Underside of the fore wings white round the margins, the
middle portion being occupied by a large smoky-black cloud
from which similar bars are thrown off to the costal edge ;
hind margin dotted with black and dusted with grey. Hind
wings white with the nervures black ; central spot elongated,
black; near the hind margin is an irregular, ill-defined,
cloudy-black transverse stripe. Body and legs white ; tibiee
barred with black.

Variation in this species is in most localities but slight,
merely in the extension of the bluish-grey cloudy markings
on the white ground ; but in some places, especially upon the
coast, this is intensified, and the darkness of both fore and
hind wings in some of Mr. S. Webb's forms taken at Dover
is remarkable. Some equally dark, and even of a deep slate-
green or greenish-black tint, have been found in the neigh-
bouring town of Folkestone. From other places, both on the
coast and inland, specimens are obtained in which the slate-
grey markings are exchanged for yellow, or even pale orange,

212 LEPIDOPTERA.

or the whole wing is tinged with pale yellow. Mrs. Bazett
has a specimen, taken at Reading, Berks, of which the ground
colour is uniform smoky pale brown, without a tinge of white,
the dark markings visible, but obscured by the general
smoky-black clouding. On the other hand, Mr. F. N. Pierce
has a fine white specimen in which the markings are only
most slenderly indicated. But the most remarkable aberra-
tion known to me in this, or almost in any species, is a
specimen in the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper, in which the
fore wings and right hind wing are normal, but the left hind
wing has a wonderful reproduction of markings of the fore
wing, as though they had been printed on it in reverse, the
angulated black lines and the white intermediate spaces
being very distinctly and wonderfully shown.
On the wing in July and August.

Larva short and stout, rather even in thickness, a little
flattened above and beneath ; head rounded, shining black ;
dorsal region of the body down to the subdorsal lines occupied
by a broad orange-red stripe in which the dorsal line is
represented by a series of heart-shaped or bottle-shaped
black spots ; subdorsal stripes black or formed of short black
streaks ; remainder of the body bluish-slate colour ; spira-
cular lines indicated by a slender black thread, or by a fine
white line, or even two ; raised dots black and glistening ;
spiracles black ; legs slate-colour or more faintly greenish.

August to May on Lecidea confluens, " a crustaceous lichen
which dots over old walls with its cracked and weather-
beaten patches," also other minute lichens which grow upon
walls. The observations of Mr. P. Inchbald, made forty
years ago, are worth reproducing : " We have a colony that
have fixed their quarters on the house side. During the day
they carefully secrete themselves in their sand nests ; as they
take care to make up the doorway on entering their retreats
there is no chance of catching a glimpse of them then. The
early morning is their time of feeding ; then old and young

TRTFID^E. 213

are out, but soon after nine they retire for the day. The
shields or tubercles of the Lecidea are the chief attraction ;
these they gnaw, removing the black crusts and exposing
the white undersurface to view. Their depredations are thus
readily seen in the morning, as the white tops are very con-
spicuous in the sunshine. To watch their building operations
more narrowly, I removed a dozen of them from their quarters
on the house-side, and built them a tiny rockwork of lichen-
covered stones, covered over with a bell-glass. Here they
soon busied themselves in constructing new nests, gnawing
off fragments from the stone, and cementing them together
with all possible care. They fed. when thus kept, iu the
early part of the day, withdrawing to their nests when
breakfast was over. Sometimes, by moistening the stones, I
could invite them out during the day, but when this was
not done they usually remained at home till the following
morning."

Pupa light shining brown. Not more fully described. In
the chamber which has served the larva as a habitation.

The moth sits very flatly upon walls, and is easily visible ;
indeed, when the walls are of brick, it is sufficiently con-
spicuous. It flies at dusk and at night, and is very strongly
attracted by light, sometimes coming in numbers to the street
lamps. Also in some small degree attracted by sugar, and
has been taken at flowers of red valerian. Its attachment to
walls is remarkable ; it seems very rarely to sit willingly
upon anything else, having an evident repugnance against
trees and plants. Possibly it may sometimes frequent rocks,
but this I have not seen. Common all over England, Wales,
and Ireland, and some portions of the East of Scotland,
much less so in the West of Scotland, and apparently not
found north of the districts of the Tay, Dee, and Clyde.
Abroad it is common in Central, Southern, and Western
Europe, the South of Sweden and Norway, and the North of
Italy.

214 LEP1D0PTERA.

(B. algae, Fab. — This species has the fore wings dark
smoky-brown or smoky-black, marbled with green and olive-
green, the base, and sometimes one or two blotches beyond
the middle, pale green ; hind wings smoky-white.

In the year 1859 a short announcement was made that two
specimens had been taken in the Manchester district in July
of that year. These two examples appear to have been
brought by a workman, alive, to the late Mr. Joseph Side-
botham ; and they are still, I believe, in his collection in the
possession of his son, Mr. J. W. Sidebotham, M.P. No other
case of the occurrence of the species in these Islands is
known, and it can only be supposed that these two specimens
were by some accidental means introduced. It is common in
Central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor, and Armenia.)

Genus 96. PHYTOMETRA.

Antennas faintly ciliated ; eyes naked, without lashes ;
thorax smooth, not crested ; abdomen short, smooth, without
crests ; fore wings short and small, bluntly trigonate ; hind
wings narrow, yet with a wide cell and the cross-bar long ;
vein 5 curved and arising near to vein 4, but strong, distinct,
and filling out its portion of the margin.

We have but one species.

1. P. senea, Hub. ; viridaria, Steed. Cat. — Expanse f to
f inch. Body short and rather thick ; fore wings dull brown
or yellow-brown, with a faint olive tint, usually with two
broad oblique dull crimson or purple transverse stripes.
Hind wings dull smoky-brown.

Antennas of the male short, simple, minutely ciliated, dull
brown ; palpi small, slender, blackish-brown, the apical joint
pointed and distinct ; eyes naked, black ; head rather tufted,
olive-brown ; collar black-brown with a purple tinge ; re-
mainder of the thorax smooth olive-brown ; fascicles similar ;
abdomen smooth, tapering, yellow-brown dusted with darker,

TRIFIDsE. 215

and without dorsal crests ; lateral and anal tufts compressed.
Fore wings short, trigonate, narrow at the base ; costa almost
straight ; apex sharply angulated ; hind margin oblique,
rather straight, but usually a little curved off toward the
anal angle ; dorsal margin straight ; colour dull brown or
yellow-brown, with a faint olive tint to the middle, the hinder
half of the wing occupied by two rich purple parallel bands
between which is a slender stripe of the ground colour, and
sometimes the inner band is faintly clouded or shaded with
the same ; a slender purple stripe also lies along the base of
the costa ; cilia brownish-purple. Hind wings rather long
and narrow, rounded behind ; very dull brown with a faint
olive tint, darker toward the base, and sometimes having a
darker transverse cloud in the middle, or a stripe of dusky
purple clouding along the hind margin, but very obscure ;
cilia long, whitish-brown shaded with purple. Female
smaller, with shorter, thicker body ; fore wings shorter and
more uniformly of a darker olive-brown ; the hind wings
more blackened and the cross-band of darker brown in them
often more noticeable ; the purple bands of the fore wings
sometimes quite distinct, in other specimens entirely absent,
replaced by the ground colour ; and in these there is little or
no purple colouring upon the cilia.

Underside of the fore wings pale olive-brown shaded in
the middle and along the hind margin with purple, and
beyond the middle with yellow ; hind wings very similar.
Body and legs olive-brown.

Variation is mainly confined to the depth of the ground
colour — from yellow-brown to blackish-brown ; and to the
oblique purple transverse stripes. These last, as already
remarked, are sometimes entirely absent ; in other cases the
inner one is partially so, its inner half alone being visible,
and this sometimes brilliant and sharply defined ; in other
specimens it is divided into two, so that the wing is orna-
mented with three parallel purple stripes, the outer very
much the broader. In those instances in which the purple

2i6 LEPIDOPTERA.

is absent the usual intermediate brown stripe often becomes
yellow-brown, and still serves to separate the areas of the
two bands.

On the wing in May and June ; sometimes, in the extreme
south, at the end of April ; occasionally individuals of a
second generation appear in July.

Larva, when full grown, an inch long, slender, uniform in
width when viewed from above, but when seen sideways
cylindrical in the middle segments, flatter towards the head
and tail ; skin smooth ; head round, green, faintly mottled
with brown ; body full velvety-green, undersurface rather
paler ; lines very indistinct, but the dorsal indicated as a
dark green thread bordered by paler lines, between which
and the spiracles are three pale subdorsal lines ; spiracles
yellowish ; beneath them is a broader pale line, which on
segments ten to thirteen becomes whitish ; segmental folds
yellow, usual dots very small, black, surrounded by light
rings and emitting small bristles ; legs twelve, the ventral
pairs being on segments nine and ten ; rudiments of another
pair too small for use on the eighth. (Rev. J. Hellins.)

August and September on Pohjgala vulgaris (milk-wort).
When at rest, extended straight and flat on the stem of its
food ; if disturbed, it drops off and flings itself angrily about.
It walks in the arched manner characteristic of a semi-looper.

Pupa c}dindrical, the wing-covers of unusual proportionate
length, and the general width of the body remarkably even ;
eye-covers a little prominent, but with the wing and limb-
covers, smooth and almost devoid of sculpture ; dorsal seg-
ments deeply divided and sharply ridged on each side with
a projecting rim ; abdominal segments smooth and without
pitting, but the hinder edge of each raised into a sharp
rim, and the anal segment tapering very suddenly to a blunt
flattened cremaster which is bent back and furnished with
two very short points. In a small tough silken cocoon on the
ground.

TRIFID&. 217

The moth is a quiet little species, loving to buzz and flit
m the sunshine about open wood paths among the coarse
herbage, the grassy damp spots on heaths and downs, boggy-
places, coast sandhills, rough meadows, and even lanes
where the herbage is strong and thick. Also not absent
from hill and mountain sides. It evidently flies by choice
in the sunshine, and will come buzzing to one's very feet in
a sheltered sunny wood-path ; but seems to settle on grass
and other herbage and not upon flowers. It certainly also
flies at night, since it may occasionally be found attracted by
a strong light. Formerly to be found close to the suburbs
of London, whence it has now disappeared. Apparently
distributed in suitable spots over the whole of England, and
in many parts common or even plentiful ; also frequent in
woods and on the more sheltered parts of heaths in South
Wales to Pembrokeshire. Found, sometimes commonly, in
the southern portions of Scotland to Aberdeen, Moray,
Perthshire, and Argyle. In Ireland common and widely
distributed, plentiful in the bogs of Kerry and Galway, and
to be found so far north as Slieve Donard in County Down,
and Belfast. Abroad it inhabits the whole of Continental
Europe, except the coldest regions, also Asia Minor, Eastern
Siberia, and the mountain regions of Central Asia.

Genus 97. ANARTA.

Antennas ciliated ; eyes hairy, with short thick lashes,
which sometimes are hidden among the other scales ; head
hairy ; thorax stout, crested at both top and back ; abdomen
moderately stout, with erect or depressed crests ; fore wings
small and blunt; hind wings small, but the cell wide and
the cross-bar long and angulated but weak ; vein 5 very
slender, arising just below the middle.

Larv,e rather short and thick, smooth, brightly coloured ;
the anterior portion of the body bent under in repose.
Feeding exposed.

2i8 LEPIDOPTERA.

PuPjE in the earth in silken cocoons.

We have three species, easily recognised :

A. Hind wings yellow, with black marginal band.

B. Fore wings black-brown frosted with grey ; white

central spot large. A. corcligera.

B2. Fore wings dark crimson marbled with white; central

white spot small. A. myrtilli.

A2. Hind wings white, with black marginal band ; fore

wings grey, with black marbling. A. mclanopa.

1. A. melanopa, Thunberg. — Expanse 1 to 1| inch.
Thorax stout ; fore wings olive-grey or grey-brown, mottled
and streaked with black. Hind wings white, with a broad
marginal black band.

Antennas of the male simple, rather stout, strongly ciliated,
black-brown ; palpi small, coarsely and strongly tufted,
yellowish-white within, black outwardly ; eyes black, thickly
studded with excessively minute wliite hairs ; head loosely
tufted, yellowish-white mixed with black ; thorax rather
stout, dark olive-brown, with the edge of the collar, the
middle and tips of the shoulder-lappets, and the tips of the
long black scales white ; fascicles very long, white ; abdomen
black but partially clothed with long silky white hair-scales,
which give it a shaggy appearance; lateral tufts white; anal
tuft small, greyish-black. Fore wings rather short, tri-
angular, blunt behind ; costa very straight ; apex suddenly
rounded ; hind margin gently curved and oblique ; dorsal
margin straight ; colour pale grey clouded with olive-brown
and dusted with black ; basal line black, ill-defined, angu-
lated and spread into blotches ; first line also ill-defined,
black, repeatedly angulated and indented ; second line hardly
more distinct, composed of a full series of thickened angles
and crescents and spread out upon the margins of the wing ;
subterminal line obscure and much interrupted, merely the
outer edge of a series of brown and black-brown clouds ;
orbicular stigma a small, thickened, deep black ring ; reni-

TRIFlDsE. 219

form stigma deep black, except a grey-brown cloud in its
middle; across it from the costa is a black transverse cloud
or central shade, sometimes broken, but reaching the dorsal
margin, and often thickened there into a broad spot ; clavi-
form stigma a small black loop attached to an angle of the
first line ; hind margin spotted with black ; cilia dark brown
dashed with white. Hind wings rounded, silvery-white in
the middle ; basal portion much streaked with smoky-black
clouding ; whole hind-marginal region occupied by a broad
regular smoky-black band which often unites with a more
smoky cloud along the dorsal region ; the central spot rather
large, crescentic, dull black ; cilia white. Female very
similar.

Underside of the fore wings slate-white ; reniform stigma
black; beyond it is a curved transverse stripe of black
dusting ; hind margin also dusted with black, and a similar
spot lies before the apex. Hind wings white, broadly dusted
from the base with black; central spot large, crescentic,
black, as also is a broad hind-marginal band ; cilia white.
Body and legs black but shaggy, with long white hairs,
except the tibias, which are brown, barred with yellowish-
white.

There is some variation in the ground colour from greyish-
white to grey-black, and in the Shetland Isles to very pale
yellow. In the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper is a specimen
with blacker fore wings and the blackness on the hind wings
so extended as to leave only a small yellowish-white central
spot preceded by a similar streak. An extremely neat and
pretty dark form.

On the wing in May and the beginning of June.

Lakva of the usual Noctua form, tapering a little forwards
from the fifth segment, and the thirteenth sloping rapidly off;
the skin soft and velvety ; head dark purplish-brown with
darker reticulations ; ground colour deep purplish-pink ; dorsal
line ochreous-brown, boldly outlined with black, but inter-

220 LEPIDOPTERA.

rupted on the fore part of each segment by a reddish-brown
triangular mark ; this triangle is met on each side by a thick
black wedge-shaped mark, below which again comes the con-
tinuous bright yellowish-white subdorsal line ; this line is
thin on the thoracic segments, but beyond them widens in
such a manner that the widest part on each segment is near
the ends of the black wedges, and the whole line is finely
edged with black throughout ; the sides similar to the back,
but much obscured by dark red-brown freckles, and with a
short blackish streak slanting downwards on each segment ;
spiracles oval, black ; spiracular stripe yellowish-white, suf-
fused beneath each spiracle with red, and delicately freckled
with red along the middle ; undersurface and legs dark
purplish-brown.

When young it has sixteen legs, but the first pair of pro-
legs is not serviceable, and that on the following segment is
smaller than those on the ninth and tenth ; as it grows this
pair increases to the size of the following, and before full
growth that on the seventh segment has also arrived at full
size. (Rev. J. Hellins.)

End of June and July on Vaccinium vitis-idcea, V. myrtillus,
Arbutus uva-ursi, and in captivity on A. uncdo, Salixcaprcca,
S. acuminata, Polygonum, aviculare, Luzula pilosa, the blossoms
of Hclianthemum, vulgare, and probably many other low-
growing plants ; feeding at night, hiding by day underneath
the leaves of the food-plants.

Pupa glossy black, the segmental divisions at first reddish ;
figure smooth and rounded ; the abdomen tapering off rather
quickly and ending in a blunt spike. (Hellins.)

Having no personal acquaintance with this moth when
alive, I cannot do better than quote Mrs. Eraser's interesting-
remarks in the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine " : " This
prettly little moth abounds on the tops of many of the Scot-
tish mountains. In Perthshire I have found it on every Ben
which I have ascended to the height of two thousand feet and

TRIFID/E. 221

upwards during May and early June. It is not among the
lonely mountain wild flowers, nor yet on the heather, that it
is found, but when the altitude is reached where the heather
grows thin and sparse, and the grey lichen takes its place as
a covering to the surface, then Anarta melanopa maybe seen
flying rapidly in the sunshine, or even on sunless days if the
air be mild. On at least two mountain-tops, where it exists
in large numbers, the rocks are of a peculiar grey colour,
which matches perfectly with the upper wings of the insect ;
and in those two localities I observed that it almost invari-
ably alighted on the rock, and was then all but invisible.
Very rarely did it rest on the lichen, and although the re-
semblance in colour of the moth to the grey lichen was very
great, it was not so perfect as the resemblance between the
moth and the rocks, the latter thus affording a more perfect
concealment when at rest. In other localities, where the rocks
are of a colour unlike the upper wings of melanopa, it invari-
ably, as far as I could see. settled on the lichen-covered
ground, and I did not see a single specimen alight on a stone
or rock."

" The absence or presence of fringe-moss " (Grimmia
hypnoidcs, Braithwaite= Trichostomum lanuginosum, Hedwig)
" on the top of a hill is an interesting point. I know many
hill-tops up to the height of three or four thousand feet
clothed with short dry grass, but without fringe-moss ; on
those hills I never saw melanopa. On those whose summits
above two thousand feet are clothed wholly or partially with
fringe-moss I have invariably found it in greater or less
numbers ; yet this is not its food ! I believe that the larvae
require the moss to hide in, and that if found on the grass-
covered hills the birds would clear them off. The moth is
almost as invisible when at rest on this moss as on the
lichen."

" I have never observed it in any locality lower down than
where lichen begins to take the place of other plants, and on
a mountain-side in May or early June, with a hot sun and a

222 LEPIDOPTERA.

cool fresh wind blowing over the snowy peaks, it is a glad-
some sight to see these pretty moths, which with the
ptarmigan, the dotterel, and the mountain-hare, are almost
the only living things to be seen."

When the weather is very rough, however, it shelters
itself among heather, and may be shaken out, and so secured.
So far as I know, it flies only in the daytime.

Besides Schiehallion and the other high hills of Perthshire, it
is found in the mountains of Aberdeenshire, the Clyde district,
and Sutherland shire ; also in the Hebrides, and abundantly
in the Shetland Isles ; but, so far as is known, not in Eng-
land, Wales, or Ireland. Abroad its range seems to be very
limited — the Alps, Lapland, and Labrador.

2. A.cordigera, Thunberg. — Expanse 1 to 1-J inch. Thorax
stout and hairy ; fore wings black, shaded toward the base
and hind margin with silvery-grey ; reniform stigma large,
white. Hind wings bright yellow, with a broad, deep black
marginal band.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, black ;
palpi short, strongly and coarsely tufted, black ; eyes brown ;
head moderately tufted, black ; thorax very rough with long
raised scales, black except the back of the collar and the
edges of the central portion, which are faintly white, and the
tips of the flattened crest at the back more distinctly so ;
fascicles dark smoke-colour ; abdomen silky black with a pile
of Ions1 black hair-scales : lateral and anal tufts broad. Fore
wings of moderate breadth, rather pointed, costa only curved
in the smallest degree ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin
almost straight to below the middle, thence a little rounded
off and very faintly crenulated ; dorsal margin straight ;
colour black or brown-black, the basal and hinder regions
more grey from superimposed white scales ; basal line indi-
cated by obscure deep black spots ; first line erect, indented,
black, the space between it and the basal line frosted with
white scales, especially so at its border ; second line rather

TRIFIDsE. 223

erect but strongly curved above the middle and regularly-
scalloped or indented, black, thrown up by an outside edging
of white scales, which is more distinct upon the costa ; the
region behind this is regularly dusted or frosted with white
scales, a triangular space before the apex being less so ; there
is little trace of a subterminal line, unless it may be said to
be sometimes indicated by a few blacker dots ; orbicular
stigma barely visible as a blacker ring ; reniform stigma very
large, rugged in its outline, pure white, but with an ill-defined
black streak in its inner side ; claviform stigma just visible as
a black loop ; cilia brown-black spotted with dusky-white.
Hind wings short, with the hind margin faintly sinuous ;
bright yellow, with a broad smoky-black stripe on the costal
margin which merges at the apex in a blacker broad hind-
marginal band ; cilia white but blackened along the base.
Female similar, but having the central black band even
broader, and less defined by white dusting, or sometimes
quite devoid of the frosting of white scales.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black with a large
central pale yellow blotch ; hind wings exactly as on the
upper side. Body and legs black-brown.

Usually quite constant in colour and markings, but in the
collection of Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher is a specimen in which
the white spot of the fore wings is enlarged and spread over
the central band.

On the wing in May.

Larva slender, all the ventral prolegs of about the same
size, head hard and shining, dark purplish-brown with a
blackish blotch on the corner of each lobe ; general surface
soft and velvety, crimson-brown ; dorsal line white ; sub-
dorsal line similar but faint, spiracular stripe brownish-
ochreous freckled with crimson-brown ; undersurface and
legs dark purplish-brown. At full growth another variety
is almost black with only a trace on the end of each segment
of the dorsal and subdorsal lines, but the spiracular stripe

224 LEPIDOPTERA.

brown tinged with deep lurid red ; undersurface sooty-brown.
When very young, dull pale purple with black raised dots,
and the head, collar, and anal plate shining black ; the two
anterior pairs of prolegs then small and not serviceable. At
three weeks old these legs, though still small, have come
into use, and the adult colouring is being gradually assumed.
(Rev. J. Hellins.)

June and July ; on Arbutus uva-ursi (bearberry), A. unedo
(in confinement), and Vaccinium uliginosum ; feeding at night
and hiding by day underneath the leaves.

Pupa apparently undescribed ; in a rounded earthen
cocoon.

The moth flies swiftly in sunshine, and at that time is
difficult of capture. In cloudy weather it sits upon the rocks
on the moors and mountain-sides, or on the ground among
moss or lichen, which it closely resembles, and generally
agrees with the last species in habits, while frequenting spots
lower down upon the hills. It is also much less plentiful
and more attached to restricted localities. So far as these
Islands are concerned, confined to the mountains of Perth-
shire, Aberdeenshire, and elsewhere in the districts of the
Tay, Dee, and Moray. Abroad, in the Alps, and elsewhere
in Central and Northern Europe, but usually on mountains,
also in the Ural Mountain district, Russia ; and in Labrador
and elsewhere in the northern regions of North America.

3. A. myrtilli, L. — Expanse 1 inch. Body rather stout;
fore wings rich purplish-crimson or red-brown, streaked with
black and white, and having a central white spot. Hind
wings deep yellow with a broad black margin.

Antenna? of the male rather thick, simple, black-brown,
with minute white cilias ; palpi short, roughly tufted, black
at the sides, otherwise yellowish-brown ; eyes deep brown ;
head well tufted, rich purple-red, with a white tuft at the
base of each antenna ; collar rich purple-red with a white

TRIFIDA£. 225

edging above and below ; remainder of the thorax of the
same rich red, the shoulder-lappets spotted and edged with
white, and a small tuft or crest at the back barred and
tipped with the same ; fascicles dusky pale yellow ; abdomen
short and rather thick, dull black with a white edging to
each segment, and the sides, especially the lateral tufts,
tinged with yellow ; anal tuft black, with similar sides and
edging ; dorsal region furnished with a series of minute raised
black tufts, the anterior a little larger and tipped with chest-
nut. Fore wings rather narrow, costa straight ; apex bluntly
angulated ; hind margin gently curved, especially so toward
the anal angle ; dorsal margin straight ; colour brilliant
purplish-crimson, or red-brown, marbled with white ; two
white dots at the base are followed by spots and clouds
of pale yellow and white, which enclose a basal line of the
ground colour ; first line white, angulated, spread out on the
costa ; second line much angulated but ill defined, formed of
a dusting of pale yellow changing to white at the wing-
margins ; subterminal line conspicuous, white, broad and
much angulated ; orbicular stigma indicated by a round
yellowish dot, above which is a costal cloud of whitish dots,
and below a roughly triangular conspicuous white spot,
under this another, more clouded and smaller ; reniform
stigma obscurely outlined in dusky yellow ; extreme hind
margin faintly spotted with white, each spot followed by
another, more distinct, in the cilia, which, the intermediate
portion being dark purple-brown, become thus distinctly
chequered. Hind wings small, rounded behind ; middle
portion rich yellow ; base and costal margin bronzy-black ;
hinder portion of the wing filled by a broad deep black
marginal band ; cilia white. Female very similar.

Underside of the fore wings dull black suffused toward
the apex with purple ; in the middle is a dull yellow spot,
and another, fainter, is placed upon the costa before the
apex. Hind wings orange-yellow, with a broad stripe of
rich purple dusting along the costal region and apex, which

VOL. vi. p

226 LEPIDOPTERA.

shades off in the latter area into a black band along the hind
margin. Body and legs black, abundantly covered with
purple and dull yellow hair-scales ; tibiae black, barred with
yellow.

Locally variable ; in Ireland and the West of England the
colouring becomes often dark red-brown or black-brown, the
white markings obscured, sometimes almost suppressed, even
in some instances the white central spot being obliterated.
On the other hand southern examples are often of a very
light bright red.

On the wing from May, or even, occasionally, the end of
April, till August, apparently the continuous emergence of a
single generation.

Larva stout, cylindrical, but sloping a little from the apex
of the twelfth segment; head small, shining dull green
dusted with purple ; mouth darker ; general colour bright
green ; dorsal line represented by a row of elongate yellow
spots, the anterior half of each of which is paler ; subdorsal
line a row of similar spots slightly arched ; spiracular line
composed of A-shaped white markings, the apex uppermost ;
between the dorsal and subdorsal rows of spots is an additional
row of whitish spots, and another above the spiracular mark-
ings ; also above the legs and prolegs a line of oblique white
dashes. (0. Fenn.)

End of July till October, but most plentiful in August
and September, at which time it comes constantly under
observation when one is searching heather-bloom for moths.
On Calluna vulgaris (heather or ling) and sometimes on
Erica; feeding by day as well as night, and may often be
found resting on the topmost twigs of the heather. In
confinement it has been induced to feed upon hawthorn
leaves. There are records of the finding of the larva in
April and May, but whether these have passed the winter in
hybernation or form a partial second generation is not yet
clearly settled.

TRIFID^E. 227

Pupa very thick, whole surface extremely glossy ; eye-
covers prominent, limb-covers hardly noticeable, but with
the wing-covers very smoothly rounded and hardly sculptured,
except a few cross-channels down the antennae ; abdomen
very regularly and sharply tapering to a fine point, and
without perceptible sculpture ; cremaster short and closely
compressed, provided with minute curled-in bristles ; colour
of the front and thoracic portions dark olive, of the segments
olive-red, except the anal extremity, which is dark red-brown.
In a compact oval cocoon of silk thickly covered with small
fragments of earth or vegetable substances. On or close
under the surface of the ground, often attached to a root or a
stone.

The moth is most lively in bright sunshine, and then flies
■over heather with such swiftness as to be difficult of capture.
This is the case all day long if the sun continues out, but the
most favoured time is late in the afternoon ; at this time
also I have known it to hover at the blossoms of Rhodo-
dendron, sucking the honey which is so plentifully furnished
by them. In the north it has been known to frequent
honeydew and even sugar. When the weather is cloudy
it may sometimes be seen sitting on the tops of heather,
and this also in the evening. Rarely I have known it sit —
possibly just after emergence — upon a wooden fence at the
edge of a piece of heathery common land.

A curious circumstance in connection with the ways of
this insect is recorded by the Eev. J. Bristowe, who for
many years studied the habits of Lepidoptera in various
parts of Ireland, and in whose statements full dependence
may be placed: "On July 7th, 1859, when walking over
Croaghan Mountain, County Wicklow, I saw several speci-
mens flying over the heath in their usual rapid manner.
As I had not met with the species in Ireland before I was
anxious to catch some specimens for my collection, but after
an hour spent in trying to secure them as they flew past I

228 LEPIDOPTERA.

began to despair of capturing any but a very much battered
specimen which I had caught at first. One would appear
coming straight for me, and when I was all alive to get a
stroke as it passed, off it would whisk out of reach of the
net. When nearly worn out, and thoroughly disgusted with
both the moths and myself, I observed one stop and buzz
over a piece of heather, and as I was gently stealing up to it
another joined it and commenced to hover over the same
piece. Here, I thought, is some attraction, and the best
thing that I can do is to take my stand near that piece of
heath. Having done so I in a very short time captured as
many specimens as I wished without any difficulty, sometimes
catching two in my net at once. Every specimen that passed
on the lee-side came to investigate this piece, when they
were easily taken as they hovered over it. I thought that
the object of attraction must be a virgin female concealed
among the herbage, but could find nothing when I examined
the spot ; and in order to find out what could entice them to
this place I stood quiet and left several specimens to pursue
their investigations unmolested while I watched their move-
ments. Some of tbem contented themselves with a very
cursory examination, but others were more particular : they
alighted upon the heath and crept to what appeared to be a
bit of dried stick, and having walked round it and examined
it on all sides off they also flew. Having fully satisfied
myself that this apparent bit of stick was the source of
attraction, I examined it and found that it was the dead
body of a moth, devoid of wings and legs, so that it was
impossible to say what species it had been, but from its size
most likely A. myrtilli. From its bleached and dried appear-
ance it must have been dead some time, yet this dry carcase
enabled me to catch as many of this lively little species as
my boxes would contain, in a very few minutes/'

On open heaths, moors, or mosses throughout the United
Kingdom, except perhaps the Shetland Isles, and in very
many districts in plenty. Abroad it seems to occur through-

TRIFID^E. 229

out Central Europe, Spain, Italy, and all Northern Europe
except the coldest districts; but beyond Europe I find no
records.

Genus 98. CATEPHIA.

Antenuas of the male simple, cylindrical, naked; palpi
short, horizontal ; eyes densely hairy and with thick back
lashes ; head rough, densely tufted ; thorax furnished with
two widely separated and rather erect back tufts ; abdomen
crested on five or six segments, the crests on the third and
fourth the largest; fore wings thick in texture, broad and
ample ; hind wings having vein 5 arising near to vein 4 on
the slope of the angulated cross-bar.

We have only one species.

1. C. alchymista, Sehiff. — Expanse 1| to If inch.
Robust ; fore wings broad, black-brown, banded and marbled
with dull black ; subterminal line slender, yellow-brown.
Hind wings white from the base to the middle, thence black,
but with a partial white edging.

Antennae of the male simple, cylindrical, naked, black-
brown ; palpi very short, densely tufted, pale brown shaded
outside with black ; eyes black, densely covered with short
fine hair-points ; head tufted, pale brown dusted with black ;
thorax black-brown, blackest in frout, otherwise with a few
scattered white scales, two similar tufts at the back form a
crest ; fascicles smoky-brown ; abdomen of the same colour
with abundant long black hair-scales, dorsal ridge ornamented
with five or six black crests, of which those on the third and
fourth segments are the largest ; lateral tufts inconspicuous
and anal tuft narrow. Fore wings rather broad ; costa
somewhat arched, more so toward the apex, which is bluntly
rounded ; hind margin also rounded, crenulated ; dorsal
margin gently and gracefully curved ; colour dark umbreous
with a bronzy tint, abundantly clouded with dull black ;
basal line an obscure, broken, short black streak, edged

230 LEPIDOPTERA.

outwardly with a shade of brown ; first line not far beyond,
erect, angulated, broken, and obscure, deep black edged
inwardly with brown ; a short distance further is a similar
erect line of small deep black clouds ; second line also deep
black, erect to the middle, thence thrown abruptly outwards
into two large lobes, but returning to a black costal spot
which is edged outwardly by a pale brown or whitish dot ;
subterminal line represented by a series of broad bronzy-
brown clouds, broadest toward the anal angle and edged
with black clouds; orbicular stigma perhaps indicated by a
round black cloudy spot in the supplemental first line ; reni-
form stigma very obscure, placed in the mouths of the two
lobes of the second line, obscurely bronzy-brown bordered
with black ; costa toward the apex minutely dotted with
white; extreme hind margin edged with deep black cres-
cents ; cilia dull black faintly dusted with white. Hind
wings rather narrow, rounded ; basal portion nearly to the
middle white ; beyond this the whole wide hind-marginal
space is filled with a broad smoky-black band, except that
two irregular white dashes lie along the extreme margin and
affect the adjoining cilia, the rest being black-brown.
Female very similar, except that the fore wings are a little
longer and the subterminal line sometimes much more con-
spicuous, forming an irregular whitish-brown stripe.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black, with a looped
black line adjoining the reniform stigma, and a stripe of
white clouding along the hind margin, whiter toward the
anal angle ; cilia spotted with white. Hind wings white in
the basal half, but broadly dusted with brown along the
costal region ; central spot black ; beyond it is a similar
slender transverse stripe ; beyond this the hinder half of the
wings is clouded with smoky-black, but divided by a much
indented blacker line ; outside this are some dusky-white
clouds running into the hind margin, where is a much larger
one ; cilia blotched and spotted with white. Body and legs
dark smoky-brown.

TRIFIDjE. 231

On the wing in June and July, but has also been taken in
September.

Larva paler or darker grey, or reddish-grey, besprinkled
with numerous black dots ; on the back of every segment
four large, and on the sides six small, yellow raised dots ; on
the fourth and eleventh segments are two dark pointed eleva-
tions with paler tips ; on the fourth, seventh, eighth, and
eleventh segments on the sides are whitish or reddish obscure
pointed dots ; behind the head is a black dotted yellow
collar (dorsal plate) ; head rounded, grey with small pale
angulated markings. (Hofmann.)

July and August on oak, frequenting oak-bushes.

Pupa brown, with a bluish powdering ; in a light cocoon.

This fine insect is one of our most excessively rare species,
and in all probability only occurs with us as a casual migrant.
There seems little reason to doubt that the present is the
species noticed by Haworth under the name of leucomelas,
whereof he says : " Mr. Francillon possesses an English
specimen, and my respected tutor in Entomology, Mr. Jones,
assures me that he has seen it in the British collection of
that great patroness of Natural History, the late Duchess of
Portland." The genuine leucomelas is a smaller species,
extremely similar, but having its eyes naked. Its far more
southern distribution renders its capture here very improb-
able. Stephens's notice of Francillon's specimen, which passed
into the cabinet of Mr. Haworth, seems to support my view,
since he gives its expanse of wings as one inch nine lines,
which is far too large for Anophia leucomelas, while it agrees
with that of the present insect. The point, however, is not
of great importance. The first intimation of its presence in
these Islands in comparatively recent times is that of the
capture of a specimen at sugar on an oak-tree in September
1858, in the Isle of Wight, by Dr. A. Wallace. This fine
example passed into Mr. Bond's collection, and is now in that

232 LEPIDOPTERA.

of Mr. Sydney Webb. It is figured in the frontispiece of the
Entomologists' Annual for 1860. The next British specimen
of which there is any certainty was a fine female taken at
sugar on June 4th, 1875, in an oak wood near Horsham,
Sussex, by Mr. W. Borrer, of Hurstpierpoint, in whose
cabinet it still finds a place, though now in my hands for the
purposes of this work. In the same year a specimen was
found on June 9th sitting upon an oak-trunk near Colchester,
Essex, and was recorded by Mr. W. H. Harwood, from whose
possession it passed into the collection of Dr. F. D. Wheeler.
The fourth was recorded in 1882 by Mr. Sydney Webb, who
found it in the possession of a working collector, quite fresh,
captured by him near Dover on the previous evening. The
last capture of which I have any reliable knowledge was of a
specimen taken at sugar at 9.30 p.m. on June 24th, 1888, at
St. Leonards, Sussex, by the eldest son of my colleague
upon the Entomologists1 Monthly Magazine, Mr. Edward
Saunders.

The captures in these Islands appear, therefore, to be
limited as yet to Hants, Kent, Sussex, and Essex. Abroad it
has a considerable range through France, Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland, Hungary, Galicia, Corsica, Sardinia, Northern
Italy. Southern Spain, Greece, and Southern Eussia.

Family 3. SARROTHRIPIDiE.

Moths of small or moderate size ; the fore wings with the
costa and inner (dorsal) margin arched near the base, then of
nearly even width throughout, and almost always with raised
buttons of scales in the cell or raised lines upon the wings ;
veins 3 and 4 of the hind wings united. The palpi either
porrect and rostriform or upturned ; legs with the tarsal joints
short.

LarvyE with four pairs of abdominal prolegs, sparsely
clothed with hair in the known species.

SARRO THRIPID&. 2 33

Genus 1. SARROTHRIPA.

Palpi long, obliquely porrected and thickly scaled ; eyes
naked ; antenna3 minutely ciliated in the male ; fore wings
long, costa arched at the base, the apex bent down ; hind
wings broad, vein 3 branching from vein 4 very near the hind
margin ; a very broad space between veins 1 and 2.

We have only one species.

1. S. revayana, Tr. ; undulana, Stand. Cat. — Expanse
I inch. Palpi porrected ; fore wings tortriciform, shouldered
at the base, oblong, truncate, some shade of greenish-grey or
grey, olive-brown or brown ; faint ridges of raised scales on
the transverse lines, and a more noticeable central raised spot.
Hind wings shining grey.

Antennas of the male slender, simple, minutely ciliated,
black-brown ; palpi long, horizontal, the apical joint almost
sickle-shaped, porrected and conspicuous, tufted and fringed
below with long scales, brown ; eyes naked, brown ; thorax
slender, smooth, greenish-grey or olive-brown, the scales
lying rather closely appressed, but gathered into a small crest
at the back ; fascicles white ; abdomen rather slender, flat-
tened and very smooth, shining silvery-grey without hair-
scales, crests, or lateral tufts ; anal tuft small. Fore wings
oblong, of even width, pointed and truncate ; costa strongly
arched at the base, and thence thickly and stiffly ciliated,
almost hollowed in the middle, and straight to the apex
which is angulated and a little bent down ; hind margin
perpendicular or even filled out, a little rounded off below the
middle ; dorsal margin straight to near the base, where it is
rather arched ; colour most frequently silvery greenish-grey ;
basal line angulated and abbreviated but very faint, purplish-
brown ; a little beyond it is a still fainter, almost parallel,
similar line ; usual first line near the middle of the wing,
perpendicular, double, repeatedly angulated, purple-brown ;
second line but a short distance beyond, waved and bent in

234 LEPIDOPTERA.

several curves, double, obscure, purple-brown ; subterminal
line an irregular series of faint grey or blackish clouds edged
outside with white, one of which at the anal angle is round
and conspicuous ; before the first line are often two or three
round black dots placed perpendicularly ; the outer duplicate
of this first line is thickened at its angles by raised black or
brown scales ; between this and the second line is usually a
triangular purple cloud occupying the whole middle portion
of the costal margin and enclosing a round spot, in the
middle of the wing, of sharply raised black or brown scales,
which forms almost a button-like tuft ; the apex of the wing,
and in some degree the hind margin, is often clouded with
purple-brown, and along the extreme margin is a row of
black dots ; cilia of the ground colour of the wing. There is
a tendency to raising of the scales on all the markings, or
indeed irregularly on other portions of the fore wings, more
especially noticeable in specimens in which they have not
been flattened in setting. Hind wings broad and ample, the
hind margin sinuous, hollowed below the apex ; shining pale
grey or greyish-white, sometimes rather more smoky-grey
along the hind margin ; cilia concolorous, but with a yellowish
basal line. Female accurately similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale silvery-grey ; costa
whiter, but obliquely barred with grey-brown. Hind wings
shining whitish-grey. Body and legs pale grey, the latter
short.

Variable in an extraordinary degree ; so strikingly indeed
that several of its varieties were formerly described and
figured as distinct species. Thus a form in which the fore
wings are silvery -grey, the costal region much marbled with
reddish-brown and the round spots before the first line totally
absent, was named degeneranus ; another, in which the brown
clouding is more spread across the wings, but the spots still
absent or obscure, was called undulanus ; one, still more
strongly banded and having one round distinct spot before
the first line = dilutanus ; a more uniformly brown form, but

SARROTHRIPIDsE. 235.

with a large black spot over the anal angle, seems to have
been known as ilicanus ; another, devoid of all the conspi-
cuous round spots = Lathamianus ; another, more brownish-
grey with all the round spots distinct, Afzelianus ; and two
more, in which the usual pattern of lines, bands, and spots is
quite obliterated, except a few cloudy dots near the hind
margin, but in which the ground colour is chestnut-brown
shading paler behind, and the substituted markings consist
of black stripes longitudinally from the base down the
principal nervures, are called, when the black stripe on the
median reaches the subterminal line, ramosaniis ; where it
extends to the hind margin, Stonamis. At least, this is how
I, in some degree, attempt to understand them. The last two
are branches of a very remarkable and distinct variety or
race, in which the normal markings are almost obliterated and
a totally different ground colour, with utterly changed mark-
ings, is substituted ; but the previous forms constitute modi-
fications only of the normal colour and markings, and these
are so connected by intermediate gradations that it is far
from easy to disentangle the named forms. Moreover, some
of the most striking variations seem to have been disregarded.
One is of an exquisite pale silvery-grey with faint purplish
clouding and a central black dot ; others, more of the normal
colouring, have a sharp black streak down the base spreading
a little on the dorsal margin ; others, with ground colour
yellow-brown, have the fore wings sprinkled and blotted to a
greater or less extent with large black cloudy spots ; in others
the black has spread almost all over the fore wings, obliter-
ating the markings ; and in those with the branched black
longitudinal stripes, some are of a paler chestnut clouded
with black, but with the hinder area and part of the dorsal
margin silvery-white. Perhaps the most lovely form that I
have ever seen was one formerly in the collection of Mr»
0. A. Briggs : its ground colour clear bright white, with a
sharply margined central band of rich dark brown ; the spots
before the first line sharp and bright, and those forming the

236 LEPIDOPTERA.

subterminal line united into a complete stripe. But the most
notable must be admitted to be that one — of a creamy-white
ground tinged with grey, a large black-brown triangular
costal blotch, and the subterminal line sharply white, in a
brown area — in Mr. C. A. Dale's collection, which is believed
by him to be the type of Micro, Hdworthana, Westwood.

On the wing from August to October and, after hyberna-
tion, in April and May.

Larva cylindrical ; head rounded, light brown ; general
colour green, paler or darker, with a still darker cloudy dorsal
stripe and interrupted yellow spiracular lines ; the incisions
of the segments also yellowish, but wholly covered with long
white hairs, which are difficult to see except when held up to
the light.

June, July, and the beginning of August, on oak and the
large-leaved sallow (Salic caprosa), feeding upon the leaves.

Pupa cylindrical, bright green with a broad black line
down the middle of the back. Not more fully described. In
a white, somewhat boat-shaped, silken cocoon, upon an oak-
leaf, or between two leaves of oak.

The moth prefers to sit during the day squeezed closely to
the surface of the bark of a trunk or branch of oak, especially
selecting those upon which lichens are growing. Its colour
blends with these, and this, with its marbled markings and the
roughness of its raised scales, renders it practically invisible,
or rather, indistinguishable, so that when its wings are lifted
by a puff of breath the discovery is almost startling. At dusk
and during the darkness of night it flies very quietly, and
visits any available sweets, such as heather-bloom, ivy-bloom,
blackberries when very ripe, yew-berries, and even sugar.
At light it is rarely taken, but this may arise from its close
seclusion among its favourite oaks. Probably to be found in
oak woods of any size in almost every part of the country,
but records are rather scanty. This may arise in part from

SA RRO THRIPID&.

-37

its obscure habits, but far more from its being disregarded in
consequence of its close resemblance in shape to some of the
Tortriccs. It is very common in the New Forest, Hants, and
was formerly so in Woolmer Forest in the same county ; is
also to be found in woods in Kent, Sussex, Dorset, Surrey,
Berks, Essex, Cambs, Hunts, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire,
and Somerset ; more commonly in Devon, less so in Here-
fordshire ; very scarce in Norfolk and Suffolk ; and rare in
Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Cumber-
land. It has been taken in North Wales, and, since I have
myself found it in Pembrokeshire, there seems little doubt
that it is widely distributed in the Principality. In Scotland
it is scarce, but has been found in Aberdeenshire, Kincar-
dineshire, Perthshire, Stirlingshire, Argyle, and Moray. In
Ireland in Kerry, Galway, Westmeath, Limerick, and Tyrone.
Abroad in most parts of Central and Southern Europe, the
southern portions of Sweden and Norway, Finland, and
Livonia ; also in Asia Minor, Syria, Tartary, and the moun-
tain regions of Central Asia. In India there are forms which
have received the names of Sabrita metaspilella and S. latifas-
ciclla which do not seem to be separable from the present ;
and the same may be said of those which have been named
Tortrix frigid-ana and T. scrvptana, from the United States of
America.

This species, from its somewhat bell-shaped appearance
when the wings are closed — arising from the arching of the
base of the costa — and also from the existence of raised scales
on the surface of its fore wings, as in the Pcroncw, was long
associated with the Tortriccs, and even by Mr. Stainton was
placed in the first family of that group. In more modern
arrangements its essential distinction from that family has
been recognised, and it has been placed among the Bomby-
cina, with which, notwithstanding, it has but little in common.
In the course of his investigations through the very large
amount of material in the National Collection at South
Kensington, in preparation for his valuable work on the

238 LEPIDOPTERA.

moths of India, Sir George Hampson arrived at the conclu-
sion, which I think a correct one, that the genus Sarrothripa
is intimately connected with a considerable assemblage of
species of Noctuidm, which are distinguished by having
groups or lines of raised scales on their fore wings — Triorbis,
Plothcia, Hyblaza, Labanda, Argyrothripa, and others — and
that its proper position is in that great group.

Further study of species recently received, some of them
from South and East Africa, evidently allied to Earias and
Halias — genera of which we possess three species which also
were formerly placed, with Sarrothripa, in close proximity to
the Tortriccs, and more recently among the Bombycina — has,
I believe, convinced the same author that the affinities of these
also are more closely with the Noctuidm, and that he may
find it necessary to place the whole family Nyctceolidce of his
work — to which Halias and Earias belong — near to the
•Sarrothripince, and that they must be removed from among
the Arctiidce as at present placed by him. In this also,
after seeing the allied forms, I am disposed to concur, and
to indicate this position, as more suitable for those three
species in the family Chloephoridce, than where I have placed
them (in Vol. II. pages 174 to 182) in this work.

Family 4. GONOPTERID51.

Palpi with the second joint straight ; abdomen longer than
the hind wings, stout, smoothly scaled ; fore wings increasing
in width to the outer margin ; vein 5 of the hind wings fully
and strongly developed, yet arising from the cross-bar near to
vein k

Genus L GONOPTERA.

Antennas sometimes pectinated, almost naked ; palpi short,
porrected ; eyes naked ; front lashes dense, curled over ; back

CONOPTERID/E. 239

lashes small ; on the head is a conical tuft ; thorax with the
collar peaked, but without crests ; abdomen rather flattened,
smooth, but with two minute dorsal crests. Fore wings
broad behind and the hind margin produced into projecting
points ; hind wings broad, vein 3 crossing vein 4 to unite
on the cross-bar with vein 5.
We have but one species.

1. G. libatrix, L. — Expanse If to If inch. Thorax
peaked, brick-red ; fore wings broad, many-pointed behind,
pale purple-grey blotched with orange-red, and slenderly
barred with white. Hiud wings smoky-brown.

Antennae of the male pectinated with short oblique solid
teeth, minutely ciliated, pale brown, darker at the base ; palpi
rather small, narrowly tufted, porrected, purplish-brown ; eyes
black, but having a superficial coating of rusty-red; head
tufted with a prominent ridge, narrow at its apex, pale
purplish-brown, with the back rust-red ; around the base of
each antenna is a ring of thick erect pure white scales ;
collar large, upraised and peaked, even pushed forward in
the middle, orange-red, edged below and at the back with
pale purple-brown; shoulder-lappets orange-red shading off
to pale purple-brown at the back and below ; remainder of
the thorax of the same purplish-brown shade, the back scales
drawn together into a divided tuft, fascicles pale purplish-
drab ; abdomen broad, smooth, flattened a little, pale rusty-
brown, toward the base more tinged with purple ; on the
dorsal ridge of the basal segments are two very small
oblique tufts or crests, brownish-drab ; lateral tufts spreading
and conspicuous; anal tuft flatly compressed. Fore wings
broad, especially so behind, costa faintly arched at the base,
thence straight to near the apex, which is very sharply
pointed ; hind margin below it deeply concave, but in the
middle filled out to a squared point which extends farther
than the apex ; below this are three more angles divided
by deep hollows, the third being the anal angle ; dorsal

240 LEPIDOPTERA.

margin expanded and decidedly curved ; colour pale purple-
brown dusted with dark brown and richly clouded with
oransre-red ; in the middle of the base is a round white dot
of thickened upraised scales very sharply defined and like a
waxen drop on the surface ; basal line not indicated ; first
line nearly erect, twice curved, dusky-white edged on each
side with purplish-brown ; second line dull white, double,
rather oblique and direct, but a little curved in the middle,
and when close to the costa throwing back a white dash at a
sharp angle to join a white costal dot ; subterminal line just
visible as a meandering irregular whitish shade ; orbicular
stigma represented by a pure white dot upraised and very
similar to that at the base of the wing ; reniform by two
perpendicularly placed black dots ; from the base to the
second line the surface, and more especially the middle
portion, is much suffused, with large clouds of rich orange-
red, and a similar straight oblique dash lies at the base of
the dorsal margin ; cilia dull chocolate-brown shaded with
dark brown. Hind wings large, broad, but rather short ;
hind margin minutely crenulated, smoky purplish-brown, a
shade paler toward the base ; cilia concolorous. Female
extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings dull purple-brown dusted
with dark brown and clouded in the middle and along the
nervures with smoke-colour ; from a black costal spot arises
a similar oblique transverse line ; costa otherwise regularly
barred with black-brown ; dorsal margin iridescent yellowish -
white. Hind wings purple-brown much dusted with black-
brown ; a smoky-black partial central transverse stripe is
followed by a similar cloud toward the apex. Body and legs
purple-brown ; tibise barred with white.

Hardly variable, or only so in the general tone of colour,
darker or paler ; and in some degree in the extent of orange-
red clouding.

On the wing from August till October and, after hyberna-
tion, till May.

GONOPTERIDjE. 241

Larva with sixteen legs, the prolegs complete ; head
rounded, pale green ; body elongated, rather even in
thickness, but the segments slightly rounded up, extremities
very little tapering ; colour soft semi-transparent grass-
green, the usual lines scarcely visible, or sometimes the
spiracular more yellow-green ; spiracles reddish-black ; legs
and prolegs green. When young the dorsal and subdorsal
lines show rather darker green. When quite full-grown, and
about to pupate, a large jet-black spot appears on each side of
the second and third segments, at the insertion of tbe future
wings, but these spots are thrown off with the larva skin.

May to July or August on sallow, willow, and poplar;
feeding mainly at night, but remaining upon leaves of its
food-plaut during the day, and wonderfully protected by its
soft similar semi-transparent green colour. Its work, how-
ever, is conspicuous enough, and the considerably eaten
leaves of a strong sallow shoot by the wayside readily lead
to the discovery of the culprit ; its ravages in osier-beds are
sometimes rather serious.

Pupa nearly of the ordinary Noctua form, but rather more
pointed than usual at the head, and with the hinder portions
of the wing-covers swollen ; these covers, and those of the
limbs and antennas, are dull with excessively minute and
close roughening, which can hardly be called sculpture, but
their margins rather more glossy ; dorsal and abdominal
segments covered with the same dull downy appearance,
and the edges without pitting or other sculpture but levelled,
off behind ; cremaster short and blunt, but furnished with a
cluster of spreading hooked spikes or bristles. Colour usually
dull black, but sometimes dull chestnut-brown, in which case
the incisions of the abdominal segments are darker and the
spiracles nearly black. In a slightly-built silken chamber
among dead leaves on the ground.

The moth doubtless hides among dead leaves on the
ground during the day so long as it remains at large ; and
VOL. VI. Q

242 LEPIDOPTERA.

Professor Poulton states that it is particularly attractive to
birds, and points out that its shape when at rest, and colour,
harmonise in a wonderful manner with faded fallen leaves,
even to. the extent of its having upon its wings what appear
like small dots of white fungus. At night, during the
autumn, it will come freely to sugar daubed upon trees,
also to ivy-bloom and even ripe blackberries ; and in spring
occasionally to sallow-bloom, though much more readily to
sugar. Its flight is soft and gentle, but it is rarely captured
on the wing. I have found it at night in late summer
sitting upon leaves of reed, in great masses of this plant in
the fens, with other JYoduce, but the object of these assem-
blages never transpired. It has the curious habit of passing
the winter, if possible, in buildings, or, at any rate, under
masonry; and there is a record of the finding of eight
individuals sitting quietly for hybernation on the inside
of a church bell, undisturbed by its frequent ringing ! The
more usual resort, however, is the roof of an archway or cellar,
or of some outbuilding or disused store, always, or nearly
always, preferring the ceiling or roof. I had once (in 1865)
an excellent opportunity of observing the hybernation of this
insect, along with Vanessa urticw and other species. The
retreat was eminently suitable, a weather-proof and ceiled
building without windows, and the shutters not too closely
applied to the window-frames. Here, on August 21st, the
first G. libatrix took up its station ; within the following
fortnight four more had settled down, and one of them had
actually stationed itself upon the side of the wings and
body of a similarly hybernating Vanessa in such a manner
that the deeply indented hind margin of the moth showed
itself beyond that of the butterfly, giving the latter a very
odd appearance. This individual in a few days moved back
to the ceiling, and was joined by others, so that I found early
in October twent}T-seven individuals of the present species in
that .building, the weather up to this time having been quite
exceptionally hot and sunny. Indeed, this was the finest

QUADR1FID&. 243

and hottest autumn that I have known (previous to that of
1898), and the blackberries, in an unusual condition of
richness and sweetness, afforded every night a banquet to
myriads of moths, including those of the present species
which had not settled down for hybernation. To make
quite sure that the moths in the building were actually
established for the winter, and not merely hiding in the
daytime, I examined the premises at night with a lantern
and found all quiescent. Those which had found a crevice
or break in the plaster into which they could poke their
heads had not moved at all, and the rest onlj- changed their
positions very slightly, sometimes to push their heads for
shelter under a neighbour's wing. These, with a few more
which came in gradually in the later autumn, continued in
this state until the spring. It has been definitely ascertained
that pairing takes place after hybernation, the eggs being
laid in the spring. Found throughout England, Wales, and
Ireland, and in most parts commonly ; also in Scotland, in
the east to Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire, and even,
very rarely, in Moray ; in the west commonly to Clydesdale,
and in Argyleshire ; there is also a record of its occurrence
in Shetland. Abroad its range is very wide, over Central
Europe, the temperate portions of Northern Europe, Italy,
Corsica, the Balkan States, Southern Russia, Armenia, Asia
Minor, Tartary, the mountain regions of Central Asia, Japan,
Canada, and the United States throughout to California.

Family 5. QUADRIFIDiE.

Fore wings broad, frequently very so ; hind wings but
very slightly folded longitudinally, vein 5 strong and
complete, joined or very nearly joined to vein 4, producing
the same fulness on the hind margin as the other nervures.

Genus 1. OPHIODES.

Antenna3 cylindrical, naked ; palpi short, pointed forward ;
eyes naked, without lashes ; head with an angulated or

244 LEPIDOPTERA.

pointed tuft in front and a cross-ridge above it ; thorax
with a ridge down the middle of the back ; abdomen round,
smooth, and devoid of crests ; fore wings broad, thick,
crenulated behind ; hind wings broad ; cross-bar angulated ;
vein 5 arising upon it close to vein 4.
We have but one species

1. O. lunaris, Schiff. — Expanse 2£ to 2± inches. Very
robust ; thorax ridged on the back ; fore wings thick, ashy-
brown, darker behind ; first and second lines distinct and
direct ; reniform stigma black-brown. Hind wings pale
smoky-brown to the middle, darker beyond.

Antennae of the male rather stout, simple, cylindrical,
hardly ciliated, light brown, the back portion toward the
base white ; palpi stout, oblique, covered with closely
appressed scales, brown ; apical joint long and pointed ;
head smoothly tufted, olive-brown, with an angulated white
line across the face ; thorax stout, almost massive, thickly
and smoothly covered with scales, but with a sharply raised
ridge-like edge down the middle of the back, olive-brown ;
fascicles brownish-yellow ; abdomen silky, pale yellow-brown,
stout, and rather conical ; lateral tufts rather small ; anal
tuft compressed and pointed. Fore wings broad and ample ;
costa gently arched ; apex angulated ; hind margin strongly
crenulated, gently rounded, and but little oblique, more so
toward the anal angle ; dorsal margin nearly straight ;
colour brownish-drab or ashy-brown to the second line,
beyond this umbreous; close to the base is a small black
spot ; first line nearly perpendicular, very even and direct,
brownish-white, edged on each side with dark brown, and
again in the dorsal portion with smoky-brown ; second line
rather erect but gently curved, placed far from the hind
margin, brownish-white faintly edged inside with umbreous,
very strongly so outside, and clouded with black toward the
costal and dorsal margins ; subterminal line excessively
angulated and irregular but faint, placed in the middle

QUADRIFIDAl. 245

of the broad dark hind-marginal area, dark brown edged
inside with paler ; orbicular stigma only suggested by a
black-brown dot; reniforrn stigma conspicuous but rather
small, black-brown with a blacker margin ; before the
extreme hind margin is a faint row of black dots ; cilia
long and dense, dark brown. Hind wings large, rounded,
but crenulated behind ; light reddish-brown to the middle,
but with the costal edge pearly greenish-white ; beyond the
middle smoky-brown with a gloss of red-brown along the
hind margin ; cilia dull umbreous, paler at the tips. Female
a little smaller, with rather narrower fore wings, sometimes
more suffused with reddish-umbreous.

Underside of the fore wings silky pale purplish -brown,
with the dorsal margin lustrous white, reniforrn stigma
lunate, black ; hind wings of the same colour as the fore but
dusted with brown, and with a lunate black central spot placed
unusually near to the base. Body and legs dull pale brown.

Apparently not variable in any important degree.

On the wing in May and June.

Larva much elongated, stout in the middle ; head broad,
brownish-red ; body yellow-brown, abundantly covered with
slender longitudinal lines of red-brown atoms and dots ; no
dorsal line ; subdorsal lines indistinct, interrupted at each
segment except from the seventh to the ninth ; but on the
fourth replaced by a somewhat squared yellowish-red spot,
and on the following segments dotted with white ; spiracular
stripe more conspicuous, undulating, orange-red; at the
back of the twelfth segment is a rather raised ridge on
which is a cross-bar of orauge-red ; spiracles yellow, ringed
with black ; between the pairs of prolegs are large brown
spots ; legs and prolegs yellow-brown.

July and August on oak and poplar, feeding upon the
young shoots.

Pupa black-brown ; cremaster armed with six points ; in
a slight cocoon among moss or dead leaves. (Hofmann.)

246 LEPIDOPTERA.

Very little indeed is known here of the habits of this
rare species. Abroad it is said to frequent dry woods and to
be readily disturbed in the daytime. At night it has been
taken at sugar and at light. The first specimen on record
in this county seems to have been taken by Captain Chawner
in the year 1832 at the lighthouse at Lowestoft, Suffolk.
The next was recorded by the late Mr. E. Newman as having
been taken in May 1860 at sugar at West Wickham, Kent.
On June 18th, 1873, a specimen was obtained at sugar at
Abbotts Wood, Sussex; and on May 28th, 1875, another in
the same place ; one also having been taken by similar
means at Brighton in June 1874. The only other British
specimen of which I possess any certain knowledge was taken
by Dr. F. D. Wheeler at light at Stratton Strawless Wood,
Norfolk, at the end of May 1878. In Scotland Dr. White
recorded the capture of an example at Perth, " evidently
imported." In Ireland a specimen was taken at sugar in an
oak coppice close to the Tower Lodge at Killarney, Kerry,
in 1864, by the late Peter Bouchard, but Mr. E. Birchall
stated that two were secured in this locality. In Spain
Mr. J. J. Walker has found the larva commonly upon oak
bushes in the cork woods. The range of this species is
through Central and Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and
Asia Minor.

Genus 2. CATOCALA.

Antennas long, finely ciliated, slender ; palpi short and
blunt ; eyes naked and without lashes ; thorax broad, smooth,
flatly crested at the back ; abdomen very round, smooth, and
tapering, with small depressed dorsal tufts. Fore wings
broad, strong, and very ample ; hind wings large, brilliantly
coloured ; vein 5 uniting with vein 4 at the cross-bar,
strong and equal to the rest at the hind margin. All the
wings crenulated behind.

Larvae elongated, flattened beneath, and there spotted

QUADRIFID^E. 247

with black ; rough, somewhat twig-like, and having fleshy-
filaments at the sides ; head rather forked at the top.

Pup^e of ordinary form, covered with a hoary powdery
efflorescence, in a slight cocoon among debris.

We have five species, one being of excessive rarity :

A. Fore wings grey, striped and marbled with black ; hind
wings black with pale blue band. C. fraxini.

A2. Fore wings smoothly grey with black lines ; hind wings
pinkish-crimson with black bands. C. electa.

A3. Fore wings brownish-grey dusted with darker ; hind
wings dull crimson and black ; cilia broadly white.

C. nupta.

A4. Fore wings marbled, pale brown, black, and white ;
hind wings rich crimson, inner black band perpen-
dicular and curved. C. promissa.

A5. Fore wings marbled, yellow-brown and black, with
whitish central blotch ; hind wings purplish-crimson,
the inner black band much angulated. C. sponsa.

1. C. fraxini, L. — Expanse of inches. Very robust;
fore wings grey dusted with blue-grey, and banded with
zigzag black stripes, some of them in pairs ; hind wings
brownish-black with a broad pale blue central band, and the
hind margin white.

Antennas of the male long, simple, cylindrical, ciliated in
minute tufts, thickened toward the base and tapering off,
black-brown ; palpi short, thick, broadly tufted, grey-brown
dusted with white, apical joint distinct ; eyes black-brown ;
head tufted, black-brown dusted with white; thorax robust,
grey-brown, abundantly dusted with white, black, and golden-
brown ; the shoulder-lappets rather more hoary-brown, banded
with dull black and edged with dull white ; at the back is a
short broad spreading black crest edged with greyish-white ;
abdomen stout, round, and tapering, smoky-black with a
shading of bluish-white, and the edges of the hinder

248 LEPIDOPTERA.

segments white ; lateral tufts small, pale grey ; anal tuft long,
depressed, almost divided, pale brownish-grey, blackened
in the middle. Fore wings of moderate length, broad and
ample ; costa strongly arched throughout ; apex bluntly
angulated ; hind margin not very oblique, but gently curved
and strongly crenulated ; dorsal margin very gracefully
curved ; colour pale grey or whitish-grey, broadly and
abundantly rippled and dusted with blue-grey and black,
and a little with golden-brown ; basal line incomplete,
formed into two black curves which enclose a black blotch ;
first line double, the two stripes not parallel but much
angulated, dusky-black dusted with golden-brown and en-
closing whitish spaces ; second line also double, more parallel,
excessively angulated and indented, the inner portion black,
the outer similar, except the middle portion, which is golden-
brown, and the intermediate space white ; subterminal line
dull black, sprinkled all over with a dotting of smoky-brown,
angulated and throwing off short points throughout; no
orbicular stigma ; reniform stigma black centred and edged
with grey, and outside with a partial black margin ; imme-
diately beneath is a large creamy-white spot edged with
black, like an additional stigma ; outside this and extending
across the wing is a broad central band of dusting of black
and golden-brown, all the transverse lines being broadly or
narrowly clouded on each side with similar dusting ; along
the hind margin is a row of black crescents, that which is
nearest the anal angle uniting with the subterminal line ;
beyond these is a faintly double blackish marginal line undu-
lating beautifully into every crenulation ; cilia greyiwli-white.
Hind wings broad, rounded, and very strongly crenulated
behind, smoky-black in two broad bands, divided by a pale
blue or slate-blue broad central space, which fades to white
at the costa ; along the hind margin the hinder black band
is invaded by a cloudy-white stripe, the outer poi'tion of
which is, with the cilia, bright white faintly dashed with
brown streaks, and there is along the extreme margin a

QUADRIF1D31. 249

series of black-brown crescents marking the crenulations ;
the long fine hair-scales of the dorsal margin are also white.
Female rather stouter, otherwise accurately similar.

Underside of the fore wings white at the base and on the
costa, toward the dorsal margin more pearly-white ; beyond
this is a very broad, oblique, cloudy, smoky-black band uniting
upon the dorsal margin with another, much more perpendi-
cular and deeper black, transverse band ; beyond a broad
white stripe is another smoky-black band which shades off
gradually to a blackish dusting upon the white hind margin.
This is sharply edged by a black slender undulating line
which throws in points from its inner curves, and others-
outwards into the white cilia from the outer curves. Hind
wings shining white with a large black central spot, and
a transverse black curved stripe beyond it ; towards the
hind margin is another, broader but more smoky-black band
shading off to white along the hind margin and apex ;
marginal line and cilia as in the fore wings. Body and legs
yellowish-white, the tufts upon the femora very large ; knees
also tufted, pale grey in front ; tibiae banded with black.

On the wing in August, September, and even October.

Larva nearly three inches in length, slender, head broader
than the second but a little narrower than the third segment,
flattened in front, and slightly notched on the crown ; body
of fairly uniform width, but segments 7, 8, 9 and 10 the
broadest, undersurface flattened ; on the back of the ninth
segment is a small hump, and a smaller ridge at the back of
the twelfth ; segments clearly denned ; dorsal region smooth
and without hairs, but a rather dense row of short hairs,
pointing downwards, below the spiracles, divides the dorsal
from the ventral area. Dorsal area putty colour with a
strong greenish tinge, and freckled, particularly on the hinder
part of each segment, with brown atoms; head pale pink,
edged at the back with a conspicuous band of dark damson-
plum colour ; this band narrows off to a point on each side

250 LEPIDOPTERA.

of the face, the upper part of the latter being reticulated
with the same colour; towards the mouth are several dark
brown streaks, whilst on each mandible, and also on each
side, is a dark brown spot ; dorsal stripe green, very narrow ;
spiracles oblong-oval, black, encircled with greyish- white ;
the hump on the ninth segment is darker than the ground
colour, the dark colour extending into a somewhat horse-
shoe-shaped mark ; the back of the ridge on the twelfth
segment is of the same ; segmental divisions pink. Ventral
surface greenish-white, with a large and conspicuous dull
black triangle on segments 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 ; and paler,
more rust-coloured marks on the centre of segments 3 and 4 ;
legs and prolegs greenish-white, the former long and tinged
on the outside with pink ; the last three pairs of the latter
large and spread out ; hairs greyish- white.

When half-grown the head is considerably wider than any
of the following segments and the colours throughout are
of a darker shade. (G. T. Porritt.)

May to July on poplar — Populus nigra, P. tremula, and
P. alba — resting at full length on the twigs or small
branches, and from the form of the legs and prolegs, having
a sprawling appearance.

Pupa of ordinary form, purple plum-colour, covered with
a greyish-white powder like the bloom of a ripe plum. In a
loose cocoon among dead leaves.

The moth usually sits during the day upon the trunk of a
tree, to which its colour and markings closely assimilate it.
At dusk it flies, and has been taken at sugar and other
sweets, and even in bottles of such mixtures placed among
fruit-trees to destroy wasps. When sipping the sugar placed
upon a tree-trunk it sits with wings upraised, and must have
a very fine appearance. Always a rare species, probably only
occurring with us as a migrant, since there is no record, so
far as I am aware, of the finding its larva in these Islands.
No certain record of the earliest capture seems to exist.

QUADRIFIDAZ. 251

The earlier writers refer to it merely as a rare species.
Haworth certainly knew of several British examples.
Mr. C. W. Dale has, in the collection made by his late
father, a specimen captured at Doveridge, Dorset, in the
year 1740. One was taken at Arundel, Sussex, in 1838, in
a bottle of beer and sugar intended for the capture of
wasps. In 1842 Mr. S. Stevens took one at sugar in his
garden at Hammersmith. Up to 1846 three had been
recorded in Lancashire ; in that year one was obtained at
Yarmouth, Norfolk ; one at Bath, Somerset, in 1850 ; one at
Hull, Yorkshire, in 1858 ; one in the Isle of Wight in 1866 ;
others at Ipswich and Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and in Cheshire, in
1868 ; at Eastbourne and Brighton, Sussex, in 1869 ; in 1870
one at rest upon an ash-tree in Regent's Park, London, in
the daytime, and another in 1872, in which year specimens
were taken at Shrewsbury, at Wisbech, Norfolk, at Bourn,
Lincolnshire, and three at Ipswich. For some time after
this year the species seems not to have been represented, but
in 1880 it was taken in Somerset; after another interval at
Winchelsea, Sussex, and in Kent in 1889; in North Devon
in 1895, in which year also specimens were obtained near
Hastings, Sussex, and at Folkestone, Kent ; at Scarborough,
Yorkshire, in 1896. Probably these only represent a portion
of the captures, since I see that there is one, without date,
at Burton-on-Trent, Leicestershire, and that ten in all are
recorded from Lancashire, four from Yorkshire, and four
from Cheshire. Of the older captures, two beautiful speci-
mens may be seen at Bethnal Green Museum in the collection
of the late Mr. H. Doubleday ; and three in the collection of
the late Mr. F. Bond, now in the possession of Mr. Sydney
Webb. On the borders of Scotland a specimen was taken in
September 1876 at sugar in the Vicarage garden at Berwick-
on-Tweed. Farther north, in September 1883, another at
sugar on an oak at Tulyallan Woods, Culross, Fife ; and in
1896 Mr. Arthur Home obtained a specimen at Aberdeen,
and saw another which had been taken in the same year in

252 LEPIDOPTERA.

the Orkneys. Eespecting another specimen, taken by a
working man who found it sitting in a road in the neigh-
bourhood of Hawick, very careful inquiry has been made by
Mr. W. Grant Guthrie, and there appears to be no doubt of
the genuineness of the capture. These are all the Scottish
specimens of which I have any knowledge ; and there
appears to be no record for Wales. In Ireland a specimen
was captured in the year 1845 at Kingstown by the Rev.
Joseph Greene ; and another by Mr. D. C. Campbell at
Londonderry in 1896. Abroad it is found throughout
Central Europe, South Sweden, South Finland, Piedmont,
Southern Russia, and Tartary.

2. C. nupta, L. — Expanse 2i to o£ inches. Large and
stout, fore wings broad and ample, pale greyish-brown dusted
with dark grey, and marbled with zigzag black cross-lines
and shades ; hind wings light scarlet-crimson, with a broad
curved black central stripe, and broader black marginal band
edged with white.

Antennae of the male long, simple, minutely ciliated,
brown ; palpi rather short, curved up, broadly tufted, dark
brown, apical joint smooth and distinct ; eyes naked, promi-
nent, mottled with greenish-brown and black ; head smooth,
grey-brown dusted with white; thorax grey- brown shaded
with yellow-brown, the collar faintly barred with the same
and with smoky-black ; at the back is an obscure double
crest tinged with brown ; fascicles very slender, smoky-
brown ; abdomen smooth and tapering, pale grey-brown,
each segment edged with white ; lateral tufts minute ; anal
tuft compressed and pointed. Fore wings broad and ample ;
costa rather considerably arched, especially so toward the
apex, which is angulated ; hind margin very conspicuously
crenulated, nearfy straight, but curved off at the anal angle ;
dorsal margin faintly curved ; colour grey or brownish-grey,
much dusted with black and faintly shaded with yellowish-
brown ; basal line angulated, incomplete, dusky-black ; first

QUADRIFID^E. 253

line double, the outer rather thick, black-brown, the inner
pale brown, both, with the pale brown enclosed stripe, rippled
and angulated or placed in curves from each end, yet very
direct ; second line black, edged with yellow-brown, arranged
in angles and long points, an especially deep inward sweep
close to the dorsal margin being followed by black zigzags,
and half-way to the costa by a large outward angle ; sub-
terminal line composed of black dusting placed in regular
angles and edged inside with pale clouding ; no orbicular
stigma ; reniform stigma very large, edged at the back with
black, and having two erect parallel bars of black dusting
followed by a faint similar marginal line ; below it is a
brownish ovate blotch of one-half the size, edged with black-
brown ; costa spotted at the junction of the transverse lines
with dusky-black ; hind margin dotted with black lunules ;
cilia grey-brown delicately lined with darker brown, which
follows the undulations of the marginal crenulations. Hind
wings large, rich red or scarlet-crimson, with long orange-red
hair-scales along the dorsal area ; from the costa before the
middle arises a broad central black curved stripe, which
tapers off toward the middle of the wing, but is there
thickened by an outward extension, and bends toward the
dorsal margin but does not attain it ; beyond this is a very
broad black band which, commencing just be}rond the middle
of the costa. occupies the whole hind-marginal space, but has
its inner edge waved and excavated, the outer following
accurately the crenulations of the margin ; cilia long, clear
white. Female rather stouter, but closely similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black ; the base, a
half band from the costa and a broad sinuous complete band
beyond the middle, all white ; apical region thickly dusted
with hoary-grey, which runs along the hind margin. Hind
wings light scarlet, shading off along the costa to white, and
with black bands as on the upper side ; apical edge and cilia
white. Body dusky-white; legs grey in front and barred
with pale brown; leg-tufts brownish -white.

254 LEPIDOPTERA.

Usually very constant in colour and markings, but
occasionally a remarkable exception is met with ; one now
in the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason at Burton-on-Trent is
magnificent, the fore wings being suffused with bluish-slate,
the hind wings almost black, the usual red areas being
wholly suffused with smoky red-black, while the bands are
almost blue-black. This specimen was reared by Mr.
J. H. Smart, of Plumstead, Kent, from a larva found in
that neighbourhood. An example in which the red colour
of the hind wings was replaced by blue — as in the last
species — appears to have been taken at Colchester in 1889.
Another taken at Mitcham, Surrey, in 1888, by Mr.
M. Winckley, has the fore wings much darkened, and the
hind with the usual red colour replaced by a warm brown,
the black bands shot with purple, and a purplish glow over
the entire surface. Occasional specimens have the hind
wings of a dull brick-red ; and Mr. W. West, of Streatham,
has one in which they are shot with yellow.

On the wing in August and September, occasionally till
mid-October.

Larva elongated, tapering a little to each end, flattened
beneath, and having along the sides numerous bristles, which
slope downwards and cause it to seem closely appressed to
the surface upon which it is resting; above these is an
undulating raised longitudinal ridge ; segments transversely
wrinkled near the incisions, and having a pair of small brown
subdorsal prominences or knobs at each incision ; between
those, at the end of the eighth segment, is a larger broad
dorsal hump. Head flattened, the face pale grey edged with
black, antenna! papilla? brown ; sides of the head mottled
with grey and brown ; body pale greyish-brown, abundantly
and minutely waved with dark brown, the dorsal and sub-
dorsal stripes dark brown and undulating, but rather obscure,
the brown waved clouds running into them and being studded
with multitudes of minute darker dots ; undersurface pale

QUADRIFID&. 255

grey, with a large black spot in the middle of each segment ;
legs pale brown; prolegs pale grey, the anal pair much
extended, but when at rest laid closely together and slightly
elevated. When quite full grown the markings become
much obscured or obliterated and the colour paler. In
general appearance singularly like the lame of some of the
larger Geomctridcr.

By careful and continued experiments on larvae of this
species from the egg to full growth Professor Poulton and
Miss Lilian Gould have proved, I think conclusively, that
the shades of colour, from pale grey to uniform dark brown,
are controlled by their surroundings, so as to agree in the
most favourable manner, for their own security, with the
colour of the twigs and branches upon which they rest.
Papers on this subject have been read before the Entomo-
logical Society of London.

April to July on willow, but occasionally upon poplar and
plum; feeding at night; hiding in the daytime in the
crevices of the bark of the tree, on which, from their
wonderful assimilation in colour and structure, they are
practically invisible, and are best found by the sense of
touch.

In the egg state through the winter.

Pupa of the usual Noctua form, regularly tapering behind ;
the face and antenna-covers tolerably smooth, but the limb- and
wing-covers closely inscribed with sculpture of incised lines,
and the dorsal and abdominal segments with abundant pitting,
except a smooth band at the hinder edge of each segment,
All this sculpture is obscured by a thick dusting of bluish-
white powder or bloom, which clings closely to it; under
this the general colour is purple-brown; cremaster black,
short, broad, flattened and extremely rugose, furnished with
a pair of strong spines slightly hooked, and outside these
with a few light brown curled bristles, with all of which it
holds strongly to the silk of its cocoon. This last is open

256 LEPIDOPTERA.

and loose, consisting of a comparatively slight fabric of silk
fastened to any surrounding dead leaves or debris, close to
the surface of the ground.

The moth sits in the daytime, with its bright hind wings
quite hidden by the broad fore wings, on the trunk of a tree
or on a wall or fence. In colour it usually assimilates closely
with the surface on which it rests, but its broadly triangular
form, as it rests with head up, makes it really sufficiently
conspicuous. It is, however, usually on the alert, and if
disturbed flies vigorously away over houses or around trees
to a more secure hiding-place, being while on the wing
a gay and beautiful object. At dusk it flies voluntarily, and
may be seen around willow-trees, sometimes commonly. It
comes readily to sugar both at that time and late at night,
also to the flowing sap of a wounded tree, and occasionally
to light.

Formerly plentiful in the London suburbs and still to be
found occasionally ; indeed I have seen it sitting here upon
the trunk of a tree in my own garden, and rather frequently
on the trees in the adjacent street. Moderately common
wherever willows occur throughout the Southern and Eastern
Counties of England to Norfolk, and westward to Devon, but
apparently rare in Somerset, Herefordshire, and Worcester-
shire, and scarcely noticed north of Bucks and Hunts in the
Midlands or of the counties already mentioned, save once in
Yorkshire and a rather doubtful record in Berwickshire. In
Ireland Mr. Kane has received only vague information of
the occurrence of two specimens, one without locality, the
other seen only in the County Louth. Abroad it has an
extensive range, through Central Europe, South Sweden,
Northern Italy, Livonia, the Balkan States, Southern Eussia,
Asia Minor, Persia, Northern India, and the mountainous
regions of Central Asia.

3. C. electa, Bkh. — Expanse 2ito 2| inches. Fore wings
pale grey with paler clouds and black lines. Hind wings

QUADRIFID^E. 257

pinkish-crimson with two black bands, the inner shortly-
bent ; cilia white.

Antennas of the male long and slender, minutely ciliated,
brown ; palpi rather short and thick, blackish-brown tipped
with white ; eyes black-brown ; head whitish-grey with flat
protruding scales ; thorax whitish-grey, dusted with darker,
the collar with a broad light-brown bar across the front, the
shoulder-lappets and a broad back-crest edged with black-
brown ; abdomen rather downy, pale grey, the dorsal crest
obscure or compressed, tinged with smoky-brown ; lateral
tufts small ; anal tuft rather long, compressed laterally,
tinged with brown. Fore wings ample ; costa very gently
arched ; apex squarely angulated ; hind margin but slightly
crenulated, curved and full ; dorsal margin faintly hollowed ;
pale slate-grey with faint transverse shadings of pale brown ;
basal line black, incomplete, forming two bends from the
costa ; first line repeatedly and deeply angulated, duplicated,
formed of black and brown atoms, but the costal half of the
outer duplicate deep black ; second line black, deeply angu-
lated, indeed straggling into very long deep black angles above
the middle ; subterminal line a regularly angulated shade of
very pale grey bounded inwardly by a parallel shade of light
brown atoms, and outwardly by a clouding of dust of darker
grey and brown, through which the nervures are blackened ;
reniform stigma large, defined by a regular black edging
inwardly and an irregular angulated one outwardly, and
containing a smaller, more distinctly black-margined, similar
marking ; below this is a pale spot with a slender black
margin which unites with, and opens, one of the angles of
the second line ; hind margin spotted between the crenula-
tions with small black crescents ; cilia grey. Hind wings
broad, rounded and crenulated ; pinkish crimson, with the
usual two black bands, the inner short, broad and rounded
like a head, close to the costa, then narrowed to a thick neck,
below which it leads abruptly in from a broad round shoulder,
and is suddenly cut off half-way to the dorsal margin ; outer

VOL. VI. R

258 LEPIDOPTERA.

band very broad from the apex to the middle, theuce tapering
to the anal angle, irregular in its inner margin, but very
little excavated ; cilia white. Female similar.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-black with large white
bars, one at the base, another part way from the costa to the
dorsal margin, the third complete, though very narrow toward
the dorsal margin ; apical region also dusted with white.
Hind wings white from the costa to near the middle, thence
rosy-crimson streaked with white ; black bands nearly as on
the upperside, but the inner more slender. Body and legs
dusky white, the fore tibite barred with black-brown.

On the wing in August and September.

Larva paler or darker yellow-grey or yellow-brown
sprinkled with minute black dots, the raised dots on the
back yellow ; on the eighth segment is a lenticular elevation,
bright yellow, narrowly edged with black ; on the eleventh
segment another elevation, doubly pointed, yellow-brown ;
spiracles white, ringed with black ; the fringe of hairs short,
whitish ; head divided, rather heart-shaped, yellow with a
browner edge.

May and June on willow and poplar. (Dr. Hofmann.)

Pupa brown, with a blue powdering. (Hofmann.)

This excessively rare species can hardly be regarded as
other than a casual migrant with us. Two specimens
only are satisfactorily known to have been taken in this
country ; the first at sugar on the trunk of an elm near
Brighton, on the 24th September 1875, by Mr. A. C. Vine;
the other in a trap set to catch and destroy wasps in a garden
at Corfe Castle, Dorset, by Mr. Eustace R. Bankes, on Sep-
tember 12th, 1892. Abroadit is found in France, Belgium,
Germany, Northern Italy, Southern Russia, Armenia, and
Tartary.

[C. elocata, Msp. — This, which at one time was recorded
as a British species, is not to be confounded with C. electa.

QUADRIFID^;.

Curtis recorded ifc in error, and Stephens pointed out the
error and lta cause. It is a fine insect, larger than C. nupta,
and rather similar to it, but with broader fore winffs more
dusted with black, and with thicker black lines, dilerently
placed There is no reason whatever to suppose that it has
ever been found in these islands. Its range abroad is
through part of Central Europe, Southern Europe, Northern
Africa, Asia Minor, with Syria, Armenia, and Central

4. C. sponsa, Z.-Expanse 2* to 3 inches. Robust, fore
wings ample, pale grey-brown or olive-brown with transverse
Mack lines and bands of darker clouding, and a white or pale
cloud around the stigma. Hind wings rich purplish-crimson,
the central black stripe twice angulated in its upper portion
and curved below; hinder black band furnished with two
deep angular indentations; cilia white, spotted with black

Antenna, of the male long and slender, faintly ciliated,
black-brown; palpx small, with a minute pointed apical
joint, yellowish-white with much black dusting outside ; eyes
black, prominent; head dark brown dusted with pale yellow •
thorax black-brown, dusted and barred, especially on the
collar, with golden-brown and white ; back crest short and
inconspicuous, but double, golden-brown tipped with black-
fascicles grey-brown; abdomen smooth and tapering, dusky'
golden-brown, the dorsal region covered with rather \oZ
black-brown and golden-brown hair-scales in ridges across
the segments, the middle portion sometimes being elevated
m minute crests; lateral tufts hardly perceptible ; anal tuft
compressed and almost pointed. Fore wings elongated and
of moderate breadth; costa gently arched; apex bluntly
angulated; hind margin strongly crenulated and faintly
curved ; dorsal margin rather full and tufted aW its edge
with raised scales; colour grey-brown, olive-brown, or yellow-
brown, much clouded by a dusting of black and black-brown •
basal line short, straight, but toothed, black, edged outwardly

260 LEPIDOPTERA.

with white ; first line obscure, zigzag, double, black, but so
broadly shaded with velvety black dusting as to be much
concealed ; on the dorsal margin it encloses a white or yellow
spot ; second line deep black, duplicated, much indented,
and throwing back a strong angle above the middle ; subter-
minal line deep black, sharply indented throughout, and
edged inside by a similarly indented pale yellow or ashy-
white line ; nervures, especially beyond the middle, distinctly
blackened ; reniform stigma placed back almost into the
ordinary position of the orbicular, white or pale j^ellow, edged
with black, and containing portions of a black indented ring ;
before it, in the discal cell, is a white or yellow blotch, and
beneath it a large similar spot, edged with black and rather
pointed ; between the first and second lines the costal region
is usually tinged with yellow or ashy-white, as also is the
dorsal margin, and through both passes an oblique bent
angulated central narrow bluish shade ; along the hind
margin a row of yellow dots is backed by black lunules ;
cilia yellow-brown at the base, white at the edge, and the
colours divided by an undulating black-brown line. Hind
wings broad ; rich purplish-crimson, the long hair-scales
toward the dorsal margin also tinged with purple ; costa
black ; from it arises a broad black central stripe, three times
strongly angled and then curved toward the dorsal margin,
which it nearly attains ; beyond it is a broad black hind-
marginal band, its inner edge excavated into two angular-
hollows which lie opposite the outer angles of the inner
band ; cilia deeply crenulated, white shaded with smoky-
black. Female very similar, but stouter.

Underside of the fore wings velvety-black, greyer at the
base and apex ; before the middle is a partial yellowish-
white or reddish-white transverse stripe ; beyond the middle
a nearly complete white one ; cilia white. Hind wings rich
crimson, the costal region ashy- grey; central spot large,
black ; the black stripes as on the upper side ; cilia white.
Body and legs pale ashy-brown ; front tibias barred with black,

QUADRIFIDjE. 261

Variable in the depth of ground colour of the fore wings
as already indicated, still more so in the depth and extent of
dark clouding, which in some examples is hardly existent, in
others is so deep and extended that the white about the
stigma is obliterated ; while in other specimens, otherwise
extremely, dark this shows up clearly and conspicuously.
One of the most beautiful forms is strongly tinged with soft
yellow-brown, and has oval spots of orange-ochreous between
the second and subterminal lines. Sometimes, in the female
especially, the basal and dorsal region of the hind wings is
tinged with black. In the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper is
a specimen having the black band of the hind wings of
nearly double its usual width.

On the wing in July and August.

Larva elongated, attenuated at each extremity ; ninth
segment swollen and humped ; twelfth segment humped and
with two dorsal prominences ; all the dorsal spots raised into
little red warts emitting black bristles; undersurface much
flattened ; a fringe of fleshy filaments extends along the
sides above the legs and prolegs, which sprawl outwards ;
head hardly bifid, pale brown ; face flattened and outlined
with black ; general colour greyish-brown with a greenish
tinge and dusted with black; the fifth segment, and the
incisions between the eighth and ninth and the tenth and
eleventh, paler, the hump on the ninth tipped with ochreous ;
spiracles edged with black ; undersurface greenish cream-
colour, with four conspicuous purplish-brown spots between
the prolegs ; legs tinged with pink. (C. Fenn.)

April to June on oak; when very young preferring the
blossoms (catkins), but soon commencing to feed on the
leaves, to which it then devotes itself.

Pupa elongate, rounded, tapering considerably to the anal
extremity, which is hooked. Reddish-purple — the colour of
an Orleans plum — covered with a bluish efflorescence. In a
rather strong but loosely-made cocoon of wiry whitish silk

262 LEP1D0PTERA.

spun among rubbish, under moss, in crevices of bark, or on the
surface of the ground. (C. Fenn.) But Mr. Newman found
it to spin up " among oak leaves without descending to the
ground " ; and Mr. W. Buckler says that it spins a loose kind
of hammock amongst the oak leaves, and therein changes
to pupa, from all which we may conclude that it is much
influenced in its arrangements for pupation by its surround-
ings.

The winter is passed in the egg state.

In all probability the moth sits during the day upon the
branches and upper portions of the trunks of oak-trees ; it
seems rarely to be noticed at that time, yet it is on record
that on some afternoons, when the moth is common, it may
be seen flying high round the oak-trees long before sunset ;
at dusk it flies vigorously round them, sometimes so early as
to be distinctly visible without a light, and comes eagerly to
sugar on the oak trunks. Here it usually sits down quietly
with wings closed, or nearly closed, and showing a stripe of
crimson, when it is a beautiful object; but sometimes flies
off readily, and requires the net for its capture. Apparently
its evening flight is over at about half-past eight or nine
o'clock. This magnificent species is one of the especial
prizes of that most interesting collecting-ground, the New
Forest, Hants. Here in certain years, at quite irregular
intervals, it may be taken at sugar by dozens, scores, or even
hundreds, while in other years, from no apparent cause,
hardly a specimen can be found. I do not know of any other
locality in the United Kingdom in which it is ever to be
found in plenty ; it is, however, taken occasionally at Win-
chelsea and Ewhurst, Sussex ; in Dorset, Oxfordshire, and
Suffolk ; and the capture of a specimen has recently been
recorded so near to London as Blackheath. Formerly it was
more widely distributed ; taken in Richmond Park and Birch
Wood, Surrey, also at Windsor and Leatherhead, the woods
at Sydenham and Shooter's Hill, Kent, rarely at Darenth

QUADRIFID^:. 263

Wood in the same county, and even in one locality in
Gloucestershire. This appears to be the extent of its range
past (so far as is known) and present, in these Islands.
Abroad it is found in many parts of Central Europe, South
Sweden, Northern Italy, Sardinia, Livonia, Southern Russia,
Siberia, Persia, and in some portions of North America.

5. C. promissa, Esp. — Expanse 2 to 2± inches. Thorax
moderately stout ; fore wings pale grey dusted and banded
with black-brown ; transverse lines zigzagged, deep black.
Hind wings rich crimson ; the inner black stripe very per-
pendicular, curved but not angulated ; hinder band deep
black ; cilia white dashed with black.

Antennas of the male long, tapering, minutely ciliated,
black brown ; palpi rather short, curved up, broadly tufted,
black, the base and tips of the joints white, apical joint a
small point ; eyes rough, naked, deep black ; head white
mixed with black, and having a transverse black bar between
the antennas ; collar white, repeatedly barred with a mixture
of golden-brown and black, and across its upper portion
with deep black ; remainder of the thorax mottled with pale
brown and black and dusted with white, a black edging
round each shoulder-lappet, and a similar line across the
very small short back crest ; fascicles grey-brown ; abdomen
of the same colour, stout, but tapering to a point; dorsal
portion covered with soft light brown hair-scales ; lateral
tufts hardly visible, anal tuft very narrow. Fore wings
moderately broad; costa rather straight or very faintly
arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin strongly
crenulated, oblique but hardly curved ; dorsal margin rather
filled-out; colour pale grey or whitish-grey, abundantly
dusted and mottled with black, and sometimes with pale
brown ; basal line black, rather straight, abbreviated, resting
upon the upper of two black streaks which mark the bases of
nervures; first line deep black, very thick, duplicated at
each margin, but in the middle and throughout broadly

264 LEPIDOPTERA.

clouded on its inner side with deep black ; second line
double, black, thickened, and abundantly waved and angu-
lated throughout, one loop near the dorsal margin so long as
to approach the first line ; subterminal line double, brown-
black, excessively angulated and zigzagged throughout, and
enclosing a pale similarly formed stripe ; beyond this the
hind-marginal area is much dusted with black, and sometimes
with golden-brown ; reniform stigma rather large, its middle
portion being a black angulated cloud with a pale brown
centre, surrounded with pale grey, and the whole enclosed by
a black edging; beneath it is a large pale spot edged by a
black loop which joins the second line ; the portion of the
wing between the first and second lines is usually pale, the
costal portion especially, but in it are two black spots on the
costa, and the small beginnings of a central shade on the
dorsal margin ; along the extreme hind margin is a row of
ashy- white dots backed by black lunules ; cilia rather crenu-
lated, of the colour of the wing-margin, edged and indented
between the crenulations with white. Hind wings moderately
broad, rounded and strongly crenulated, rich crimson ; inner
black stripe rather slender, perpendicular but with faint
curves to below the middle of the wing, then curling toward
the dorsal margin, which, however, it does not nearly
approach ; outside it, but with its inner edge not quite
parallel, is the usual broad deep black hind-marginal band,
very broad at the apex, narrowing off toward the anal angle,
its outer edge usually tinged or clouded with crimson ; cilia
white partially tinged with crimson, but otherwise clouded
and interrupted with black. Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings deep black, the base, a large
blotch before the middle and a stripe from the costa which
tapers off to the dorsal margin, all white ; apex dusted, and
cilia spotted, with white. Hind wings rich crimson, the
black bands as on the upper side, except that the inner is
completed to the dorsal margin and is also joined to a large
black central lunule at both its extremities, thereby enclosing

Q UA DRIF1D.-E. 265

a round, partially yellow spot; the portion near the costa, of
the stripe between the two bands, is also yellow. Body and
legs brownish-white ; tibia3 barred black and white.

Hardly variable except in the depth and extent of dark
shading upon the fore wings and in the presence or absence
of light brown dusting or shading in the hinder area.

On the wing in July and August.

Larva elongated, thickest at the ninth and tenth segments,
tapering thence a little gradually to the head, and a little more
to the anal extremity ; on the back of the ninth segment is a
prominent ridge having a triangular hump ; and there is a
slight elevation near the end of the twelfth, bearing the hinder
pair of tubercles, more sharply prominent than the rest;
back rounded ; undersurface flattened ; at the junction of the
two, just above the legs, is a fringe of fleshy filaments, simple
and branched ; the anterior pairs of raised dots on the back
are small, while the hinder pairs and the single row along
each side are rather large and bluntly pyramidal, every one
having a fine bristle ; the head rises a little on the crown,
where the lobes are slightly defined, and is rather flat in
front, light green or greenish-grey, reticulated with darker
grey ; a transverse streak of black reticulation over the crown
extends to the mouth, defining the face, which is whitish
with a dark grey streak on either side downwards to the
mouth, behind is a short black streak at the back of the
cheeks ; ground colour of the body light greenish-grey ; the
thoracic segments much covered with freckles of light and
dark grey and black, some of them so disposed as to faintly
indicate double dorsal and subdorsal lines ; on the fifth seg-
ment is a large distinct pale patch of faint ochreous-green
on the sides and back, the hinder area being darker ; another
pale patch on the ninth, and on the tenth less pale, strongly
contrasted toward the division by a sooty transverse irregular
band extending down either side from the blackish hump on
the ninth segment to the back of the leg, whence it spreads

266 LEPIDOPTERA.

behind, at first broadly, then slants off to a point on the
lower side of the tenth ; the intermediate and remaining
segments freckled with greenish-grey, which on the middle
ones forms rather truncated diamond shapes; raised dots
white, more or less edged with black or grey ; from the
hinder proceed short, double but divergent, dark grey lines
to the back of the segments, most strongly defined on the
fifth and the last three; spiracles oval, dull red, outlined
with black ; fleshy filaments pearly-white ; anterior legs ex-
tending laterally, at right angles to the body, pale green,
ringed with dark greenish-grey ; ventral prolegs similarly
extended outwards, the first two pairs whitish-grey, the
third and fourth longer, grey in front, darker greenish-grey
and freckled behind, the anal pair similar in colour, extended
back at an obtuse angle ; ventral surface whitish with a
conspicuous blackish mark on the middle of each segment,
viz. a transverse bar between each pair of the anterior legs,
a rather large round spot on the fifth and sixth segments
and a very much larger spot each on the seventh to tenth,
thence smaller on each of the remaining segments — those on
the ninth and tenth of a transverse diamond form. The
skin of the head, back, and sides is rough, the undersurface
smoother, the filaments smooth. (Condensed from Mr.
Buckler's account.)

End of April till June ; on oak, feeding upon the leaves,
except that when very young it bores into the buds of oak
and eats them out, more especially those which contain the
blossom ; feeding at night ; resting by day on the twigs or
branches, to which it bears an accurate resemblance.

The winter is passed in the egg state.

Pupa rounded and sloping smoothly to the head in a convex
curve ; behind, on the back of the abdomen, is a slight depres-
sion ; wing-covers smooth, and from them the abdomen is
full, but soon tapers rather sharply to the tip ; cremaster
rough, and furnished with several converging curly-topped

QUADRIFID^E. 267

spines ; general colour purplish-brown, the abdominal divisions
dingy-red, though this local colouring can only be seen on
parts which happen to be rubbed, as the surface generally is
covered with a fine opaque powdery bluish bloom ; a few
short, fine, light brown bristly hairs, pointing backward,
are sparingly distributed over the abdomen. In a cocoon
composed chiefly of small particles of dry stalks and roots,
with peat earth, and lined with coarse whitish silk in large
meshes, yet smooth ; placed among light soil just beneath
the surface. (W. Buckler.)

The moth appears to hide, like the preceding, in the day-
time, in oak-trees, doubtless resting upon the branches or
higher portions of the trunks, very difficult to see from its
close resemblance to the bark. At early dusk it flies in an
extremely lively manner, coming readily to sugar spread on
the trunks of oaks, but settling with wings widely expanded
and quivering, dashing off when alarmed, flying round and
settling again upon the bait. Like the last species, its
principal home in these Islands is in the New Forest, Hants ;
equally uncertain in its appearances, but, curiously enough,
almost always appearing in the same seasons, though often
in smaller numbers. Also found, though rarely, and only in
woods, in Dorset, Devon and Sussex; very rarely at West
Wickham, Kent, and Leatherhead, Surrey ; near Eeading,
Berks, and formerly in Gloucestershire, Hunts, and Cambs ;
rarely in Suffolk, but formerly to be found in the large woods
of West Norfolk, and very probably inhabiting them still.
I know of no other localities for it in these Islands. Abroad
it is found throughout most parts of Central Europe, South
Sweden, Northern Italy, Sardinia, Spain to Gibraltar, Livonia,
Asia Minor, Persia, and some parts of North America.

268 LEPIDOPTERA.

Genus 3. EUCLIDIA.

Antennae simple, faintly ciliated ; palpi short, eyes naked ;
with short lashes at the back ; head small, depressed ; thorax
and abdomen narrow, smooth, not crested ; fore wings short
and very broad ; hind wings broad, the cross-bar slender and
placed unusually near to the base ; vein 5 consequently long,
joined close to vein 4, produced like the rest at the hind
margin.

Larvae furnished with twelve legs, elongated, smooth, in
repose coiling the anterior segments ; on low plants.

Pup.e in cocoons among moss.

We have but two species — readily distinguished.

A. Fore wings pale grey, marbled with grey-brown, and

with white lines E. mi.

A2. Fore wings hoary purplish-brown with chocolate

bands E. glyphica.

1. E. glyphica, L.— Expanse 1 to 1^ inch. Body not
stout, rather short ; fore wings short, very broad, hoary
golden-brown, with velvety-chocolate transverse stripes and
a similar spot before the apex. Hind wings orange-yellow,
clouded with black-brown.

Antennas of the male simple, slender, minutely ciliated,
black-brown ; palpi small, nearly erect, slender, dark brown
dusted with ashy scales, apical joint minute, pointed ; eyes
rather small, naked, golden-brown ; head depressed, chocolate-
brown ; thorax narrow but not slender, fluffy with long scales,
dull chocolate ; fascicles obscure, pale golden-brown ; abdomen
dull black, slightly dusted with long paler scales ; lateral
tufts hardly perceptible ; anal tuft rather long, ashy white,
partially black above. Fore wings broad, squared, costa very
faintly arched, more so at the base and apex, which last is
very bluutly angulated ; hind margin below it straight and

QUADRIFID^E. 269

almost perpendicular, curved off below the middle, but the
anal angle rather full ; dorsal margin straight ; colour hoary
golden-brown, or pale chocolate with a purplish sheen, some-
times more ashy toward the costa ; basal line oblique, forming
the outer edge of a black-brown basal blotch ; first line also
oblique, lying outward from the costa to the dorsal margin,
slightly angulated, purplish-white, and forming the inner
edge of a rich velvety chocolate transverse stripe; just
beyond this, on the dorsal margin, but placed perpendicularly,
is a much broader velvety-chocolate transverse stripe, the
outer edge of which is the second line, also perpendicular and
rather sinuous ; immediately outside this is a similar trian-
gular blotch from the costa, and the portion of the second
line separating them is white and rather broadened at the
margin ; similarly the outer edge of this costal blotch is
nearly white, and in it are two white costal dots ; subterminal
line only indicated by a pale shading or clouding of yellowish-
brown passing through the pale chocolate area ; stigmata
hardly perceptible, the orbicular suggested by a small
chocolate dot or dash, the reniform by a faintly paler cloud
in the second dark stripe ; extreme hind margin edged by an
undulating line, although the ashy-brown cilia are not crenu-
lated. Hind wings much rounded ; dark smoky-brown
shaded with long pale hair-scales from the base to the middle
and the anal angle ; remaining portion bright ochreous-
yellow ; a partial and broken black-brown band beyond the
middle is thickest and blackest in its middle area and inter-
rupted above it ; beyond this is a series of dark brown clouds
along the hind margin, the colour from them running up
each nervure and also outwardly into the cilia, which other-
wise are white or pale yellow, and extend along the dorsal
margin. Female very similar but stouter, and often with the
velvety chocolate stripes of the fore wings more strongly
marked.

Underside of all the wings rich orange-yellow ; the fore
wings having the reniform stigma black, followed by a

270 LEPIDOPTERA.

slender transverse brown line, and this by an elongated
black-brown costal blotch before the apex ; hind margin
shot with purplish-brown ; central spot of the hind wings
lunate, black ; beyond it is a slender curved brown transverse
line, followed by one or two similar cloudy spots ; hind
margin tinged with purple-brown. Body and leg-tufts ashy-
white, tibise dark brown, barred with the same.

Not variable except a little in the depth of colour of the
fore wings, and the extent of dark shading on the hind.

On the wing at the end of May and in June.

Larva long and slender for the size of the moth ; body
evenly rounded above, flattened below, tapering a little at
the extremities ; head slightly wider than the second segment,
lobes rounded ; anal prolegs extended and forming a distinct
angle. Head of various shades of brown, in some cases of
a dark sienna colour ; in all there is a pale yellow triangular
frontal mark, and a distinct streak of yellow on the side of
each lobe ; ground colour some shade of ochreous-yeilow, the
darker specimens having a strong tinge of rust colour along
the sides ; dorsal stripe brown, edged outwardly with yellow,
and enclosing a very fine yellow line ; subdorsal stripes
double, smoke-coloured ; between these and the dorsal line
are two more irregular yellow lines ; another lies beneath
the subdorsal, and above the spiracles a yellow line edged on
each side with smoke colour ; spiracular stripe also smoke
colour; spiracles and raised dots black; undersurface of
various shades of dull ochreous, with two grey lines down
the middle, and a black mark on the seventh and eighth
segments. When very young it arches itself in walking
quite like a Gcomctra, and is of a semi-transparent pale
green barred with dark brown, or nearly black ; the hairs
rather long ; head pale shining brown. When half grown it
has lost the true looper style of walking and has become
a half-looper, having two pairs of ventral prolegs. The
ground colour now varies from pale salmon to dull pink, or

QUADRIFID.E. 271

even with a strong yellowish tinge, dorsal stripe yellow,
enclosing a fine paler line, the subdorsal lines dull bluish,
bordered with smoke colour, and enclosing fine pale grey
lines ; below this is another irregular pale grey line followed
by a bluish line edged with smoke colour ; spiracular stripe
yellow, rust-red, or pink. The colours vary considerably in
different examples, in some the blue side stripes being barely
discernible. (G. T. Porritt.)

July and August on various trefoils — Medicago Iwpulina,
Trifolium pratense, T. repens, Onobrychis sativa, and other
species — feeding during the night, remaining during the
day extended along the stalks of its food-plant.

Pupa of the ordinary shape but rather thick and blunt ;
colour deep purplish-brown, with the spiracles and segmental
divisions darker. Powdered over with a violet bloom, more
especially so on the head, thorax, and wing-cases. In a
cocoon consisting of fragments of its food-plant or other
rubbish firmly spun together with closely-woven silk. In
this condition through the winter.

The moth flies naturally in the sunshine and settles
occasionally upon flowers, but much more frequently in
patches of trefoils, especially in masses of hop-trefoil growing
upon railway banks, and among luxuriant vegetation in
damp fields. It seems to sit in the sun in preference to
flying, but starts up at the smallest alarm, to settle again at
no great distance, and only flies voluntarily to any extent
when the weather is very still and warm. So far as I know,
it never moves at night. Its favourite haunts are the banks
and wet meadows just mentioned, the edges and sides of
woods, fens, marshes, and quarries, and sometimes clover-
fields, but it is rather apt to attach itself to restricted and
favoured sunny spots. In this manner it is moderately
common throughout the South of England to Essex, Cambs,
Oxfordshire, Bucks, and Gloucestershire, and is found in
smaller numbers in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Suffolk,

272 LEPIDOPTERA.

Norfolk, and Northamptonshire ; more rarely in Lincoln-
shire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Durham,
Cumberland, and Northumberland. In Wales it must also
be widely distributed, though the records are few ; it is not,
however, uncommon in suitable spots in Pembrokeshire.
Apparently scarce in Scotland, but found near Hawick, in
East Lothian, even in Aberdeenshire, where two specimens
have been taken ; and in the west in Ayrshire, Lanarkshire,
and Argyle. Dr. Buchanan White recorded it for almost all
the South of Scotland. In Ireland it is very local, but found
near Dublin, in King's County, Westmeath, and more
plentifully in Gal way. Abroad it seems to range over the
whole of the continent of Europe except the coldest portions,
Asia Minor, Armenia, Tartary, and the mountain regions of
Central Asia.

2. E. mi, Clerch. — Expanse 1 to If inch. Moderately
slender ; fore wings short and broad ; pale grey-brown
marbled with darker, and with pale lines so disposed as to
form the features in profile of a human face, with a black
dot for the eye. Hind wings yellow, deeply banded and
streaked with black-brown.

Antennas of the male simple, rather thick, minutely
ciliated, purplish-brown with paler annulations ; palpi rather
small, pointing obliquely upwards, blackish-brown, the lower
portion dusted with white; eyes brown; head golden-brown
mixed with black ; thorax narrow, of the same colour, the
scales long and rather loosely laid ; fascicles whitish-brown ;
abdomen smooth, rounded, dull black, with a pale yellow
ring at the edge of each segment, and a dusting of similar
hair-scales ; anal tuft narrow. Fore wings short and broad ;
costa faintly arched toward the base and apex, otherwise
straight or even faintly hollowed ; apex bluntly rounded ;
hind margin very gently curved, yet but little oblique ; dorsal
margin rather full ; colour grey-brown dusted with purplish-
brown and white ; basal line suggested by a small chocolate

QUADRIFIDjE. 273

cloud ; beyond it, on the dorsal margin, is an ovate black
spot; first line extremely oblique, yellowish-white, at the
dorsal margin curving round and joining the second line, of
the same colour, which then forms a deep loop to the middle
of the wing and back nearly to the subterminal line, there
sharply angled, and thence passing with two flat angles to
the costa ; subterminal line white or yellow-white, partially
double, conspicuous and complete, and edged inwardly by a
row of broad black spots ; orbicular stigma a distinct round
black dot ; reniform stigma roughly formed, blackish-brown,
its inner margin black and its outer yellowish-white, the
latter perpendicular and straight ; cilia white, sparingly
spotted with pale brown. Hind wings rounded, rather large,
yellow ; two black stripes from the base, one to the middle,
the other along the dorsal margin, unite with an angulated
central transverse black stripe, to which also is joined the
very large lunate black central spot, in such a manner as to
enclose a large blotch of the yellow ground colour ; beyond is
a series of black streaks on the nervures and of irregular
black spots between them, followed by an equally irregular
black-brown cloudy band which lies along the hind margin ;
cilia white, spotted with brown, and distinctly bounded along
the base by two brown lines enclosing a yellow one. Female
very similar, but with the wings rather smaller and the body
a little stouter.

Underside of the fore wings ochreous-yellow, the two
stigmatic spots of the upper side black, followed by a sharply
angulated incomplete transverse black stripe, outside which
the space to the hind margin is faintly blotched with black-
brown clouds. Hind wings very similar, the lunate central
spot black, followed by a slender, sharply angulated black
stripe and some faint clouds behind. Body and legs pale
sulphur, fore tibias browner.

Hardly variable, except in the tendency toward chocolate-
brown or pale grey in the fore wings and toward orange or
straw colour in the hind.

VOL. VI. S

274 LEPIDOPTERA.

The markings of the fore wings are so curious and unusual
that attention should be drawn to them. If looked at from
the costa they form a curiously-shaped letter M, hence its
specific name ; if looked at from the hind margin, and the
round black orbicular stigma be supposed to be an eye, the
outline of a profile will be seen of the queerest possible
nut-cracker face, whence the species has received the name
of that most famous of English witches, Mother Shipton.

On the wing in May and June.

Laeva about one inch and a half long, rather slender,
cylindrical above, a little flatter beneath, of nearly uniform
width to the ninth segment, but this and the tenth are a
little wider ; from the latter it tapers to the anal extremity ;
head larger and slightly broader than the second segment,
yellow, the stripes of the body extending in strong relief
down to the mandibles ; colour of the body bright lemon-
yellow, sometimes tinged with ochreous ; dorsal stripe double,
rather irregular, pale chocolate, followed by two broader,
darker chocolate lines, these by two more, equally broad, of
the paler chocolate, then a narrow one of the darker shade
and another still darker edging the spiracular stripe, which
is broad and bright lemon-yellow ; the whole ornamentation
taken with the ground colour forms a series of alternately
chocolate-brown and lemon-yellow stripes. Ventral area
less distinctly marked, greyish-yellow in the middle, rust
colour at the sides, with a double interrupted chocolate
central stripe ; at the sides are similar lines close below the
spiracular stripe ; legs and prolegs greyish-yellow, the latter
marked on the outside with rust colour. When very young
dingy green with a large yellowish-brown head. When half
grown very much as above described, but proportionately
more slender ; and the ground colour greenish-yellow or pale
olive-green. In walking it loops the back precisely in the
manner of a Geometra moth, and continues this habit until
full growth ; when disturbed it rolls itself up and feigns

QUADRIFID^E. 275

death. (Condensed from Mr. G. T. Porritt's very full
account.)

July to September on clover, Trifolium pratense and
T. repens, and also upon grasses, even feeding willingly upon
Phalaris arundinacea, but doubtless preferring meadow-
grasses.

Pupa rather short and thick, of the ordinary form, limb
and antenna covers very minutely roughened or sculptured,
wing-covers even more minutely so, and without gloss ; the
trunk-case apparently pushed forward into a small arched
prominence in front of the head, segments rather smooth,
but the whole of the pupa so covered with a floury whitish
bloom that the surface is indistinct ; cremaster short and
blunt, but round and expanded, having a ridge of deep
crinkles round its edge ; from its centre projects a bunch of
hooked bristles rather twisted together. In a cocoon of dull
brown silk spun up among grass leaves, which are in some
degree twisted obliquely round it. In this condition through
the winter.

The habits of this species are very similar to those of the
last. It flies in warm sunshine and frequents flowery
meadows and pastures, marshy places, open portions of woods,
railway banks and quarries ; settles sometimes on flowers,
more frequently among grass and herbage, and flies actively
if disturbed, yet only to make a circuit and settle again.
Apparently common in suitable places in all the Southern,
South Midland, Eastern and Western Counties, scarce or local
in the Midlands, and to be found here and there in sheltered
spots northward to Northumberland ; also probably through-
out Wales, since it is fairly common in Pembrokeshire. Iu
Scotland near Hawick, and in East Lothian, more particularly
upon the Edinburgh coast, and one specimen has been secured
in Aberdeenshire; in the west it occurs in Ayrshire and
Lanark as well as in the Solway district. Sir Thomas Mon-
crieffe stated that it might formerly be found at the foot of

276 LEPIDOPTERA.

Moncrieffe Hill, whence it seemed to have disappeared. In
Ireland widely distributed but very local ; in Kerry found
more especially on the bogs, in Galway upon the limestone,
in Londonderry common on coast sandhills. Abroad it is
found throughout Central Europe and the temperate portions
of Northern Europe ; the northern portions of Italy, Spain,
and Turkey ; the Ural Mountain district, Asia Minor, Tartary,
and the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

Family 6. DELTOIDES.

Palpi long and slender, either sickle-shaped, the second
joint curved up, or porrected, fringed with hair above and
with a sharp frontal tuft ; legs, especially the tarsal joints,
long and slender ; wings irregular in their neuration, but
vein 5 of the hind wings well developed.

In many species of this family the larvae have the curious
habit of feeding upon dead fallen leaves.

Genus 1. AVENTIA.

Antennas ciliated ; palpi not very long, second joint trian-
gular ; eyes naked, without lashes ; collar raised ; thorax
otherwise smooth, slender ; abdomen also smooth and slender;
fore wings falcate, the hind margin excavated ; hind wings
rather elongated.

We have but one species.

1. A. flexula, Schiff. — Expanse 1 to 1\ inch. Body
slender, fore wings somewhat trigonate, hind margin deeply
concave below the apex ; hoary-brown with two oblique double
direct brown transverse lines ; a chocolate cloud below the
apex. Hind wings whitish-brown with a similar double
transverse line.

Antennas of the male rather short, simple, minutely ciliated,
light brown ; palpi not very long, horizontal, porrected, pale

DELTOIDES 277

ochreous-brown ; eyes prominent, dull deep black ; head
tufted, tawny-brown ; collar similar ; remainder of thorax
narrow, smooth, hoary-brown dotted with dark brown, the
scales faintly divided at the back ; fascicles very small, white ;
abdomen slender, ashy-brown, abundantly dusted with red-
brown ; lateral tufts hardly perceptible ; anal tuft narrow
and pointed. Fore wings somewhat triangular, the base very
narrow ; costa gently curved, apex falcate and sharply pointed ;
immediately below it the hind margin is deeply and smoothly
excavated and filled out to a blunt angle in the middle, then
again rather concave to the anal angle; dorsal margin gently
curved ; colour hoary-brown, paler at the base, shading off
toward the hind margin to chocolate, and dusted with the
same ; no basal line ; first line conspicuous, double, oblique,
and very straight to near the costa, where it is suddenly bent
back, dark chocolate ; second line in some degree parallel with
it, direct and then bent, double or rather consisting of a distinct
pale brown line edged on either side sharply with chocolate,
which shades off a little outwardly ; beyond this the apical
and middle portions of the hind-marginal areas are clouded,
especially between the nervures, with dull chocolate, through
which a slender, meandering, faintly white subterminal line
endeavours to make its way, but often is hardly distinguishable ;
apex darker brown or nearly black; in the hollow below it is
the richest shade of chocolate ; half way between the first
and second lines, in the discal cell, are two perpendicularly
placed black dots; cilia concolorous. Hind wings rounded
and rather long, dusky white dusted with brown, especially
so toward the dorsal margin ; from this margin, above the
anal angle, arise two closely parallel brown lines enclosing a
slender yellowish-white transverse stripe which does not fully
cross the wing ; nearer the hind margin is a very faint waved
whitish transverse line ; cilia pale grey-brown, intersected by
a brown line. Female very similar, bocty a little stouter.

Underside of the fore wings pale yellowish-brown shading
off to rich orange-brown in the apical region ; the black dots

278 LEPIDOPTERA.

of the upper side joined so as to suggest a slender reniform
stigma ; beyond this is a single oblique curved transverse line
of reddish-brown dusting. Hind wings of very similar colour
and shadiug, and the transverse line continued on to the
dorsal margin ; beyond it is a faint cloudy smoky-brown
line ; central lunule very obscure. Body and legs reddish-
brown.

Rather variable in the depth of the ground colour from
pale drab to dark grey-brown. In the darker forms both
transverse lines are well margined with chocolate ; in some
of the greyer forms hardly margined at all.

On the wing from the latter part of June till the beginning
of August.

Lakva, when full-grown, seven-eighths of an inch in length,
widest at the ninth and tenth segments ; convex above, flat
beneath ; below the spiracles is a rather inflated projecting
ridge fringed with a row of fleshy filaments, some of these
filaments simple, others branched or forked ; head full but
rather narrower than the second segment, whitish-green,
marked with spots and curves of black upon each lobe and
about the mouth; body dull pale bluish-green or greyish-
green, or with this colour tinged with brownish-ochreous, the
sides paler ; dorsal line darker green, broken into a series of
spear-points faintly edged with whitish-green and by short
black streaks at the end of each segment ; subdorsal line a
faintly paler tint, hardly visible except at the segmental
divisions, but edged above by a fine sinuous black line and
by a darker green line below ; the ninth and twelfth segments
darker in tint than the rest ; along the subdorsal region, upon
the thoracic segments, are slight curves of blackish dots or
dashes ; on the sides of the remaining segments is a broad
streak of whitish-green ; raised dots black at the tips on a
base of whitish-green ; spiracles indicated by dark brown
rings ; filaments greenish-white ; undersurface flat, dull pale
bluish-green; legs well developed, spotted with black; pro-

DELTOIDES. 279

legs ten in number, but the first two pairs very short and
apparently not used in walking, and the anal pair the largest ;
of the colour of the body, but a black streak runs down the
front of the fourth pair. (W. Buckler.)

September till May on the lichens which grow upon old
hawthorns, blackthorns, crab and apple trees, cherry, larch,
spruce, and yew, probably upon almost any tree lichens,
feeding at night, remaining closely at rest upon the lichen
during the day. Mr. Buckler urges its very close agreement
with the larvae of Catocala in the fleshy filaments on its sides,
in its manner of walking and of resting.

Pupa of the Noctua form, rather slender, the mouth forming
a rounded projecting knob ; limb and wing covers extremely
smooth and apparently without sculpture, but not very glossy,
the head portion most so ; segments excessively channelled
or wrinkled in incised lines round their circumference, but
the hinder edges smooth and prominent, also pale drab, the
rest of the segments being red-brown and the wing and limb
covers pitchy-brown ; cremaster short, conical, smooth, dark
brown, furnished with a tiny bunch of curled bristles. In a
yellowish-white cocoon of tough silk, placed within a drawn-
together leaf.

The moth is apparently rather inactive. It sits in the day-
time in trees of any thick growth, or on which lichens are
abundant, such as oaks, thorns, crab-trees, yew, larch and
other firs, or even in large thick hedges, and when beaten or
shaken out flutters lazily down into some other concealment,
or on to the ground ; doubtless it flies at night, but seems
rarely or never to be captured at that season, and not to be
attracted by flowers or other sweets, and hardly by light.
Local and uncommon in this country, but found occasionally
at Haslemere, Boxhill, Gomshall, and elsewhere in Surrey ;
in various localities in Kent and Sussex ; in the New Forest,
Woolmer Forest, and Bournemouth, Hants ; in the woody
heaths of Dorset, Wilts, and Berks ; in Middlesex, Essex,

2 So LEPIDOPTERA.

Suffolk, Norfolk (many places), Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire,
Somerset, and Gloucestershire, and rather commonly in East
Devon. This is the extent, I think, of its ordinary range,
but one specimen seems to have been taken at Chartley Moss,
Derbyshire ; and two localities are on record in Yorkshire.
Apparently absent from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Abroad
it is found in most parts of Central Europe, in Southern
Sweden, Northern Italy, and Livonia, but does not seem to
extend beyond Europe. In Asia and America three or four
curious closely allied species are known, but as a group these
seem to stand quite alone.

Genus 2. BOLETOBIA.

Antennas of the male pectinated and very faintly ciliated ;
palpi long, straight and slender ; eyes rough, but naked and
without lashes ; head tufted in a blunt knob ; thorax narrow,
much crested at the back ; abdomen slender, smooth ; fore
wings rather ovate, with rounded costa and hind margin ;
dorsal margin of the hind wings furnished with long curved
hair-scales which bend over the body.

We have only one species.

1. B. fuliginaria, L. — 'Expanse § inch. Palpi long,
straight, very slender ; fore and hind wings rounded as in a
Geomctra, black-brown or smoky-black, each with three lines
of short yellowish streaks and angles ; costa of fore wings
dotted with the same.

Antennas of the male pectinated with solid, minutely
ciliated teeth to three-fourths of their length, whence they
taper off, the remainder being threadlike, black-brown ; palpi
rather long, straight, very slender, black, usually porrected
or pointed obliquely downwards ; eyes rough, black ; head
and thorax smooth, dull smoky-black ; fascicles very small,
dusky-white ; abdomen slender, black, dusted with pale
yellow, and each segment faintly edged with the same;

DELTOIDES. 281

lateral tufts minute, anal compressed. Fore wings short,
rounded, almost ovate ; costa gently arched ; apex bluntly-
rounded ; hind margin smoothly curved, hardly oblique ;
dorsal margin a little filled out ; colour smoky brown-black ;
first line slender and obscure, curved, indented, yellowish-
white ; second line of the same colour, slender, zigzagged
throughout, and broadened at the dorsal margin ; subterminal
line a similar series of short angulated streaks more or less
joined together, and followed close to the hind margin by
another such series ; middle area between the first and
second lines clouded with black ; beyond this the costa is
dotted with yellowish-white ; extreme hind margin edged
with an undulating black line ; cilia smoky-black, regularly
dashed with yellowish-white. Hind wings rather short,
rounded behind, very similar to the other pair ; black-brown,
clouded in the middle with black, and beyond abundantly
dusted with yellowish-white dots and atoms placed roughly into
three series, the first broadened into a pale yellow blotch at the
dorsal margin, the third lying in dots along the hind margin,
which is edged by an undulating black line ; central spot black ;
cilia crenulated, smoky-black with whitish dashes. Female
similar, but with simple antennas and the body a little stouter.

Underside of all the wings dull smoky-brown ; costa of
the fore wings and all the cilia dotted or dashed with pale
yellow ; a faint yellow transverse stripe just beyond the
middle is continuous on all the wings, outside it is a faint
slender indented similar shade, most visible on the hind.
Body and legs smoky-black, tibia; barred with yellow.

This species bears a singular general resemblance to a
shape usual among the Geometridce, and has in consequence,
until recently, been placed among them. The structure of
its palpi, however, seems conclusive as to its proper position.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva with twelve feet. Moderately stout, cylindrical,
attenuating slightly at both ends. Ground colour sooty-

28a LEPIDOPTERA.

black ; dorsal line marked by ten pairs of orange-coloured
raised tubercles, two on each segment. The four middle
segments have also a second pair of smaller and less distinct
tubercles, from which spring long and curiously recurved
hairs ; spiracular line also indicated by a row of raised
orange-coloured tubercles. (W. H. Tugwell.)

August to June upon fungi growing on rotten wood in
wet places. Hofmann says on Parmelia (a lichen) and on
Polyporus (a fungus). Mr. Tugwell found it upon black
sooty-looking masses of fungus, which were not in a condition
to enable him even to ascertain to what genus they belonged,
but upon this unpleasant-looking material the larvae fed and
thrived.

Pupa apparently undescribed, in a cocoon slung by each
end, attached to the fungoid mass on which the larva has
fed.

A rare and excessively local species in this country, indeed
almost confined to the Metropolis. Haworth wrote in the
beginning of the present century that he knew of four
British specimens in collections. Stainton fifty years later
wrote that the only known localities here were "Blackfriars
Bridge, Fleet Street, and a coal cellar at Chelsea" — all in
London. One seems to have been taken in Upper Thames
Street in 1859 and another in 1879. Others are recorded as
taken in the City in 1855, 1862, and 1870; in 1864 one at
Clapham ; and in 1881 two in the City and three in the
neighbourhood of Dockhead, on the south side of the Thames.
Here also in subsequent years the larva was found, as already
described, and it is probable that a good many were reared,
since Mr. Tugwell alone had a dozen specimens. Yet the
produce from this source has not apparently continued, nor
do I find any record in London for some years past. A
single example is said to have occurred at Croome, Worcester-
shire, at some date earlier than 1860, but so far as I know
the capture was not confirmed, and the specimen may have

DELTOID ES. 283

been a variety of some other species. One also was recorded
at Hull in 1896. Possibly, if all the old rotten woodwork
in the cellars and other structures along the banks of the
Thames could be examined, the results would be by no
means so meagre. Probably the climate of this country is
unsuitable to its constitution, so that it can only exist in
specially sheltered and secluded spots. Abroad it is not
scarce, and appears to find suitable food growing in more
exposed positions. It is found throughout Central Europe,
the more temperate portions of Northern Europe, Northern
Italy, the Balkan States, Eastern Siberia, and Asia Minor.

Genus 3. MADOPA.

Antennas thickly ciliated; palpi only moderately long,
tapering, porrected or pointing obliquely downward, thinly
scaled ; eyes very full, naked, without lashes ; head having a
long tuft of scales projecting forward over the palpi ; thorax
and abdomen smooth and rather slender; fore wings broad
and truncate ; hind wings broad ; legs normal.

We have but one species.

1. M. salicalis, Schiff. — Expanse 1 to 1^ inch. Body
slender; fore wings somewhat trigonate, retuse, and full
behind, slate-grey, with three transverse chocolate lines, the
third running into the apex. Hind wings brownish-white
with a faint transverse streak.

Antennas of the male short, strongly ciliated, with fine
bristles rather resembling pectinations ; palpi not very long,
horizontal, broadly but smoothly covered with scales, chest-
nut-brown ; eyes prominent, brown, naked ; head smooth,
the scales lying prostrate but pointing forwards in a produced
tuft which almost overlies the palpi ; thorax small and narrow,
smooth, slate-grey ; fascicles short, white ; abdomen rather
slender, smooth, hoary-grey ; lateral tufts very inconspicuous,
anal tuft thick. Fore wings somewhat trigonate, smooth,

284 LEPIDOPTERA.

and faintly glossy ; costa slightly arched throughout ; apex
sharply angulated and pointed ; hind margin concave imme-
diately beneath, then much expanded, but below the middle
rounded off; dorsal margin almost straight ; colour slate or
bluish-grey, with a hoary dusting, divided at fairly even
intervals by three chocolate-red transverse lines ; the first
very slender, slightly oblique and nearly straight ; the second
thicker, edged inside with pale yellow, more oblique, nearly
straight, and placed in the middle of the wing; the third
still thicker and more fully coloured, edged inside with
yellowish-white, running inward from the apex of the wing
in a full curve to the dorsal margin before the anal angle ;
outside this the hind-marginal space is rather darker slate
colour, shading into chocolate at the apex, the extreme
margin faintly dotted with darker grey ; cilia slate colour.
Hind wings smoky brownish-white, rather paler and more
shining along the costal region ; from the anal angle arises a
partial transverse grey-brown streak or cloudy stripe, edged
inside with white, and shading off outwardly along the
margin ; cilia greyish-white. Female quite similar, but with
simple antennas, and the body a little thicker.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-brown shading off
to pale grey at the dorsal and hind margins, but with the
nervures browner ; there is a faint indication of a slender
brown line across the middle of the wing. Hind wings white,
abundantly dusted with light brown, and with a faint similar
central curved transverse stripe. Body and legs whitish-
brown.

Extremely constant in colour and markings.

On the wing from the middle of May till the middle of
June.

Larva with fourteen feet ; slender, weak, head half rounded,
green ; body apple-green or blackish grey-green with the
divisions of the segments yellowish ; spiracles black ; under-
surface green-grey. (Hofmann.)

DELTOIDES. 385

July and August on sallow, especially Salix caprcea, also
upon aspen bushes.

Pupa shining black-brown, slender ; in an elongated silken
cocoon covered with vegetable refuse. In this condition
through the winter.

The moth, which is very rare in this country, frequents
damp open woods in which sallow is abundant. Here it may,
in its very few favourite haunts, be found hiding, in hot
weather, among the long grass in damp wood paths, or else
in the short thick bushes of oak or sallow undergrowth which
spring up after the cutting of the taller wood for hop-poles
and other useful purposes. From these it is easily disturbed
in the daytime by the beating-stick, or, when hiding among
grass, by simply walking through it, but flies to no great
distance, alighting in some similar place, again to take wing
if disturbed. It is most alert in the afternoon from 2 to 6 p.m.
It certainly flies also, and probably more freely, at night,
since I once found a specimen sitting upon a gas-lamp at mid-
night. Its position then was very curious, the wings drawn
so closely together that the moth formed a narrow perpendi-
cular ridge like Cilix spinula. It has a tiresome trick of
changing its haunts, so that the place in which it may be
found for one or two seasons seems to know it no more for
ever — at least this is my experience in repeated visits to its
haunts of thirty years ago. Haworth, writing in the begin-
ning of this century, stated that it had formerly been taken
in considerable plenty, but that for thirty years it had hardly
been found in England until within two or three years of
the time when he was writing, when a very few had been
taken at Charlton, Kent. Bexley, Shooter's Hill, Darenth
Wood, West Wickham and Tenterden, in the same county,
and Birch Wood, Surrey, were subsequently added as locali-
ties. In 1858 it must have become domiciled almost in the
London suburbs, since I took a specimen on a gas-lamp at
Dulwich. In 1862 I found it at Haslemere, Surrey, and

286 LEPIDOPTERA.

took several specimens, and others in subsequent years till
1866, since which date it seems to have disappeared from
that locality. At the same time it was taken for several
years near Sevenoaks, Kent, with a similar result. In 1877
it was found at Petersfield, on the border of Sussex and
Hants, and, so far as I can ascertain, has not since been taken
in this country. Its range with us seems, therefore, to be
limited to Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and possibly Hants. Abroad
it inhabits many parts of Central Europe, Northern Italy,
Livonia, Dalmatia, and Southern Russia. Also certainly
found in Japan, and apparently in North America.

Genus 4. iETHIA.

Antennae ciliated ; palpi not long, curled closely up ; eyes
naked, without lashes ; head depressed, not tufted ; thorax
and abdomen slender and smooth ; fore wings broad, rounded
behind ; legs normal.

We have one species only, if now any.

1. 2E. emortualis, Schif. — Expanse 1£ to 1£ inch.
Body slender, palpi thin, recurved ; fore wings blunt, pale
olive-drab with two straight paler transverse lines. Hind
wings very similar, but with only one distinct transverse line.

Antennas of the male short, simple, ciliated, pale drab ;
palpi moderately long, thin, pointed, curved up, light brown ;
eyes black ; head and thorax smooth pale olive-drab ; abdomen
short, round, moderately slender, drab dusted with grey ;
lateral tufts hardly perceptible ; anal tuft compressed. Fore
wings moderately broad, blunt ; costa very gently arched ;
apex squarely angulated ; hind margin rather straight, very
little oblique, rounded off below the middle, dorsal margin
a little rounded ; colour olive-drab or very pale olive-brown,
with a faint regular dusting of deeper brown ; first line
slender, direct or very faintly curved, almost upright, yellowish-
white ; second line more noticeable, oblique, curved, not

DELTOIDES. 287

indented, yellow-white ; no subterminal line ; reniform stigma
suggested by an erect whitish streak in the discal cell ; extreme
hind margin defined by a slender brown line, edged outside
with pale yellow ; cilia pale drab, dusted with pale yellow.
Hind wings rather narrow, the hind margin but little rounded,
while the apex and anal angle are somewhat squared ; colour
olive-drab, rather more dusted with grey-brown ; in the
middle is a yellowish-white, nearly straight, transverse stripe,
continuous with the second line of the fore wings; cilia
brownish-drab dotted with pale yellow. Female similar.

Underside of all the wings of a paler shade of the colour
of the upper side> the markings similar but less distinctly
indicated. Body and legs brownish-drab.

Apparently not variable.

On the wing in June and July.

Larva with fourteen feet ; thickened in the middle, taper-
ing behind ; head small, round, red-brown, edged with black ;
body browD-yellow with a browner dorsal line ; subdorsal
lines interrupted, black ; raised dots black.

August and September on fallen oak-leaves and on low
bushes. (Hofmann.) Curtis says that it feeds on oak in
September, and makes no mention of fallen leaves ; indeed,
there would be none at that time except the old and decayed
leaves of the previous year. It does not seem quite clear
that these are not the chosen food.

Pupa yellowish-brown, with two crooked spikes on the anal
segment. In a slight cocoon on the ground. (Hofmann.)

This species is excessively rare in this country and very
little is known of its habits. It seems to occur in open woods
and to be readily disturbed in the daytime ; it certainly
flies at night, since it has been found at sugar. It was first
recorded here by Haworth, but without locality, later by
Curtis, and by Stephens, but the latter author seems to have
been misled as to the description and food of the larva. He

288 LEPIDOPTERA.

stated that he possessed a specimen of the moth captured in
Devonshire. Curtis furnished fairly correct information as
to the larva, adding that it is double-brooded abroad. The
first specimen of which we seem to have any definite account
was taken at Brighton, Sussex, on the 18th June 1858, and
was recorded with a sufficiently accurate description by
Mr. H. Cooke. The next was obtained by Mr. Chas. Healy
by beating a] beech-tree in Epping Forest, Essex, on the
12th June 1859 ; and another was secured that year at sugar,
in the middle of July at Marlow, Bucks, by the Kev. B. H.
Birks. I know of no other well-attested captures in this
country. Abroad it seems to be fairly common in Central
Europe, and to be found in the South of Sweden, the North
of Italy, Livonia, Dalmatia, the Ural Mountain district, and
in Tartary.

Genus 5. HERMINTA.

Antennas pectinated with fine teeth or bristles ; palpi long,
slender, projecting or curved upwards; eyes naked, without
lashes ; head furnished with projecting tufts ; thorax and
abdomen slender and smooth ; legs tufted, sometimes extra-
ordinarily so, occasionally incomplete ; fore wings broad and
rather short.

Larvae with sixteen legs ; rather stout, of obscure habits.

We have five species, not difficult to discriminate.

A. Wings all light yellow-brown ; a slender brown line

crosses them all. H. derivalis.

A2. Wings all nearly white, a black dot in the discal cell,

dotted lines behind. H. cribralis.

As. Fore wings with three transverse lines, the second

slender and curved.

B. Fore wings coarse, grey-drab ; hind wings clouded,

white. S. barbalis.

B1. Fore wings light brown, hind wings smoky-brown.

DEL TOIDES. 289

C. Third line of fore wings nearly straight, terminated
before both apex and anal angle. H. tarsipennalis.

C'2. Third line of fore wings arched from apex to anal
angle ; a small species. H. grisecdis.

1. H. derivalis, RiXb. — Expanse 1£ to l\ inch. Body
slender, fore wings rounded behind, yellow-brown with two
slender curved brown transverse lines, and a central crescent.
Hind wings of the same colour, with a single slender similar
line.

Antennae of the male slender, but ciliated with rather long
distinct bristles which resemble pectinations, light yellow-
brown ; palpi very long, slender, curved up to considerably
above the head, light chestnut ; eyes black ; head and thorax
smooth, brownish-drab ; fascicles pale yellow ; abdomen
slender, paler drab, dusted with brown ; anal tuft long and
narrow, yellow-brown. Fore wings broad, rather refuse ;
costa gently arched ; apex angulated and faintly produced ;
hind margin, below it, straight or slightly refuse, but filled
out in the middle and only rounded off close to the anal angle ;
dorsal margin straight or slightly concave ; colour uniform,
yellow-brown ; first line slender, curved but erect, reddish-
brown ; second line similar in colour, rather more distinct,
not very oblique but curved out above the middle and then
back to the costa ; no subterminal line ; reniform stigma sug-
gested by a short erect brown streak, slightly crescent-shaped,
in the discal cell ; extreme hind margin faintly edged by a
brown line ; cilia of the ground colour. Hind wings large,
rounded behind, yellow-brown, a little whiter toward the base
and along the costal margin ; in the middle is a very slender
curved brown transverse line continued from the second line
of the fore wings ; hind margin edged by a slender similar
line ; cilia yellow-brown. Female hardly differing except
that the antennae are quite simple and the abdomen a little
thicker and more pointed.

Underside of all the wings light yellow-brown ; a slender

VOL. vi, T

2Qo LEP1D0PTERA.

gracefully curved transverse brown line is continuous through
the middle of each. Body and legs yellow-brown.

Not variable.

On the wing at the end of June and in July.

Larva nearly three-quarters of an inch in length, thick in
proportiou, cylindrical and tolerably uniform in bulk, though
the two or three hinder segments appear the stoutest, par-
ticularly when it is walking ; the thirteenth segment is
tapered behind, and beneath its extremity the small anal
pair of prolegs come very close together ; the ventral prolegs
are short and much beneath the body, the legs also small ;
head globular, velvety, brown ; skin soft, smooth and
velvety, dark brown covered with an exceedingly fine and
short pubescence resembling the pile of fine silk velvet, this
where the light reflects appears of a pearly whiteness ; there
is a faint indication of a darker dorsal line and a still fainter
suggestion of a subdorsal line ; raised dots black but only
just discernible ; spiracles of the ground colour, ringed with
black, and beneath them the ground colour is of a paler
brown than the back ; a narrow plate of rather darker brown
across the middle of the second segment is divided on the
back by a thin line of the ground colour.

The newly-hatched young larva is about one-sixteenth of
an inch long, and has a large pale brown head ; the body
whitish and pellucid ; its internal broad vessel of dark brown
shows through the skin to the full width of the thoracic
segments, and thence tapers to a blunt point within the
tenth ; the usual raised dots are blackish and shining, and
each bears a long pale hair. Soon the dorsal plate begins to
appear, and when it attains the length of a quarter of an
inch the skin becomes opaque, rusty-brown, closely resembling
the dead leaves on which it feeds, and thus it remains through
hibernation till May, when the adult colour is assumed. It
hibernates in a little nook or corner of a dead leaf, formed
by turning down the edge and securing it by three or four

DEL TO IDES. 291

stout silk threads ; or else by joining a part of one leaf to
another by similar means. (W. Buckler.)

August to June, on dead oak leaves lying upon the
ground.

Pupa nearly six lines long, smooth and cylindrical, moder-
ately stout, the abdomen tapering off evenly and ending in a
spike, furnished with two larger and six smaller spines with
curled tops ; colour purplish-brown, without gloss except just
at the segmental divisions of the abdomen ; terminal spines
reddish-brown. In a corner or between two leaves held
together by a fyw short stout silken threads, with a slight
lining of silk round the interior, holding the pupa steady by
its anal spines. (W. Buckler.)

The moth is found in woods, where it hides among the
undergrowth in the more open places, and may readily be
disturbed in the daytime. At dusk it flies of its own accord,
and will come to sugar and also to a strong light. A very
local species in this country, and apparently confined to the
south-eastern portion. Taken in several localities in Kent —
Canterbury, Tenterden, Dover, Darenth Wood, formerly at
Bexley, and near Woolwich ; more frequently in Sussex, at
Battle, Hastings, Lewes, and Abbotts Wood, and in the last
two comparatively common. The only other locality known
to me here is in the Colchester district of Essex. Abroad it
has a wide distribution through Central Europe, Italy, Fin-
land, Livonia, the Balkan States, Southern Russia, Armenia,
Asia Minor, and Tartary.

2. H. barbalis, Clerck. — Expanse 1^ to 1£ inch. Body
slender ; palpi very long, curved upward and curled back ;
fore wings dull greyish-drab with three transverse lines, the
third nearly straight. Hind wings dusky-white with partial
cross-stripes. Fore legs with large fans of hair-scales.

Antennae of the male pectinated with very slender bristle-
like curved teeth, ciliated, pale brown ; palpi long and slender,

292 LEPIDOPTERA.

curved up to far above the head, aud with the tips curled
back, grey-brown ; tibiae of front pair of legs furnished each
with a large tuft of long yellow-brown hair-scales, which can
be expanded like a fan or laid together close to the limb at
will ; tarsi thickly covered with scales almost to the feet ;
head and thorax smooth, brown-drab ; fascicles thin, white ;
abdomen slender, smooth, grej^-drab; anal tuft very narrow.
Fore wings broad and obtuse ; costa gently arched ; apex
bluntly angulated ; hind margin faintly curved, very little
oblique ; anal angle prominent ; dorsal margin straight ;
colour dull drab thickly and coarsely dusted all over with
brown ; first line slender, erect, rather bent above the middle,
grey-brown ; second line of the same colour, more distinct,
placed in the middle of the wing, erect, but forming a strong
curve outwards above its middle ; subterminal line more
conspicuous than either, brown, almost straight and complete
from the costa before the apex to the dorsal margin before
the anal angle ; it is, however, more dusted aud less definite
than in the two following species: reniform stigma represented
by a rather erect curved streak or crescent, which often is so
united with the curve of the second line as to form a rounded
loop ; extreme hind margin edged by a slender brown line ;
cilia olive-brown dappled with paler. Hind wings rather
long, the hind margin curved and a little sinuous, dusky-
white, clouded from the base with smoky-brown, cut off by a
partial central darker transverse line which arises on the
dorsal margin ; beyond it is another, rather longer and
edged outwardly with white ; cilia smoky whitish-brown
with a dull brown basal line ; costal region shining white.
Female similar, but with simple antennae and untufted legs ;
the abdomen slightly thicker and more pointed.

Underside of the fore wings dull yellow-brown dusted
with paler; dorsal margin yellowish-white ; a faint angulated
pale brown transverse line lies beyond the middle. Hind
wings yellowish-white ; the central spot small, dark brown ;
beyond it are two slender transverse smoky-brown lines ;

DELTOIDES. 293

hind margin yellow-brown. Body and legs brownish-
drab.

Not variable, except in a small degree in the extent and
depth of colour of the dusting of the fore wings.

On the wing from the end of May till the beginning of
July.

Larva five-eighths of an inch in length ; thick and stumpy
in proportion ; thickest in the middle ; head globular and
smaller than the second segment ; segments and transverse
folds distinctly brown ; all the legs tolerably well developed ;
ventral surface slightly flattened. Ground colour deep, rusty
reddish-ochreous, with a pattern of diamond figures on the
back and sides as follows : down the back a row, one diamond
on each segment, the widest part behind the middle of the
segment, and the blunt ends meeting at the segmental divi-
sions ; this row is filled up with faintly blackish freckles and
is traversed by the dorsal line, which is dull black ; next
below this is a row of diamond outlines, the widest part of
each at the segmental fold, the ends meeting just behind the
middle of each segment where the dark dorsal diamond is at
its widest ; below this is another row alternating in the same
manner, the widest parts extending down to the spiracles ;
these lateral rows, though only outlines, are also filled with
freckles, but so faintly as to be scarcely noticeable ; usual
raised dots blackish, set in rings of the ground colour; spiracles
black ; segmental divisions pale ochreous ; head rather dusky ;
skin soft and velvety. (Condensed from Mr. Buckler's des-
cription.)

August to October, hibernating when nearly full grown,
but feeding again a little in the spring. On dead leaves of
birch, oak, and alder upon the ground, also upon birch
catkins in the spring. But the Rev. H. H. Crewe says that
he obtained larvae by heating birch and oak, and that after
hibernation they gnawed the outer cuticle of the bark of
whitethorn and gooseberry. Probably any withered similar

294 LEPIDOPTERA.

vegetable substance may be attacked in the absence of dead
leaves.

Pupa rather long and slender ; thorax and wing-covers
deep red, or red-brown suffused with black ; abdomen red or
red-brown with a central black dorsal line ; tip of the abdo-
men rather rounded and furnished with several curly-topped
spines ; general surface sculptured with fine punctures and
almost without gloss, except at the segmental divisions,
which are rather shining. In a very slight cocoon of silk
and morsels of rubbish on the ground, or in any suitable
corner. I have found it spun up in a chink of the bark of
an oak-tree, quite visible through its slight cocoon.

The moth is attached to open woods and hides in the day
in thick bushes, apparently much preferring large sallows.
From these it is readily disturbed, and when beaten out flies
wildly to some distance to hide in a similar place. Its
voluntary flight is at dusk and in the night, and it does not
seem to be much attracted by sugar or light.

Common in suitable woods in Surrey, Kent, and Sussex ;
scarce in Dorset, not common in Devon, apparently absent
from Cornwall, and rare in Somerset ; otherwise to be found
throughout the South of England and the Eastern Counties,
also in Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Stafford-
shire, Leicestershire, and even locally in Yorkshire; but I
find no record for any other part of the United Kingdom.
Possibly this is only for want of observation, since this
species and many of its allies have been here classed among
the Micro-hpidoptcra, and therefore by many entomologists
disregarded.

Abroad it is widely distributed through Central Europe,
the temperate portions of Northern Europe, Italy, Turkey,
Southern Russia, and Asia Minor.

3. H. tarsipennalis, TV. — Expanse 1| to 1] inch.
Body slender, palpi long, thin, recurved ; fore wings smooth,

DEL TOIDES. 295

yellowish-brown, with three transverse slender brown lines,
the third conspicuous, nearly straight from margin to margin
before the angles. Hind wings pale smoky-brown with a
partial dark brown line before the hind margin. Large fans
on the fore tibia?.

Antenna? of the male thickly ciliated with fine bristles,
which in some degree resemble pectinations, light brown ;
palpi long and slender, curved back over the head, brown ;
fore legs furnished upon the tarsi with broad thick fan-like
masses of dark brown hair-scales ; and upon the tibia? with
much larger tufts of similar scales of a pale yellow colour,
which lie close to the leg or can be opened at will into a
widely-expanded fan ; uncovered portions of the tarsi short ;
head and thorax smooth, pale brown, the latter narrow ;
fascicles very small, dusky-white ; abdomen rather long and
slender, dull pale brown, with a faint white edging to each
segment; anal tuft small. Fore wings somewhat oblong,
broader toward the base and less broad toward the hind
margin than in the last species ; costa very gently arched ;
apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin but little oblique and
very faintly rounded, the anal angle well formed ; dorsal
margin straight; colour smooth dull yellow-brown, almost
rust-brown, faintly dusted with darker ; first line very
slender, rather curved and only slightly indented, dark
brown ; second line of the same colour, erect and placed in
the middle of the wing, widely curved above the middle,
curving in again to the costa ; subterminal line conspi-
cuous, deep brown, almost straight and complete, arising
from the dorsal margin before the anal angle, and attaining
the costa before the apex; reniform stigma suggested by a
small brown crescent or erect curved line opposite to the
curve of the second line ; cilia yellow-brown. Hind wings
rather elongated toward the apex, which is somewhat squared,
shortened near the anal angle ; hind margin much rounded ;
pale smoky-brown with the costal region white ; near the
hind margin and arising from the anal angle is an incomplete

296 LEPIDOP TERA .

dark brown transverse line edged outwardly with white ;
extreme hind margin bordered by a slender dull black line ;
cilia of the ground colour. Female very similar but with
the fore pair of legs devoid of the curious tufts of hair-
scales, the antenna? quite simple and the body rather thicker.

Underside of all the wings very pale smoky yellow-brown ;
in each is a central black-brown dot followed by two slender
brown transverse lines ; under portion of the tarsal fans of
the male nearly black ; body and legs otherwise yellowish-
brown.

Usually not variable in any important degree, but the
Rev. C. T. Cruttwell has shown me that in Suffolk the fore
wings of this species are often of a greyer tinge.

On the wing in June and July. Individuals of a second
generation have been reared in confinement in September
and October. The second brood is rare and doubtless only
very partial out of doors.

Larva, when full grown, from six-eighths to seven-eighths
of an inch in length, moderately stout and cylindrical, tapering
just a little at the last two segments and also in front from
the third segment to the head, which is globular, dark
brownish-grey ; dorsal plate rather paler and dull ; general
colour dull brownish-grey, finely freckled with a darker tint,
but in both respects paler below the spiracles ; dorsal line
blackish-grey, somewhat interrupted in the middle of each
segment; subdorsal lines pale greyish-brown, continuous on
the thoracic segments, but indicated only by a short dash at
the beginning of each of the others, and below this dash
there is, lower down on the side, a short thick blackish
streak bifurcated a little at its hinder end ; spiracles black ;
raised dots blackish, ringed with paler than the ground
colour. The whole skin covered with an exceedingly fine
pearly pubescence. (W. Buckler.)

July or August till April, apparently becoming full-grown
before hibernation, though not assuming the pupa-state till

DELTOIDES. 297

the spring. In some instances, however, pupation takes
place in the autumn, and the moth appears before the
winter. The food is variously stated. One of Mr. Buckler's
larvae was taken off a sallow bush at night in April ; but it
refused to eat, being full-fed. Others which had been fed
up from the egg by the late Mr. Wellman, fed and throve
upon Polygonum aviculare, and were reared upon it in the
same season. Mr. Alfred Balding informs me that this larva
has been found plentifully upon ivy, and that they were beaten
out of that plant freely in September, and put into a vessel
with ivy leaves. They, however, declined to feed thereupon,
and retired for hibernation, yet were duly reared in the
following summer. In this case they may have been feeding
on the dead leaves which become so much entangled in the
ivy. Treitschke says that it feeds on raspberry, but Hofmann
only gives as the food withered leaves. Probably the creature
is not too particular as to its food.

Pupa a little more than half an inch in length ; moderately
stout; the abdomen tapered off very slightly towards the
tip, which terminates in a spike of two diverging recurved
spines, its base encircled by six others of shorter lengths ;
colour dark brown, with but little gloss, the surface being
very minutely pitted, except the abdominal segments which
are rather shining. (W. Buckler.) Under a leaf on the
ground, or within the curve of a dead leaf, in a slight web,
sometimes in that in which it has passed the winter.

The moth is more especially attached to hedges, preferring
those bordering country lanes, fields, or gardens, hiding itself
therein during the day but readily induced to fly by the
persuasion of the beating stick ; hiding again in a similar
place at a short distance. It flies of its own accord at dusk,
and will come occasionally to sugar or to light. Common in
such situations in all the Southern and Eastern Counties,
and westward at least to Devon; also in the Southern
Midlands and in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, becoming

298 LEPIDOPTERA.

scarce in Derbyshire, and very local in Cheshire, Lancashire,
and Yorkshire. Probably more widely distributed, but ne-
glected or unHoticed. Doubtless in most parts of South
Wales, since it is not scarce in lanes in Pembrokeshire. In
Scotland it has been noticed in Ayrshire and Kirkcudbright ;
and in Ireland at Carlingford and Castle Bellingham, also in
the counties of Cork, Galway, Westmeath, and Sligo. Abroad
it is recorded from Belgium, Germany, South Sweden, Livonia,
Dalmatia, Siberia, and Tartary.

4. H. grisealis, Huh. ; nemoralis, Stainton. — Expanse
1 to 1^ inch. Body very slender ; palpi long and recurved;
fore wings short and blunt, pale brown, with three transverse
dark lines, the first straight, the second curved, the third
arched and running into the apex. Hind wings smoky- white.
Fore tibias furnished with fans of long scales.

Antennas of the male ciliated with fine but visible bristles
which suggest minute pectinations, light brown ; palpi slender,
long and curved up and back above the head, brown; eyes
black ; head and thorax smooth, drab, or whitish-brown ;
fascicles white, minute; abdomen slender, pale greyish-brown;
lateral tufts hardly visible ; anal tuft narrow, first pair of
feet aborted at the tarsi, which are clothed and broadened
with dense scales, the tibige being furnished with slender
fans of long white or pale brown hair-scales. Fore wings
rather short and blunt, narrow at the base ; costa gently
arched ; apex squarely angulated ; hind margin below it
perpendicular but bent in the middle, and thence more
oblique, the anal angle not so sharp as in the last species ;
dorsal margin straight ; colour pale brown or yellowish-
brown ; first line distinct, oblique, straight, deep brown ;
second line rather erect, more slender, of the same colour,
widely curved outwards from the middle and bending inwards
again to the costa ; subterminal line rather thick and con-
spicuous, dark brown, placed in a regular flat arch from the
anal angle to the apex of the wing ; reniform stigma suggested

DELTOIDES. 299

by a curved brown streak at the end of the discal cell ; along
the extreme hind margin is a slender brown line ; cilia pale
brown. Hind wings rounded, smoky- white ; in the middle
is a faint transverse smoky-brown shade or line, and near
the hind margin another, edged outwardly with white ; cilia
pale smoky-brown. Female very similar, a little smaller,
with simple antennas, and fore legs untufted and complete ;
body hardly stouter but more pointed.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-brown ; a white
spot lies in the discal cell ; beyond it, in the middle of the
wing, is a slender, transverse, brown line ; costal and hind
margins dusted with brown and pale yellow. Hind wings
brownish-white, dusted with yellow-brown ; central spot
small, brown ; beyond it is a curved transverse brown line ;
another, incomplete, lies near the anal angle. Body and legs
pale brown.

Apparently not variable.

On the wing in June and July.

Laeva rather more than half an inch loug; head round,
smaller than the second segment, dark brown, reticulated
with darker, and without gloss ; body moderately stout and
cylindrical, tapering a very little toward the head and at the
anal segment ; dingy pinkish-grey, faintly freckled with
darker ; on the second segment is a small, semilunar, dark
brown velvety plate, divided in the middle of the back by a
line of the ground colour ; dorsal stripe not very visible till
the fifth segment, from which it is continuously broad and
conspicuous, blackish, rather widened in the middle of each
segment, and becoming narrower on the last two ; subdorsal
lines darker than the ground colour and a little broken ;
along the spiracular region lies an interrupted line of dark
freckles, the spiracles themselves being black and nearly
round ; raised dots small and black, each in a ring of clear
ground colour and bearing a fine hair ; undersurface a little
paler than the back and without freckles ; legs tipped with

3oo LEPWOPTERA.

black ; prolegs with brown. Just before spinning-up the
general colouring is more pink. (W. Buckler.)

July to September on oak — at least this is the food upon
which fed the one larva described above ; and Mr. Buckler
states distinctly that it changed to pupa on the nineteenth of
September, and that the moth came forth on the 5th of June
following ; by which it would appear that the pupa-state lasted
through the winter. Were this usual in the group to which
this species belongs this statement would be satisfactory,
but this is by no means the case, and I cannot but think
that Mr. Buckler possibly made a mistake in the date of
pupation. Hofmann says that it lives in the autumn, and
through the winter, upon fallen leaves of hornbeam, or more
frequently upon raspberry and blackberry bushes; and that
it spins up in May among moss. Nettle and sorrel are also
given as food-plants. There appears to be here an opportunity
for further investigation.

Pupa three-eighths of an inch in length, moderately stout,
very glossy, deep chestnut-brown; paler at the abdominal
divisions and attached to its web by the tip of the tail, which
is furnished with two central bristle-like spikes, recurved at
their tips, and near their base surrounded by three or four
others, very much shorter and extremely fine. In a thin
web of whitish-grey silk, which holds the upper surface of a
leaf folded together at the ends, and the sides drawn up a
little, so as to form a hollow in the middle. (W. Buckler.)

The moth frequents bushes generally, in woods, hedges,
lanes, even gardens, or often will hide among the herbage of
a hedge-bank, and is readily disturbed and induced to fly in
the daytime. At night it flies gently and rather lazily in
similar spots and shows no very special habits or tendencies,
or, if any, they seem to have escaped notice.

Generally distributed and rather common throughout the
southern half of England, including the Eastern and some
of the Western Counties, probably all, though records are

DELTOID ES. 301

wanting ; also found locally in the Midland Counties, and in
Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Cumberland — doubtless
throughout England where properly looked for. In Scotland
it seems almost confined to the south-west, being recorded
by Mr. Morton at Carluke, and also found in the Solway
district. In Wales it is doubtless generally common, since
I have found it so at Pembroke. In Ireland widely dis-
tributed— Dublin, Kerry, Sligo, Westmeath, Cavan, Armagh,
and Antrim. Abroad it ranges through Central Europe, and
is found in the South of Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Piedmont,
Southern Russia, and Tartary.

5. H. cribralis, Hub. ; cribrumalis, Stand. Cat. —
Expanse 1 to 1£ inch. Body slender; fore wings brownish-
white, with a central round black dot, and beyond, one or
two faint lines of brown dots obliquely crossing the wing.
Hind wings white, with a faint brown shading toward the
hind margin. Fore tibiae having very long spreading fans.

Antennae of the male pectinated, with very slender but
distinct ciliated teeth, brownish-white ; palpi very long and
narrow, pale brown, pointing obliquely upwards and curved
back at the tips; tibiae of the first pair of legs furnished
with long narrow tufts of whitish hair-scales, and the knees
and tarsi with longer tufts, which can be expanded at the
will of the insect into the most exquisite plumes or fans ;
eyes purple-brown surrounded with white ; head otherwise
pale brown ; thorax white, dusted with pale brown ; collar
distinctly divided ; shoulder-lappets raised ; abdomen cylin-
drical, brownish-white; lateral tufts just perceptible, anal
tuft very narrow. Fore wings short and broad ; costa faintly
arched at the base, thence almost straight; apex sharply
angulated ; hind margin below it retuse, but strongly filled
out in the middle and curved off just above the anal angle ;
dorsal margin nearly straight ; colour brownish-white, with
a faint purplish or reddish tinge toward the hind margin ;
also very minutely dusted between the neryures in this

302 LEPIDOP TERA .

region with black, they remaining white ; first line absent ;
at the end of the discal cell is a round black dot, beyond it
a very oblique- row or line of black dots, or aggregations of
minute black scales, representing a partial second line, which
usually does not approach the costa ; subterminal line a row
of more or less distinct black dots nearer the hind margin ;
cilia yellowish-white or brownish-white. Hind wings white,
dusted with brown, and very faintly tinged with reddish-
brown toward the hind margin ; cilia rather long, of the
same colour. Female a very little smaller, with the fore
wings rather narrower and whiter, the antennas and legs
without appendages, the body slightly thicker.

Underside of all the wings pale brown or whitish-brown,
dusted with black, and leaving the nervures whiter ; central
spot of each wing small, black ; no other markings. Body
and legs very pale brown.

Not very variable, but the dotted transverse lines of the
fore wings are sometimes hardly perceptible.

On the wing at the end of June and in July.

Lakva rather more than three-quarters of an inch long ;
somewhat fusiform, stoutest at the eighth segment, thence
tapering to the head and more rapidly toward the tail ;
head globular, grey-brown ; second segment slightly nar-
rower, having a shrunken appearance, and unusually short ;
general colour pale grey-brown dusted all over with tiny
freckles of ochreous-yellow ; dorsal line of a darker tint and
edged with pale lines ; subdorsal line paler than the ground
colour ; spiracular region also paler and slightly inclined to
ochreous ; spiracles small, black ; usual raised dots distinct,
darker than the dorsal line; undersurface paler than the
back. (Rev. J. Hellins.)

August to the beginning of June. On sallow, Carev
sylvatica, Luzula pilosa, and on various grasses which grow
in marshes. Hibernating when about half-grown, in the
tufts of grasses,

DELTOID ES. 303

Pupa slender, rather widened at the shoulders, but other-
wise cylindrical and tolerably uniform throughout, the last
segment of the abdomen tapering to a blunt spike which is
grooved or fluted, in two steps as it were, and its tip set
with several small spines having curved ends ; colour rich
dark brown ; the edges of the wing-cases and the segmental
divisions of the abdomen of a lighter reddish-brown. In a
long oval cocoon, extremely slight, being a very open network
of silk, with bits of moss drawn in, but still with interstices
left through which the pupa can be seen. (Rev. J. Hellins.)
Doubtless placed among dead grasses, or at the bases of tufts
of Carex, or some similar shelter, on the ground.

The moth seems to be wholly confined to fens and very wet
marshes. It is a retiring insect, hiding during the day among
the dead sedge-leaves or thick herbage of the fens, and
difficult at that time to disturb ; but at dusk it flies gently
and in a noticeable manner about, or sometimes clings con-
spicuously to a grass or sedge-blade, and is very easily
secured. Occasionally it will come to a strong light, but
it does not seem to be attracted by any kind of food. My
own acquaintance with it is in the fens of Norfolk, where it is
widely distributed though not very plentiful. It is sometimes
much more abundant in Wicken Fen, Cambs, and at Chip-
penham and Fordham in the same county, where formerly it
had a wider range through the fens round Whittiesea Mere,
at Burwell and elsewhere. Still to be found in Suffolk, and
in Essex to Southend and Shoeburyness, always in similar
spots ; at Deal, Kent ; in Sussex, and the moors of Somerset ;
but this seems to be the extent of its range with us, unless
the single record in Cumberland should be confirmed, which
appears unlikely. Abroad it is found in Holland, Germany,
Switzerland, Hungary, Southern and Eastern Russia, and
Tartary.

3Q4 LEPIDOPTERA.

Genus 6. HYPENODES.

Antennae faintly ciliated, tufted at the base ; palpi pro-
jecting, thickly tufted, the third joint long, slender and
curved up ; eyes naked, without lashes ; head depressed ;
thorax and abdomen very slender, thinly scaled, smooth ;
legs normal, fore wings narrowly triangular.

We have only two species, the larva? of which are obscure
in their habits, and very little known. The perfect insects
are readily discriminated.

A. Fore wings pale brown ; middle area darker, bordered
outside by an oblique black line edged with white.

H. albistrigalis,

A.2 Fore wings pale brown with a flat brown triangle on

the middle of the costa. H. costccstrigalis

1. H. albistrigalis, Gn. Stn. ; albistrigatus, Raw.
Steph. Wd. — Expanse f inch. Small and very slender; fore
wings narrow, truncate, pale umbreous with a darker central
band, edged outwardly by a black line bordered with white,
beyond it is a pale space. Hind wings brownish-white.

Antennas of the male slender, simple, but rather coarsely
ciliated, pale brown ; palpi slender, long and sharply pointed,
porrected but the tips curved up, brown ; legs all long, rather
naked ; eyes black ; head and thorax smooth, pale brown,
the latter thin and weak ; abdomen unusually slender, pale
greyish-brown ; on the back of the basal segment is a dark
brown dot or raised tuft of scales ; anal tuft very thin. Fore
wings narrow, particularly so at the base, costa gently
arched ; apex squarely angulated ; hind margin short,
scarcely curved, but rather bent in the middle ; anal angle
well defined; dorsal margin straight ; colour pale umbreous:
near the base two short black streaks seem to suggest the
basal line ; first line partial, oblique, somewhat indented,
very slender, black ; second line also oblique in the same
direction — outward from the dorsal margin — deeper black and

DELTOIDES. 3° 5

distinct throughout, also very little waved or indented, edged
on the outside with a dusky white line which shades off into
a broad whitish-brown oblique band, beyond which is a faint
whiter subterminal line ; reniforrn stigma indicated by a
clouded deep black spot; extreme hind margin edged with
black streaks or crescents ; in the middle area of the costal
margin are two pale oblique streaks edged behind with black ;
cilia purplish-umbreous dotted with paler brown. Hind
wings rather long, with a sinuous hind margin ; smoky-white,
the nervures rather darker ; cilia smoky-white. Female very
similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-brown ; outer
half of the costal margin and the hind margin dotted with
white ; the second line faintly visible, and the space beyond
it a little paler. Hind wings smoky-white with smoky-
brown nervures ; central spot a streak of the latter colour ;
beyond it is a faint, similar, transverse shade. Body whitish-
brown ; legs well furnished with spines ; colour pale
brown.

On the wing from the end of June till August, and
apparently as a partial second generation, in September.

Larva scarcely known. It is figured in the young state
in the Tidschrift voor Entomologie, vol. 23, plate 7, and
also described, under the name of tccnialis. Professor von
Leewen obtained eggs, and kept the young larvae alive till
the end of September, when they commenced to hybernate,
but died before the spring. These young larvas he described
" slender, but much thickened from the fifth to the ninth
segments ; head and next three segments quite small, and
the fifth very suddenly thicker ; the reduction in size from
the ninth to the tenth is equally sudden, and the hinder
segments continue small ; anal prolegs rather extended, and
there is a pair of abdominal prolegs on the eleventh segment ;
the true legs on the other hand being strongly developed " ;
thus it is at this stage distinctly a looper, and one of the

vol. vi. u

3o6 LEPID OP TERA .

figures is remarkably bent and humped. Colour dull slate-
grey, without markings, the head and feet being of the same
colour ; the bristles of the body are very distinct though short,
and on some of the hinder segments are placed in pairs. It
is reasonable to suppose that more fully grown larvae would
have exhibited some markings.

August and September, probably till May ; but it appears
likely that some larvae feed up rapidly in August, and
produce the partial second generation of moths in September.
Whether these have offspring is unknown, but if so they
must doubtless hybernate in either the egg or very young-
larva state. The larvae noted above fed upon blossoms of
heather and of thyme, apparently preferring the dead flowers.
Probably dead leaves and flowers form the natural diet.

Pupa apparently unknown.

The moth loves to hide during the day in thick bushes,
especially those close down among herbage, and prefers the
shelter of a wood, or a high hedgebank in a lane, or the slope
of a hill. From such a hiding place it may be easily dis-
lodged by the beating stick, but very hurriedly hides itself in
another similar covert. Its natural flight is at dusk, when it
is strongly attracted by honeydew, the sugar placed on a
tree trunk to attract larger moths, and in its autumn emer-
gence, by ivybloom. Apparently to be found in suitable spots
throughout the Southern and South-Western Counties of
England, to Bucks, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire, and the
Eastern Counties to Norfolk, also in Herefordshire, and very
rarely in Cheshire and Yorkshire. In South Wales I found
it, not rarely, in deep hollow lanes in Pembrokeshire.
Abroad its range as recorded does not seem to be wide —
Southern France, Holland and Germany.

2. H. costsestrigalis, Stcph.— Expanse f inch. Small,
weal: and slender ; fore wings narrowly oblong, truncate,

DEL TO IDES. 307

brown or brownish-white ; an oblique white streak from the
apex edges a black elongated streak upon the disk ; hind
wings dusky white.

Antennas of the male short and very slender, faintly
ciliated, pale brown annulated with white ; palpi long,
slender, pointed and porrected, brown ; eyes brown ; head
dirty white ; thorax narrow and weak, pale brown ; abdomen
very slender and small, brownish-white ; on the basal segment
is a dorsal brown spot ; anal tuft small. Fore wings nar-
rowly oblong ; costa gently arched ; apex bluntly angulated ;
hind margin below it truncate and hardly oblique, but rather
bent below the middle and thence curved off round the anal
angle ; dorsal margin straight ; colour brownish-white,
clouded along the costal and hind margins with umbreous ;
basal line suggested by a deep black streak ; first line oblique,
much indented and thickened at the angles, faintly black ;
second line also black, very slender and faint, its upper por-
tion appearing to form the margin of a large flatly triangular
umbreous blotch which lies along the costa and approaches
the apex ; outside this is a stripe of the whitish ground
colour, obliquely from near the middle of the dorsal margin,
straight to the apex of the wing ; on the outer side of this
stripe are two or three black dots and an extremely faint,
irregular, whitish subterminal line ; reniform stigma in-
dicated by a small black streak or cloud, sometimes wedge-
shaped ; hind margin pale umbreous, edged with black dots,
and outside them with a fine white line ; costal margin,
beyond the middle, minutely dotted with brownish-white ;
cilia pale brown, faintly crenulated. Hind wings elongated
toward the apex, shortened toward the anal angle ; the hind
margin sinuous ; colour smoky white with a blackish central
spot ; cilia white. Female extremely similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale smoky-brown ; reniform
stigma indicated by a black cloud ; in the apex is a white
cloud preceded by white dots. Hind wings smoky-white
central spot elongated, black ; beyond it the surface to the

3o8 LEPIDOP TERA .

apex is shaded with brown. Body whitish-brown ; legs very
long and slender, pale brown.

Variable in the extent of the umbreous clouding, which
often extends from the costal blotch to the base, and occa-
sionally over the whole of the fore wings, which then are
unicolorous dull brown, or have only a whitish oblique dash
from the apex. Abroad it seems to become still darker, and
I have seen specimens from the Island of St. Helena nearly
unicolorous black-brown.

On the wing from the end of June till August, and
probably in a partial second generation, in September and
October.

Larva, when stretched out in walking, about half an inch
in length ; but its general attitude is to " hunch up " its
middle segments into a close loop, keeping the front and
hinder segments close to the surface on which it is resting ;
and for this purpose its figure seems specially adapted, the
head and three following segments being much smaller than
the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, all of which are tumid,
the hinder segments being also somewhat smaller ; there are
but two pairs of ventral legs, or twelve legs in all. The
colour of the back is dark purple or crimson-brown, very
glossy, making it hard to distinguish the obscure markings
upon it ; along the back runs a slightly paler central stripe ;
the subdorsal lines are faintly seen as paler brown lines edged
with blackish below ; the sides and undersurface are paler,
and more ochreous in tint ; taken altogether, the larva has a
general appearance of a dingy dark chocolate colour.

When newly hatched it is quite translucent and glossy, in
colour rose-pink, rather paler towards the tail ; the head
blackish ; the skin furnished with some bristles. At the end
of a week the bristles have disappeared, and also much of its
translucent look, and the colour has become more like claret.
At the end of another week or ten days much of the purplish-
red has vanished, and the colour has become dark brown.

DELTOIDES. 309

From this the full-grown appearance is gradually assumed.
(Rev. J. Hellins.)

July and August, and probably in a second generation in
October, but of this we have no direct knowledge, nor of the
condition in which the winter is passed. Mr. Hellins' larva?
fed readily upon the flowers of thyme {Thymus serpyllum),
yet the habits of the moth are not such as to render it pro-
bable that this is the ordinary food. Probably flowers — alive
or dead — may be acceptable. Possibly a strong taste evinced
by the larva? in question — apparently — for feeding upon one
another may have arisen from distaste for the food provided.

Pupa blunt at the head, tapering gradually towards the
tail, which is rounded, not acute, with a polished surface ;
pale green, faintly tinged with brown. (Rev. J. Hellins.)

The moth hides among very thick herbage, dense masses
of grass and sedge, or thick low bushes, but is unwilling to
show itself by day, and when aroused flits very hastily to a
similar shelter ; yet in the fens it will rise at one's feet, in
very hot weather, and fly to a short distance. Its ordinary
flight is at dusk, and ib will then come to sugar or to thistle
blossoms and other flowers, doubtless also to honey-dew.
Most frequent in fens and in the edges of wet woods and
boggy heaths ; very often in the spots frequented by the last
species, though perhaps more attached to wet mossy heaths,
and more widely distributed. Apparently to be obtained in
such suitable spots in all the Southern, Eastern and Western
Counties of England, even to Cheshire, North Lancashire,
Westmoreland, and possibly Cumberland, in the West, but
not, I think, noticed beyond Norfolk in the East. Hardly
observed at all in the Midlands, but it reappears, very locally,
in Yorkshire. In Wales I have taken it in Pembrokeshire,
and have little doubt that it is (secretly) present in many
parts of the Principality. Its obscure appearance and retir-
ing habits would cause it very often to be overlooked. In
Ireland it has been found at Enniskillen, Cork, Sligo, and

jio LEPIDOPTERA.

Kerry, but there is little doubt that its actual range is far
wider. The only record in Scotland seems to be at Loch-
gilphead, in the north of the Clyde valley. Abroad it inhabits
France, Hollaud, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, and Galicia,
as well as Madeira and St. Helena.

Genus 7. SCHRANKIA.

Antennas notched and minutely ciliated ; palpi long,
slender, curved throughout into a sickle-shape ; eyes naked
and without lashes ; head depressed ; thorax narrow and
weak, smooth but with a small knob at the back ; abdomen
very small, slender, and smooth ; legs normal ; fore wings
narrow and blunt ; hind wings rather small.

We have only one species.

1. S. turfosalis, Wk. — Expanse \ to f inch. Very
slender, small, and weak; fore wings narrow, truncate, pale
umbreous, with two straight, oblique, darker umbreous trans-
verse lines, the second running into the apex of the wing.
Hind wings dark grey.

Antennas of the male simple, minutely ciliated, brown ;
palpi slender, not very long, but sickle-shaped and curved up
above the head, pale brown ; eyes black, but the head is so
much depressed that they are not visible from above ; head
rather broadly covered with scales, whitish-brown ; thorax
similar, smooth, but with a small raised tuft at the back ;
abdomen very small and slender, shining pale grey, dusted
with dark grey and golden-brown ; anal tuft yellow. Fore
wings narrow, oblong, truncate ; costa a little arched, especi-
ally towards the base ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind mai'gin
almost perpendicular, faintly curved, but the anal angle
prominent ; dorsal margin straight ; colour dull pale umbre-
ous, basal half rather the darker; basal line not indicated,
and the first line only by the faintest possible irregular black
striga, most noticeable towards the costa : second line rather

DELTOIDES. 311

obscure, oblique, straight, forming the margin of the darker
area, often edged with white and containing two or three
black streaks or elongated dots ; beyond this in the paler
area is a faint parallel partial blackish line followed by a
more complete and distinct oblique umbreous cloud, or
straight cloudy line, running into the apex of the wing ;
reniform stigma indicated by a black dot or streak touching
the second line ; all these markings very obscure ; cilia pale
umbreous. Hind wings long towards the apex, shorter
towards the anal angle ; hind margin sinuous ; colour smoky-
white dusted with smoky-brown. Female quite similar.

Underside of the fore wings dull blackish-brown ; the
nervures swollen and conspicuous ; hind wings white, with a
shade of black-brown along the costa. Body and legs dull
brown, the latter long but normal.

Only very slightly variable in depth of colour and in dis-
tinctness of the markings.

On the wing at the end of June and in July.

Larva and pupa unknown.

This species seems, so far as these Islands are concerned,
to have been first observed in Ireland, where Richard Weaver
found it plentifully in bogs in the year 1848; but it does
not appear to have been recorded till 1850, immediately upon
which it was found to be abundant in a moss in Cheshire. It
hides during the day among heather in mosses and boggy
heaths, or in the tussocks of grass, rush, or sedge, common in
such wet localities ; and although casual specimens may be
trodden out and induced to fly, or even beaten from tussocks

grass, very few specimens are obtainable in this manner,
the vast majority tumbling clown to the ground or hiding in
the thickest of the wet herbage. But from 6.30 to 8 p.m. a
very different scene will present itself. The creatures then
creep up and fly voluntarily, and in numbers which are an
actual revelation to the collector who has previously been,
with trouble and disappointment, beating or trampling out

3 1 2 LEPID OP TERA .

odd specimens. Nothing is then more easy than to get a
dozen into the net at one time, for the creatures are not
timid nor swift of flight. It should be borne especially in
mind that specimens so captured must not be carried far in
pill or chip boxes, but if possible should be at once pinned
into a damp collecting-bos ; since they are so fragile, and so
liable to die and become dried up if so boxed, that probably
not a single specimen will remain fit for setting after being-
carried in a pill-box for a few miles. Even if pinned in a
dry box the result is little better. Probably a more widely
distributed species than is even now known ; but it has been
found, usually in abundance, in localities such as I have
described, in Surrey, Hants, Berks, Dorset, Somerset, Glou-
cestershire, Norfolk (in myriads), Warwickshire, Cheshire,
Lancashire, and Cumberland. In Scotland in Perthshire ;
in Ireland in abundance in the bogs of Kerry, and doubt-
less in many other places. Abroad its range seems to be
limited to Northern Germany, Silesia, Galicia, Livonia, and
Finland.

Genus 8. BOMOLOCHA.

Antennas of the male ciliated ; palpi moderately long,
pointed, porrected, (in the female more slender) ; eyes naked,
but furnished with long, curled, back lashes ; head hairy ;
thorax crested at the back ; abdomen ornamented with one
to three crests ; legs normal ; fore wings trigonate, rather
pointed, crenulated behind, differing in colour in the sexes.

We have but one species.

1. B. crassalis, Fab. ; fontis, Stand. Cat. — Expanse 1£
to 1^ inch. Fore wings pointed, broadly triangular, with
full hind margin ; pale brownish-grey or white, with a large
velvety black or chocolate blotch from the costa more than
half across the wing, followed by black and white dots and a
black or brown apical streak. Hind wings plain.

DELTOIDES. 5*3

Antennae of the male simple, slender, minutely ciliated,
brown ; palpi moderately long, straight, and porrected, tufted
with long scales, but flattened at the sides, black-brown ;
legs normal, but the tibiaB thickly covered with black-brown
scales ; eyes naked, deep black, and provided with long black
curled lashes at the back ; head very rough, with hair-scales
erect and also pointing forward from the palpi, dark brown ;
thorax similar in colour and in roughness, but the collar
blackened, and the scales at the back gathered into a thick
black tuft ; abdomen mouse-colour, each segment with a
whitish edging, and the first three ornamented each with a
short, thick black-tipped crest ; anal tuft narrow. Fore
wings trigonate, very broad behind ; costa faintly arched at
the base and towards the apex, but flattened or even hollowed
between; apex squarely angulated; hind margin below it
straight, rounded off from the middle and decidedly crenu-
lated ; dorsal margin rather full, and having a small angu-
lated raised tuft or ridge near the base ; ground colour pale
grey-brown, but the greater portion of the wing is occupied
by a large velvety brown-black blotch which extends from the
base to the second line, occupying the costa, and reaching
across three-fourths of the breadth of the wing, being very
sharply defined, and outwardly rather angulated ; no trace of
the basal or first line, but along the dorsal region from the
base is a stripe of more golden-brown than the ground colour,
separated from the black blotch by a fine white line ; second
line black, edged outwardly by a slender white line, and
followed at a short distance by a series of white rings and
crescents in which are placed black or dark brown dots ; this
evidently represents a subterminal line ; from it, opposite to
the angle of the great blotch, arises a thick clouded black
streak which runs obliquely into the apex of the wing;
orbicular stigma just visible as a deeper black dot ; reniform
as a similar crescent ; cilia crenulated, smoky-brown dappled
with darker. Hind wings broad and fully rounded, smoky-
brown ; central spot a small obscure black crescent ; hind

3i4 LEPIDOPTERA.

margin edged by a fine black line set off by a white one ;
cilia pale brown with smoky clouding.

Female very different ; the head and thorax smooth ;
abdomen shorter and more pointed ; ground colour of the
fore wings silvery-white ; the great blotch rich chocolate,
and the apical streak of the same colour, of which there is
also a fine dusting along the hind margin and on the dorsal
margin towards the base ; dots of the subterminal line rather
more distinct. Hind wings smoky yellowish-white. In both
sexes this is a singularly beautiful insect.

Underside of the fore wings smoke-colour, paler towards
the dorsal margin ; nervures blacker ; costa dusted with
white and having two white dots before the apex. Hind
wings smoky-white dusted all over with smoky-brown ;
central spot a small black streak. Body and legs smoky-
brown, but the front pair of legs black, the tarsi barred with
white.

Only variable in a small degree in the distinctness of the
markings towards the hind margin and apex of the fore
wings.

On the wing in June and the beginning of July.

Larva much elongated and the segments deeply divided ;
of the abdominal prolegs three pairs are well developed, and
there are indications of the remaining pair ; anal prolegs
extended behind ; head much rounded, shining light green ;
body bright green, with darker green dorsal, subdorsal, and
spiracular lines, the two latter rather near together ; raised
dots green or brown ; the hairs single, rather long.

August and September, on Vaccinium myrtillus (whortle-
berry).

Pupa undescribed, in the earth. Apparently the winter is
passed in this state.

The male moth is very cunning ; it loves to sit in a shady
spot in a holly-bush, or on the sheltered side of a tuft of

DELTOIDES. 3J5

bilberry, heather, or bramble in the shadow of a tree trunk,
or under the edge of the bank of a hollow wood-path among
the loose roots ; when disturbed it slips away in an artful
manner along the shadows, to which its dark colouring so
closely assimilates it, to hide again among hollies or any other
thick bushes that may be available. The female is not so
cautious, but sits plainly visible, head downwards, usually
upon the trunk of a Scotch fir or other tree, but is there
greatly protected by its wonderful resemblance to a small
dead leaf of pointed ivy. It flies freely at dusk, and will
come occasionally to sugar. A very local species, and mainly
restricted to fir woods with an undergrowth of whortleberry,
but found in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Berks, Devon,
Cornwall, Somerset, and Staffordshire, also rarely in Worces-
tershire and Suffolk. It is recorded in North Wales, but
not in Scotland. Rather widely distributed in Ireland —
common at Killarney and Kenmare in Kerry, and recorded
from Waterford, Galway, Carrick on Shannon, Lough Foyle,
and Deny.

Abroad its range seems to be limited to Central Europe,
the temperate portions of Northern Europe, and Northern
Italy.

Genus 9. HYPENA.

Antennas minutely ciliated ; palpi long, curved up, and
densely tufted ; eyes naked, without lashes ; head promi-
nently tufted in front ; thorax smooth ; abdomen slender,
furnished with one or two small crests; legs normal; fore
wings broadly trigonate ; hind wings ample.

LarVjG cylindrical, rather slender, having fourteen well
developed feet ; on herbaceous plants.

Pup^e in a silken cocoon among leaves.

We have two species, easily recognised, since H. probosci-
dalis is of nearly double the size of H. rostralis, and has much
more pointed fore wings.

3i6 LEPIDOPTERA.

1. H. rostralis, L.— Expanse 1 to 1^ inch. Palpi long,
porrected ; body slender ; fore wings retuse or even truncate
behind, pale brown or dull brown, with three or more central
erect tufts of jet-black scales ; hind wings very large, pale
smoke-colour.

Antennas of the male slender, simple, minutely ciliated,
dark brown ; palpi large, projecting forward, upraised, and
bent up still more at the apical joint, deeply tufted but
flattened at the sides, dark brown ; eyes black, without
lashes ; head thickly and roughly tufted, the scales project-
ing forward over the bases of the palpi, dark brown ; thorax
of the same colour but smoother ; fascicles small, grey-white ;
abdomen slender and tapering, dull grey-brown or black-
brown ; on the first segment is a small brown dorsal crest ;
anal tuft small and compressed. Fore wings somewhat
oblong and truncate, moderately broad ; costa gently arched ;
apex angulated and almost squared ; hind margin below it
straight and perpendicular or very faintly hollowed, then
filled out and projecting, but rounded off to the anal angle ;
dorsal margin straight ; colour whitish-brown, light brown,
or pale umbreous ; first line, when visible, duplicated, angu-
lated, and indented, pale brown edged on both sides with
black-brown ; second line placed only just beyond the middle
of the wing, rather oblique and very straight, black, usually
acting as the outer margin of a blacker area of the wing than
the ground colour ; subterminal line a faint series of cloudy
whitish dots, bordering another dark stripe or space, but this
and the first line are often obsolete ; from the subterminal
line a cloudy black line or bar runs obliquely into the apex
of the wing ; orbicular stigma round, black, with a whitish
margin ; reniform indicated by two black dots placed per-
pendicularly ; from them a black line runs inward, sometimes
quite to the orbicular stigma ; beneath this there is usually
a black spot below the median nervure ; all these black dots are
formed of upraised scales, and the upper ones are edged with
erect paler scales ; extreme hind margin edged by a black

DELTOIDES. 317

line, or a series of black luuules ; cilia of the ground colour,
intersected and dusted with darker. Hind wings broad and
ample ; hind margin very sinuous ; colour pale smoky-brown ;
nervures faintly darker ; hind margin edged with a brown
line ; cilia white, much clouded with smoky-brown. Female
very similar, but with the body a little stouter.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brow a ; costa and hind
margin clouded with golden-brown ; cilia dappled with the
same. Hind wings brownish-white, the front half dusted
with brown and black, and showing a short portion of a
transverse smoky-black stripe ; extreme hind margin edged
with black lunules ; cilia smoky-white. Body pale brown,
dusted with black ; legs long, pale brown ; darker brown in
front.

Variable in the ground colour from whitish-brown to dull
smoky-umbreous, much more so in the markings. Very often
the fore wings appear to be sharply divided transversely at
the second line — all outside it being far paler than the inner
area ; when this is the case the outer area is often very
prettily waved with parallel lines of cloudy pale brown ; in
other instances it is very uniform in colour, and sometimes
even the black apical streak is obscured or absent. The
same occurs to the black streak between the stigmata, and
even to a portion of the raised black dots ; but on the
other hand, when there is no dividing line, and the whole
area of the wing is umbreous, these dots stand most con-
spicuously upright, and render the species unmistakable.
This happens also when the colouring is changed to longi-
tudinal stripes of brown clouding, and all other markings
have disappeared. All intermediate forms are found, and it
is difficult in words to do justice to the mutations of this
interesting insect.

On the wing in August and September, and after hyber-
nation from April till June.

Larva about an inch long, and slender in proportion ;

3 1 8 LEPID OP TERA .

head of the width of the second but narrower than the third
segment, its lobes rounded, green tinged with yellow and
plentifully dotted with black ; body widest in the middle,
attenuated very gradually to the anal extremity; prologs
eight in number, the segments from the fifth to the seventh
arched in walking ; skin soft and smooth ; tubercles slightly
raised, and from each of them springs a single short in-
conspicuous hair; colour bright grass-green — exactly the
same colour indeed as the underside of the hop leaves upon
which it feeds — a darker green pulsating vessel showing
clearly through the skin forms the dorsal line ; subdorsal
lines clear white ; spiracular lines also white, but much in-
terrupted and less distinct ; tubercles and spiracles black ;
segmental divisions yellow, but scarcely noticeable ; ventral
surface, legs and prolegs all of the same bright green.
(G. T. Porritt.)

June and the beginning of July, on Hop (Eumulus
lupulus). Hofmann states that a second generation feeds on
nettle and hop in August and September, but I feel sure
that this is not the case here. A very active larva, darting
backwards or forwards with equal facility. During the day
it lies closely along the underside of the hop leaf against the
midrib, where it is much protected by its colour.

Pupa about five-eighths of an inch long ; of ordinary Noctua
shape ; smooth and polished ; the ribbed antenna-cases pro-
minent and reaching quite to the end of the wing sheaths ;
colour rich mahogany brown. In a cocoon of white silk
amono- the leaves, so nearly transparent that the pupa can be
distinctly seen within it. (G. T. Porritt.)

The moth hides during the day near to the ground among
rocks, or stones in rockeries, under thatch or rafters, under
faggots, or other wood, or any garden rubbish ; and if dis-
turbed dashes instantly away to another resting place, some-
times within a few feet and quite visibly, yet looking, while
it remains still, like a mere bit of dead and crumpled leaf.

DELTOIDES. 3*9

At dusk it flies rather gently, often about gardens and lanes
and the borders of woods ; and will come to sugar, ivy-bloom
and the blossoms of heather. It retires rather early, to
hybernate under the roof of a shed or disused building, or
under a thatch, ledge, or any such sheltered covering, and
does not become torpid except during severe frost, but moves
about in its hiding place, yet does not seem to fly at all until
the spring. It appears to be especially attached to suburban
gardens, and to the adjacent lanes, and is still tolerably
common in the London squares and outskirts ; also is found
more or less plentifully in all the Southern and Eastern
Counties of England ; all the Western, except that it is scarce
in Cornwall ; in the southern portion of the Midlands, and in
some parts of Yorkshire ; but I have no record for Wales ;
for Scotland only one in the extreme South, in the Tweed
district ; and no certain locality in Ireland.

Abroad it seems to be found throughout Central Europe,
the temperate portions of Northern Europe, Spain, Italy,
Corsica, Northern Turkey, Southern Russia, Eastern Siberia,
Asia Minor, and the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

2. H. proboscidalis, L. — Expanse 1^ to 1£ inch. Palpi
porrected, very long ; body not stout ; fore wings very broad,
pointed and somewhat trigonate, velvety-brown with two red-
brown transverse lines, and a wavy dotted line beyond. Hind
wings ample, pale smoke-colour.

Antennas of the male slender, simple, faintly ciliated, light
brown ; palpi long, porrected, flatly tufted and compressed at
the sides, apical joint slightly bent upward ; eyes brown ;
head brown, rather smooth, but the scales long, laid down,
and pointed forwards in an angulated prostrate tuft which
conceals the bases of the palpi ; thorax rather narrow, smooth,
brown ; fascicles small and short, smoky- white ; abdomen
rather slender, smooth, pale brown, each segment faintly
edged with white, and the first and second sometimes
decorated each with a very small brown dorsal crest, which,

32o LEPIDOPTERA.

however, is either frequently wanting, or exceedingly evane-
scent ; anal tuft small. Fore wings very broad, pointed and
trigonate ; costa faintly arched toward the base and the apex,
very straight between ; apex pointed and rather produced ;
hind margin beneath it a little hollowed, then filled out and
expanded in the middle, but oblique towards the anal angle,
which is prominent ; dorsal margin very gently rounded,
somewhat ciliated and full towards the base ; colour pale
brown abundantly dusted with purple-brown ; first line dark
purple-brown or red-brown, curved and a little indented ;
second line of the same colour, broadly shaded off inwardly,
oblique, rather direct, and placed in the middle of the wing ;
the inward shading often takes the form of a narrow, deep
brown central transverse stripe ; subterminal line a faint
dark brown shade, sinuous but complete, edged, especially
above the middle, with white and black dots ; orbicular
stigma sometimes indicated by a brown dot, reniform more
frequently by a small black-brown cloud ; below the apex
the concave portion of the hind marginal space is clouded
with dark brown ; cilia concolorous. Hind wings large,
rounded behind, pale smoky-brown ; extreme margin and
cilia a little darker. Female extremely similar, but its body
is rather stouter and more pointed.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown, clouded along
the costa with pale brown, and having before the apex two
black-brown commencements of transverse stripes which do
not extend further. Hind wings pale golden-brown dusted
with dark brown, especially so along the hind marginal region ;
central spot black ; beyond it is a cloucTy dark brown trans-
verse stripe. Body and legs pale smoky-brown.

Hardly variable except in the depth of the ground colour,
of the stripe along the second line, and of the hind marginal
space, from light umbreous with a brown stripe and shading,
or with very little indication of either, to purplish-brown
with bands much deeper in colour.

On the wing in J une and July ; but abroad apparently in

DELTOIDES. 321

May, and as a second generation in July and August. In
this country this second emergence is rare and extremely
casual, only occurring in long warm summers.

Larva elongated, not thick, tapering off behind ; the anal
feet a little extended ; head rounded, yellow-brown ; body
grass-green with deep yellow divisions to the segments ;
dorsal line darker ; on the sides are interrupted yellower
longitudinal lines ; raised dots pale, each with a stiff brown
hair ; these hairs point in different directions, so that they
cross or touch at their tips when the creature moves ; prolegs
greenish-white, the last two pairs well developed and long,
the others small. When young, paler green with the head
dotted with dark green, and a third pair of prolegs well
developed ; the raised dots black and very distinct, in a row
below the spiracles ; sometimes there are indications of
whitish subdorsal and spiracular lines.

Apparently from August till May upon common stinging-
nettle, living within a spun-together leaf. But there is some
obscurity even as to the food of this species, although it is
only found among nettles. Hofmann says that it feeds
upon low-growing plants, especially nettle and hop; but
Treitschke adds to nettle (JJrtica urens), Plantago lanceolata
and JEgopodium podagraria. Possibly when its favourite
nettles are cut down, as frequently happens, it will feed upon
low plants growing among them.

Pupa elongated and having long wing-covers ; spiracles
distinctly visible; anal segment provided, apparently, with
only one spike ; colour dark red-brown. In a whitish web
among spun-together leaves. (Treitschke.)

The moth inhabits beds of nettles, especially those which
grow along ditch banks or among thick undergrowth, and
sits forming a broad triangle, head downwards, under a nettle
leaf. It is very easily disturbed, but sneaks away, and strives
to hide itself among the thickest masses, often close to the

VOL. vi. x

322 LEPIDOPTERA.

ground. At dusk it flies in a very conspicuous manner, but
generally keeps near to the nettle-beds. Plentiful in lanes,
road-sides, and all waste spots in which nettles are permitted
to grow, almost all over England, but apparently less so in
the north-west. So far as I know not abundant in Wales
— it certainly was not so in Pembrokeshire. Common in
the eastern portions of Scotland, to Forres and elsewhere in
Moray, though somewhat local ; also in the west to Dum-
bartonshire. In Ireland everywhere abundant. Abroad it
is common over nearly the whole of Europe, Asia Minor,
Tartary and the mountainous regions of Central Asia.

[H. obsitalis, Hilb. — A pretty species of about the size and
shape of H. rostralis, or often smaller ; the fore wings similarly
truncate orretuse, usually of some shade of brown — light brown,
grey-brown, dull brown, or dark umbreous — with a triangular
yellow or grey-white blotch on the costa, running into the
apex, and before it a perpendicular partial stripe of the same
colour ; the rest of the wing rather clouded or shaded with
paler colour, especially so along the dorsal margin ; but very
variable, sometimes having a large and somewhat triangular
darker blotch from the costa occupying the middle portion of
the wing, and nearly always showing some trace of this.

On the wing at the end of July.

The larva is said to feed in May upon pellitory (Parietaria
officinalis) ; and the moth is reported to have a habit of
hiding in dark corners.

A single example of this species was captured ou the 21st
September 1884 at rest on the door-jamb, in the flower-
garden at Bloxworth Rectory, Dorset, by the Rev. Octavius
Pickard-Cambridge. This is the only instance of which I
have any knowledge, of its occurrence in these Islands, and
although the species has, on account of this capture, been in-
troduced into British Lists, there seems little reason to
believe that the specimen was other than an accidental im-
portation, at some stage of life, from the Continent. It is

DELTOIDES. 323

essentially a southern species and has an extensive range
through Southern Europe, Syria, Armenia, Asia Minor,
Cyprus, Madeira, the Canaries, Egypt, Morocco, and Algiers,
and is very common in South Africa.]

Genus 10. RIVULA.

Antennae short, simple, thickly ciliated; palpi not very
long, triangularly tufted, porrected ; eyes naked, without
lashes ; thorax slender, smooth, with long shoulder-lappets ;
abdomen slender, smooth, tapering, not crested ; fore wings
small, bluntly triangular, very narrow at the base ; hind
wings proportionately rather large.

We have but one species.

1. R. sericealis, Scop.- -Expanse f to £ inch. Palpi
shortly triangular, body slender ; fore wings trigonate, straw
colour at the base, shading off to brownish-yellow behind ;
reniform stigma a black-brown spot; hind wings smoky-
white ; legs normal but long.

Antennas of the male simple, thickly but softly ciliated,
light purple brown ; palpi not very long, triangularly tufted,
depressed, dull yellow ; eyes black ; head rather smooth,
white ; collar divided into two flaps, yellowish-white ; re-
mainder of the thorax narrow, smooth, dull yellow ; fascicles
pale yellow ; abdomen slender, tapering, smooth, yellowish-
white, with distinct lateral tufts ; anal tuft narrow and
pointed. Fore wings short and rather truncate, but triangular ;
costa very faintly arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind
margin beneath it straight and but little oblique, rounded off
however below the middle ; dorsal margin gracefully curved ;
colour soft dull yellow, palest at the base, tinged along
the hind margin with reddish-brown ; there is usually no
trace of transverse lines, but in some individuals these are
visible, slender, cloudy and much indented, the first some-
what perpendicular but broadly angulated, the second very

324 LEPIDOPTERA.

oblique and curved, returning toward the costa ; between
them is a black cloudy spot containing two blacker dots, and
representing the reniform stigma ; often this throws off a
faint smoky streak to the first line. Where these lines are
visible there is usually darker dull purplish-brown clouding
towards the hind margin ; cilia concolorous. Hind wings
rather long, with the hind margin sinuous ; white or smoky-
white with an abundant dusting of purplish-brown, and a
general superficial purplish gloss ; nervures tinged with
brown ; cilia white. Female often almost devoid of the
darker clouding of the fore wings, which are therefore
yellower, but even with this brighter colour there is often a
narrow purplish-brown shade along the hind, margin ; hind
wings whiter ; body short but hardly thicker.

Underside of the fore wings purplish-brown ; costal and
apical regions fulvous-yellow ; reniform stigma indicated by
a black cloud. Hind wings yellowish-white ; beyond the
middle is an indistinct, partial, dusted, tawny transverse
streak. Body and legs yellow-brown.

Such variation as exists in this species is in the direction
already indicated — the presence or absence of transverse lines.
and of the dark shading — and these are not wholly sexual,
since males are not infrequently quite yellow so far as the
fore wings are concerned ; and occasionally a female is found
having the transverse lines and the dark shading very dis-
tinctly visible. Colonel Partridge has an example taken near
Enniskillen, Ireland, in which the yellow colour is wholly
obscured by smoky clouding.

On the wing from the end of June till August.

Larva cylindrical, of moderate stoutness, the three hinder
segments slightly tapering, and the anal prolegs extended
backwards ; head rounded, greenish-drab, with dusky dots and
hairs ; body rather velvety, bright green, the colour deepest
on the back and down to the spiracles, the tracheae showing
faintly through the skin as a paler thread ; subdorsal stripes

DELTOIDES. -i25

white, commencing on the second segment, continue of the
same width throughout, but draw rather nearer to each other
as they approach the thirteenth ; the outer edge of these is
straight, but the inner concave on every segment, so that the
green ground of the back appears as a series of broad ovals
with a darker green dorsal line running through them ;
segmental folds greenish-yellow; spiracles round, flesh-colour,
faintly edged with black; raised dots glossy green, each
bearing on its summit a dusky dot, from which springs a
rather long rough hair, which, when highly magnified, is
seen to be barbed ; undersurface pale green ; all the legs and
prolegs green ; the latter fringed with fine blackish hooks.

When newly hatched it is quite hairy, the head whitish-
brown, with dark mouth and ocelli ; a dark grey internal
vessel can be but indistinctly discerned through the skin of
the body. As it grows its dorsal region becomes green,
then dark purplish-red from the colour of the internal vessel,
but this is interrupted on the tenth segment. After the
second moult the double dorsal and whitish subdorsal lines
begin to appear, the head is pale green with minute dusky
specks, and each raised spot has a similar glossy dot bearing
a long black hair. These colours are maintained until hyber-
nation, which takes place on a little foothold of silk upon
the food-plant ; but afterwards the green colour re-asserts
itself, and the adult colouring is gradually assumed. (Adapted
from Buckler.)

August till May on Br achy podium sylvaticwni, and probably
other grasses, since Phalaris arundinacea has certainly been
accepted as a substitute ; eating out notches in the sides of
the grass-blades, or when more nearly full-grown eating
them obliquely through.

Pupa of ordinary form, the wing-covers well developed,
with their nervures in strong relief; abdominal segments
smooth and very slightly defined; anal tip furnished with
several minute, curly-tipped, shiny bristles, which are thrust

326 LEPIDOP TERA .

into the silk of its cocoon, and hold fast ; general colour
green, having beyond the thorax the two white subdorsal
stripes which marked the larva ; these gradually fade as it
matures, and the wing-covers turn pale, and ultimately quite
dingy before the perfect insect emerges. In an oval cocoon
formed by drawing together a portion of the grass-blade and
partially lining it with silk, one or two threads of silk
are also passed loosely across the back, forming a stay or
cincture, to secure all in position, and a few more over the
hinder segments as further security ; the uncut portion of
the top edge of the leaf is drawn down obliquely over the
hollow, and partially hides the occupant from view, though
the colour of larva and of pupa assimilating with that of the
grass is no doubt a source of protection. (W. Buckler.)

The moth frequents marshes, damp woodsides and rides,
the margins of ponds, moist lanes where long grass grows
in the ditches, and particularly the springs and moist spots
on open commons and heaths where the grass and herbage
are rank. Here it is easily disturbed in the daytime, but is
not timid, and settles again close by, hanging to a grass-
blade or leaf in the manner of the Pyralites, to which group
in habits it closely assimilates. In the early twilight it flits
lazily about in the same places, and is never very conspicuous.
Probably its flight is continued into the night, but of this I
am not certain. Common in such places in niany parts of
England, excepting, apparently, the Midland counties, but
scarcer in the north ; formerly common in lanes in the out-
skirts of London, whence it has now almost disappeared.
Probably widely distributed in Wales, since I found it
commonly in marshy spots in Pembrokeshire. Abundant
everywhere in Ireland, but in Scotland very local, and
apparently confined to the Solway and Clyde districts, and
to Arran. Abroad it is found all over Continental Europe
except the Polar districts, also in Syria and Tartary.

BREPHIDES. y-1

Family 7. BREPHIDES.

Antennas of the males pectinated, or toothed like a saw ;
palpi small, but covered thickly with bristles projecting for-
wards ; ocelli absent ; eyes naked ; body slender, bristly ;
legs also hairy, the femora shorter than the tibias ; fore wings
oblong, very blunt behind, and the costa nearly straight ;
hind wings almost equally long, narrow, and scarcely folded
when at rest.

Larvae half-loopers, the first two pairs of ventral prolegs
being short and almost useless.

PuPiE long and very cylindrical.

This family seems to contain but a single genus, and is
somewhat closely allied to the Geometrin".

Genus 1. BREPHOS.

Antennas pectinated or notched, not ciliated ; eyes naked,
without lashes, but much hidden by the thick mass of erect
hairs which covers the palpi and head ; thorax and abdomen
slender and hairy ; fore wings oblong-trigonate, blunt, thick
in texture ; hind wings narrow, long, with straight dorsal
margin ; vein 5 of the fore wings in the middle of the cross-
bar, in the hind wings much below it, but complete and full
at the margin.

We have but two species, very similar, but in B. notha
the antennas of the male are pectinated, and the fore wings
triangular ; in B. parthenias they are more elongated, and
the antennas only ciliated.

1. B. parthenias, L. — Expanse l\ to 1^ inch. Fore
wings long, blunt behind, reddish-brown banded with pale
brown and greyish-white. Hind wings long and narrow,
orange-red with a large dark brown basal blotch and black
margin ; antennas notched or almost simple.

J 28 LEP1D0PTERA.

Antennas of the male short and rather evenly thick,
faintly serrated and ciliated, black-brown ; palpi short and
curled up, but their shape quite hidden by an abundance of
stiff black hairs pointing forwards and upwards, grey-black ;
head and thorax very rough with loose erect hair-scales
mixed with hairs, black-brown, the latter narrow ; abdomen
almost as thick as the thorax, yet not stout, very even in
breadth, black, but covered with fine downy grey-brown
hairs ; anal tuft narrow, pale brown mixed with grey-black.
Fore wings rather long, oblong-trigonate, broad behind ;
costa almost straight or very faintly arched ; apex bluntly
rounded ; hind margin very gently curved, hardly oblique,
and the anal angle prominent ; dorsal margin straight ; dull
tawny-brown, dusted with black, and on emergence with
blue-black, which last appears to be shaken off in flight ;
first line oblique, thick, direct yet much indented, black ;
second line obscure, rather erect, much indented, black
shaded off inwardly; subterminal line nearly parallel with it,
Out obscure, pale brown or whitish-brown, inwardly edged
with small cloudy black triangular spots, which often, how-
ever are but partially represented ; reniform stigma indicated
by an ovate black spot with a bluish centre ; joined to it on
the inner side is a triangular white costal blotch or spot ;
beyond this, near the apex of the wing, are often two smaller
cloudy white spots ; cilia bluish-black dashed with white.
Hind wings rather elongated and narrow, the costal margin
more straight than usual and the apex more angulated, but
rounded behind, orange-fulvous with a large brown-black
squared blotch occupying the dorsal half of the wing to
beyond the middle, where it often unites with a similar
stripe crossing the wing from the costa ; along the hind
margin is an irregular indented black stripe ; cilia similar,
shaded and dashed with yellowish-white. Antennas of the
female simple and more slender ; fore wings a very little
narrower and usually having less black dusting ; abdomen
decidedly thicker and very blunt.

BREPHIDES. 329

Underside rich orange-tawny with some white clouding
along the costal edges of all the wings ; a square spot beyond
the middle of the fore wings, and a slender transverse stripe
from it, are deep black, and the apical space dull black ; in
the hind wings the black markings of the upper side are
repeated. Body and legs black, but covered with pale ashy
down.

Variation in the colour of the fore wings is not unusual,
from brownish-tawny and rusty-brown to blackish-brown,
but in the last case usually with a hoary dusting and the
dark colour much restricted to the anterior half. In the
collection of Mr. S. J. Capper is an example having the fore-
wings marbled almost all over with orange-brown except at
the margins ; he has also a fmale having the hind wings
yellow. One in Dr. Mason's collection has all the middle
and apical areas of the fore wings broadly clouded with
white and pale brown ; and a female in that of Mr. P. M.
Bright has a broad white central band. In the white clouding
there is often considerable variation, since an extension half-
way across the fore wings is by no means rare, while in some
individuals it is restricted to two white costal triangles. In
the hind wings the black-brown stripe from the costa, uniting
with the great dorsal brown blotch, is often broken into
spots, or partially broken and swollen into one large round or
lunate spot, or reduced into this one spot only, and I have
one specimen in which this stripe is wholly absent. Occa-
sionally the black marginal band throws out a broad extension
as a black blotch which almost crosses the orange-red space.
Mr. C. W. Dale possesses a specimen in which the fore and
hind wings are entirely black.

On the wing in March and April.

Larva slender, cylindrical, and extremely even in thick-
ness ; head rounded, semi-translucent, pale green ; body dull
soft green, exactly the colour of a birch-leaf; dorsal line
slender, double, white ; subdorsal lines quite similar, so that

330 LEPIDOPTERA.

six parallel slender white lines extend the whole length of
the body ; spiracular line broader, white, placed on a narrow
raised ridge or wrinkling of the skin ; spiracles black ; usual
raised dots minute, white, having very small straight bristles ;
undersurface and prolegs paler green ; legs still paler and
tipped with yellow-green, rather large and strong ; anal and
third pair of prolegs also very robust, the other three pairs
smaller and decreasing in size to the first, also much less in
use, since the mode of walking is to form a complete loop
like a Geometra. Occasionally the green ground colour is
replaced by brown. Very active and lively, feeding eagerly
by day ; by no means disturbed even by examination and
description.

April and May or the beginning of June on birch, feeding
when young in preference upon the catkins, later upon the
leaves.

Pupa long, narrow, and very uniformly cylindrical, leg
and antenna-covers faintly raised above the generally smooth
surface and, with the wing-covers minutely sculptured in
very fine transverse incised lines, which render these portions
rather dull ; head a rounded projecting knob, eyes and
mouth-cover wrinkled ; dorsal surface also wrinkled, and
ridged at the segments ; abdominal segments edged on both
margins by strong sharp ridges, the incisions between deeply
incised and angulated ; the front ridges deeply pitted ; anal
segments smooth and thick, but rounded, and furnished with
a small rounded knob as a cremaster, with two short spikes
widely divergent and bent back ; whole surface moderately
shining, pitchy brown, bright in the smooth portions. In a
very neatly excavated chamber in the substance of soft bark,
the chamber being at right angles with the entrance hole,
across which is built a silken diaphragm.

In this condition through the winter.

The male moth flies in the sunshine with great activity at
thirty to fifty feet from the ground, sometimes higher, or

BREPHIDES. 551

even over the trees, often descending lower to near the
ground; sometimes also attracted by a bush of blooming
sallow, or even occasionally enticed to settle quite down at
the wet margin of a boggy or sandy pool, and there imbibe
the moisture, raising its wings and turning about. Major
Ficklin has seen it go for this purpose quite into the shallow
water and sandy mud. This even seems to be the case some-
times in damp wood paths, or it will occasionally bask in
the sun upon the ground or on a fence. If a cloud comes
over it settles down at once on a birch twig, clasping it closely
with steeply inclined wings. The female sits in the same
manner and is hardly ever seen to fly, but looks precisely
like an old dead leaf twisted round a twig. Thus it is very
difficult to discover, and is more likely to be obtained by
beating the trees than by examining them. The capture of
a female, however, with judicious management will some-
times bring plenty of males within reach. These last when
Hying are full of dodges, dashing upward, downward, espe-
cially backward, to escape when pursued, and it is particu-
larly exasperating, when one makes a rush in pursuit of a
specimen which has flown rather low, to find suddenly that
it has turned behind its pursuer, and is making 'off safely in
the opposite direction. Its favourite haunts are boggy heaths
where birch grows freely, and in such places, as well as along
the edges of birch woods, it may often be seen flying in abund-
ance in the sunshine at a safe height, on the side of the trees
most sheltered from the wind. Plentiful in such suitable
places in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hants. Berks ; Savernake
Forest, Wilts ; and found in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire,
Middlesex, Hunts, Cambs, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk; Sher-
wood Forest, Notts ; and very locally in Warwickshire,
Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Lanca-
shire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, but apparently not
noticed further north in England. In Wales it is recorded
in Glamorganshire, but must surely exist in many other
parts. In Scotland it has been found in Aberdeenshire and

332 LEPIDOPTERA.

Kincardineshire, and in plenty in some of the wooded dis-
tricts of Moray, In Ireland it seems to have been recorded
only in Westmeath. Abroad its range is through Central
and Northern Europe, Piedmont, Southern and Eastern
Russia, Eastern Siberia, the mountainous regions of Central
Asia, and Labrador.

2. B. notha, Hub. — Expanse 1^ to If inch. Antenna'
pectinated. Fore wings triangular, grey-brown, banded with
black-brown; hind wings orange-red with markings as in
the last species.

Antennas of the male shortly but distinctly pectinated with
almost naked oblique solid teeth which are thickened at their
tips, black ; palpi short, black, and. with the head, almost
hidden by abundant stiff projecting grey-brown hairs, thorax
narrow, similarly black and hairy ; abdomen slender, rather
hairy, black-brown ; anal tuft small. Fore wiugs almost
triangular, shorter than in the last species, broad behind ;
costa faintly arched, almost straight ; apex angulated ; hind
margin rounded and full, hardly oblique, the anal angle well
developed ; dorsal margin straight ; colour grey-brown or
blackish-brown with a subdued undertone of tawny ; first
line oblique, black, very little indented, faintly edged in-
wardly with dusky white ; and very often outwardly by a
broad oblique straight band of the dark ground colour ; and
this by an even broader parallel stripe of pale grey or brownish-
grey ; second line also black, rather erect, a little indented
and bent outwardly in rather larger angles in its upper
portion, edged outside with a white or pale brown thread ;
subterminal line very distinct, broadly black, shaded off in-
wardly, and bordered outside with a white line which is dusted
with black ; reniform stigma completely margined with black ;
beyond the second line is a white crescent on the costa, and
near the apex a whiter costal dot; cilia black-brown dusted
with white. Hind wings rather squared behind, rich orange-
fulvous ; from the base the dorsal half of the wing is occupied

BREPHIDES. 353

by a large black blotch covered with golden-yellow hairs, and
this is united with a broken black transverse stripe from the
costa ; hind margin bordered by an irregular, indented, black-
stripe ; cilia black, mixed with yellowish-white. The female
has slender simple antennas, the fore wings shorter and a
little narrower, and the abdomen rather stout; the ground
colour of its fore wings is often paler, especially in a trans-
verse band of greyish-white at the base and another beyond
the middle.

Underside of the fore wings orange-tawny ; on the costa
beyond the middle is a black blotch or produced spot,
followed by a white cloud on the costa, and this by a
broad dull black blotch which occupies the apical region,
and is continued along the hind margin. Hind wings
orange-tawny, the black markings as on the upper side,
except that the central black transverse stripe is more
complete. Body and legs black, covered with a yellowish
down.

Variation in this species is not great, and shows itself
mainly in the direction of elimination of the whitish -grey or
dusky stripes, which then are more or less replaced \>j the
ground colour, or even by a more purplish-brown tone thereof,
some specimens having the fore wings almost unicolorous •
on the other hand, very occasional specimens have the grey
bands hoary, or even almost white. Of this last form Major
A. Ficklin possesses a beautiful example.

On the wing in April.

Larva about an inch in length, not very stout, cylindrical
and almost of uniform bulk throughout; head full and
rounded, green or yellow-greeD ; spotted, as is the second
segment, with black ; the two front pairs of ventral legs are
much less developed than the next two pairs, and the hind-
most are splayed laterally ; beneath the anal flap is a small
point with a tubercle on each side of it ; the segments are
plump and well defined ; ground colour a pale subdued tint

334 LEPIDOPTERA.

of green, or else bright velvety yellowish- green ; the dorsal
vessel a rather deeper tint of the same, edged with fine lines
of pale greenish-yellow ; the subdorsal fine line is yellow,
and between it and the spiracles runs another such fine line
which passes through a broad black lateral stripe, dividing
it into two, in some specimens completely, in others only
partially ; spiracles white, delicately outlined with black, and
beneath them is a broad stripe of pale yellow or whitish-
yellow ; undersurface and legs paler green than the back.
In one individual a short tapering black streak issued at
the end of each segment for half its length forwards, as
an edge to the subdorsal line; but these streaks appeared
only on the fifth to twelfth segments. The black marks
on the head and second segment appear to be constant and
characteristic of this species ; they may therefore be more
minutely described as follows : A broad irregular blotch
down the front of each lobe, forked at the side, a round
spot on the face between them, and two pairs (sometimes
more) of black dots on the second segment. The pale lines
of the back are absent from the second segment and from
the anal flap ; the anterior legs are generally spotted with
black.

A variety is of a dingy, rather olive-brown ; lines pale
pinkish-grey; with only the usual black marks on the head,
second segment and anterior legs.

The young larva up to half an inch in length is very
dingy and nearly black, but bears some exceedingly fine
pale drab longitudinal lines ; after moulting and when about
three-quarters of an inch in length, it becomes less like the
larva of a Nodua in form than it was before, and more like
a Geometra, both in form and manner of progression. Its
colour is now a delicate green, inclining in some instances
to glaucous; the longitudinal lines and segmental folds
become whitish-yellow ; the head and second segment
spotted with black ; the growth now is rapid ; in some indi-
viduals black spots appear on the sides, in a day or two

BREP HIDES. 335

developing into stripes ; but in others no fresh spots appear.
(W. Buckler.)

May and June on aspen (Populus tremvla), feeding upon
the leaves, spinning them together flat-wise for conceal-
ment.

Pupa half an inch long, narrow, uniformly cylindrical to half
the length of the abdomen, whence it rather rapidly tapers ;
but the anal segment is thick and bluntly rounded off
behind, bearing a curious short, broad, flattened cremaster
like the head of a hatchet, from the two outer angles of
which spring two short spikes standing straight out sideways;
head a little flattened in front, antenna-cases showing the
cross lines of the joints, but limb-covers closely packed and
smooth ; wing-covers also smooth, slightly ribbed, but scarcely
sculptured, shining ; first three abdominal segments furnished
in front with a raised ridge which is much punctured ;
remaining surface smooth and brilliantly glossy ; colour rich
red-brown. In a cylindrical chamber or tunnel gnawed in
the substance of soft bark or wood ; without cocoon, but
the entrance closed with silk mixed with gnawed fragments
of wood.

In this condition through the winter, and it has been
known to remain unchanged for more than one year.

The moth, the male especially, flies in a lively manner, in
the sunshine, at a good height, among aspens and over under-
growth. When inclined to rest, it does so on the higher
twigs, shutting its wings closely and flatly down, the hind
wings quite concealed ; but is easily disturbed and induced
to fly again. The female is more inactive. Whether there
is any flight during the night does not seem to be known.
A very local species, confined to open woods, and places with
scattered aspen trees. Found in Kent, Essex, Sussex, Surrey,
Middlesex, Dorset, Wilts, Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire
Suffolk, and Norfolk, also rarely in the Trench Woods,

336 LEP1D0PTERA.

Worcestershire, and in Yorkshire. In Wales in Monmouth-
shire ; and in Scotland in the Altyre Woods, Moray. So
far as I know not found elsewhere in the British Isles.
Abroad it extends over the greater part of Central Europe,
Southern Sweden, Southern Eussia, and Northern Italy.

GEOMETRINA. 337

Group 4. GEOMETRINA.

This is also an extensive group of species. It is not very
closely allied to the last, but seems to run in other lines, with
perhaps, in some degree, a closer alliance to the Bombycina.
The arrangement usually followed in this country — that of
M. Guenee, as adopted by Mr. Stainton in his " Manual " —
seems to be open to a criticism similar to that to which his
arrangement of the Noctuina is exposed, of a separation into
families of which the structural characters are insufficient, or
of merely generic value. In this respect that followed by the
later German authors appears more satisfactory, though here
they mass together in single genera large numbers of species
which seem to be more reasonably placed in smaller ones.
We miss in the present group the extensive series of struc-
tural characters so useful in the subdivision of the Noctuina,
and are compelled to place more reliance on those which
remain. For instance, the eyes in the present group, although
usually large and prominent, are, I think, always devoid of
the covering of minute upright bristles found in so many of
the species of the previous ; and there is little, if any, indica-
tion, in the vast majority of the species, of the bordering
rows of bristles which I have denominated eye-lashes. Where
the eyes are less prominent — in stouter species — they are often
obscured by dense hair-scales which project from the head.
The collar is far less conspicuous — indeed, between it and
the head a small transverse ridge is commonly interposed —
or has become noticeable through the extension forward of
the head. The top crest, so conspicuous in many Noctuina,
seems to be invariably absent ; and the back crest, where
visible, is usually a mere short blunt undivided tuft of scales
extending across the back of the thorax. The abdomen,
though often possessing the lateral tufts, and always the
anal, is commonly quite devoid of any indication of dorsal
crests ; and even where these are present they are usually

VOL. VI. y

338 LEPIDOPTERA.

very small, and often prostrate, or merely suggested at the
edge of each segment on the dorsal ridge. The tufts of
scales from the sides of the thorax over the base of the abdo-
men, which I have denominated the fascicles, are usually
equally obscure, if not absent.

The fore wings are nearly always proportionately broader
and more trigonate, and it is in them that a most valuable
character is found separating this from the previous group —
the nervure known as vein 5 of the /ore wings always arising
at the middle, or above the middle, of the cross-bar which
closes the discal cell. The hind wings are usually very little
folded, yet the usual folds are quite strongly indicated, and
that along the line of vein 5 so much so as to suggest a com-
plete nervure from the base through the middle of the discal
cell to the margin, where actually no such nervure exists.
The peculiarities in neuration in these wings furnish cha-
racters which appear suitable for dividing the group into
families. As a rule, the insects of this group are weak in
structure, their bodies — thorax included — being slender, and
the wings thin in texture, and suited for their habit of lying
flat against some protecting solid surface, such as a wall, or
tree-trunk, or the underside of a leaf.

The terms hitherto used in describing the markings are
still applicable ; but the basal line is very often only the
outer edge of a well-defined basal blotch, while the first and
second lines are equally the inner and outer margins of a
broad central band ; but the subterminal line is, when visible,
more frequently broken up into a series of very irregular,
paler or darker, clouds or spots. The central shade, as found
in so many of the Noctuina, is here very commonly more
definite and more distinct, forming a narrow stripe, or a fine
line, quite as well defined as the normal lines, while for it is
substituted, in a multitude of species, the broad dark central
band. The three stigmata are absent, except that very often
the position of the reniform at the end of the discal cell is
occupied by a pale or dark, or commonly black, spot, dot, or

GEOMETRINA—BOARMIDAZ. 339

streak, which it is convenient to call the discal spot. The
markings of the hind wings are usually few or indistinct,
but the apex of the discal cell is ordinarily furnished with a
central dark spot or lunule, as in the Noduina, and this is
commonly much more distinct on the underside.

The antennas are extremely various, either strongly pecti-
nated with short thick teeth, or with long slender curved
teeth, or even plumose ; in some genera, pectinated for only
a part of their length, the apical portion being simple ; or
they are notched, or ciliated in tufts, or merely simple and
ciliated throughout, or even apparently naked, though there
are few in which a faint silky pubescence may not be detected,
along the front, by the aid of a good lens. Always threadlike
in the female.

Larvae almost invariably devoid of the first three pairs
of prolegs, or having them imperfectly developed ; looping
strongly in progression, and much given to extending them-
selves stiffly, like twigs, when at rest, supported only by the
two hinder pairs of prolegs.

I have again to acknowledge the assistance derived from
Sir George Hampson's work on the Lepidoptera of India in
working out the families.

Family 1. BOARMID51.

Antennas various, often wholly or partially pectinated ;
palpi short ; tongue well developed ; thorax rather rough,
with long scales, sometimes stout and very shaggy ; abdomen
tapering or slender, without crests; fore wings usually broad ;
hind wings ample, vein 5 obsolete, no indication thereof in the
form of the hind margin.

Larv.-e usually twig-like, feeding openly on trees, shrubs,
or low-growing plants.

PuPjE rather sharply tapering behind, usually in a silken
cocoon.

540 LEPIDOPTERA.

Genus 1. OURAPTERYX.

Antennae simple ; palpi short ; thorax broad, rather
smoothly covered with long loose hair-scales ; abdomen
more slender ; fore wings broad, pointed ; hind wings with
a distinct tail in the middle of the hind margin.

We have but one species.

1. O. sambucata, L. — Expanse 2 to 2\ inches. Fore
wings broad, pointed ; hind wings tailed, a brown spot on
each side of the tail ; general colour pale primrose-yellow
or yellowish-white, with slender transverse olive-yellow
stripes.

Antennae of the male simple, naked, yellow in front, white
at the back ; palpi small, tawny ; face purple-brown, the
scales smoothed down, but edged above by a transverse furrow
close under the antennas; top of the head pale primrose-
yellow ; thorax broad, of the same colour, the scales upon the
shoulder-lappets long and loose, but lying well back ; abdo-
men white ; lateral tufts small ; anal tuft spreading, all
faintly tinged with yellow. Fore wings broad and somewhat
trigonate ; costa nearly straight, but arched toward the apex,
which is sharply angulated ; hind margin below it faintly
hollowed and thence rather straight and oblique ; anal angle
well formed ; dorsal margin a little rounded and strongly
ciliated ; texture very silky ; pale primrose-yellow fading to
white ; first and second lines rather near together and to the
middle of the wings, perpendicular and nearly straight, not
sharply defined, olive-yellow ; between them, at the end of
the discal cell, is a perpendicular streak of the same colour ;
cilia short, pale olive-yellow. Hind wings yellowish-white ;
long and rather narrow, the hind margin sloping off to a
conspicuous angulated tail, on each side of which is a small
fulvous spot ; down the middle of the wing is a perpendicular
olive-yellow line ; cilia fulvous, shading off to yellowish-white

B OA RMID. E— O URA P TER YX. 34 1

near the anal angle, and to white along the front margin.
Female larger, abdomen stouter, otherwise accurately
similar.

Underside of the fore wings pale primrose-yellow, except
the dorsal region, which is broadly silky white ; perpendicular
lines of the upper side faintly perceptible. Hind wings
yellowish -white; nervures rather thickened and very visible.
Body and legs nearly white.

Usually constant in colour and markings, but there is in
Mr. Sydney Webb's collection a specimen in which the first
line is removed to the middle of the fore wings, and the
second line is so placed immediately beyond it that the cloud-
ing of the two coalesces, and forms a narrow perpendicular
yellow-olive band. Mr. Percy Bright has one similar, and
having the usual stripe upon the hind wings drawn back
nearly to the base. Specimens occur, very rarely, in which
the two lines of the fore wings are placed extremely widely
apart ; and others in which the tips of the fore wings
are quite falcate, or in which the hind margin is rather
expanded.

On the wing at the end of June and in July, but in the
South of Scotland extending into August. Occasionally,
though rarely, individuals of an extremely partial second
generation are met with, near London, in September or
October. I have myself taken it in the latter month.

Larva very long and slender ; fourth segment swollen ;
seventh with lateral bud-like protuberances ; ninth and
twelfth slightly humped, the former especially ; two parallel
points project from the anal segment ; sides puckered, head
very flat, almost squared in front ; dull purplish-brown ;
legs much curved and sprawling outwards ; general colour
yellowish-brown, reddish-brown, clay-brown, or putty-colour,
often shaded and marbled with dull purple, particularly upon
the protuberances ; undersurface with numerous longitudinal
whitish lines and grey indistinct hairs. (C. Fenn.)

342 LEPIDOPTERA.

August to June on ivy, hawthorn, blackthorn, elder,
bramble, even larch, and various other trees and plants. In
gardens it will eat scarlet geranium, indeed is not very par-
ticular as to its food, and in confinement has been induced to
feed on holly. When walking it has a tremulous habit, as
though tottering, and it assumes very strange attitudes when
at rest. Upon its favourite food, the ivy, it poses in various
positions all exactly resembling the different forms of twigs
of that plant, balancing itself at the same time by a strong
silken thread from its mouth ; indeed it cannot easily be
distinguished from one of these twigs except by the sense of
touch. Its hybernation is imperfect, since it will feed when-
ever the weather is mild, and thus in some seasons becomes
full grown very early. It feeds principally at night.

Pupa slender and much elongated, bluntly flattened at the
head, the cover of the palpi slightly projecting in front ; at
the back of the head is a curious raised ridge ; covers of the
wings, antenna?, and limbs most beautifully stippled all over
with minute irregular, faintly incised, mossy, black lines on a
pale brown ground, the lines of the limbs, the edges of the
antennas and the nervures of the wings, their tips especially,
indicated in faint clouds, streaks, and dots ; the back of the
thorax is dusted with somewhat similar cloudy streaks on the
pale brown ground ; abdominal segments red-brown or
purple-brown, dotted and streaked with black, and finely
sculptured in minute closely arranged cross-lines ; cremaster
decided^ projecting and rather flattened, armed with two
small conical spines and some strong minute curved bristles.
In a long, loose cocoon, or silken elongated bag, or cradle, on
which are placed morsels of leaf or rubbish, and in which
the pupa is easily visible, hanging by its anal hooks to the
silk ; placed among leaves or rubbish. No pupa is more
worthy of notice for the extreme elegance of its minute
markings, or for the graceful lightness of its pendulous
cocoon.

BOARMIDsE—OURAPTERYX. 343

The moth hides during the day in thick bushes, hedges
especially, under ivy leaves, and in dense herbage generally.
At dusk it flies with great vigour, but in a very erratic
manner, along lanes and hedges, the margins of woods,
shrubberies, and gardens where there is ivy on the walls, and
from its colour is then a conspicuous object, and most exciting
to the young collector. It may benefit the latter to know
that when caught it must not be killed by means of ammonia,
or the colour may be faded to yellow-brown.

Abundant throughout the South of England to the Scilly
Isles, and to be found, in more moderate numbers, in all
parts of England, though scarce in Cumberland and appa-
rently not noticed in North Northumberland — Mr. Robson
says that it is generally common in Durham and around
Newcastle but is not found beyond the valley of the Tyne.
In Scotland it has been found flying along the edge of a
wood near Wigtown by Mr. R. S. Gordon, and there is an
old record in Midlothian. Further west it seems to have
occurred at Langholm near Glasgow, and in the Solway
district. In Wales records are scarce, but it is doubtless
of general occurrence, since I have found it at Pembroke.
In Ireland it is widely distributed — from Waterf ord and Cork
to Deny and Armagh — and in some districts, as Kerry,
Monaghan, and Dublin County, abundant. Abroad it has a
considerable range through Central Europe, Sweden, the
Northern half of Italy, Corsica, Dalrnatia. Livonia, Southern
and Eastern Russia, Asia Minor, Armenia, and Tartary.

So far as Europe is concerned it stands, as a species, very
much alone ; but it has numerous Asiatic allies, some tending
in the direction of Abraxas^ some greatly resembling
Acidalia.

344 LEPIDOPTERA.

Genus 2. ANGERONA.

Antennae pectinated in the male ; palpi short ; thorax
thick but rather narrow, covered with long scales ; abdomen
moderately slender ; fore wings broad and ample, faintly
crenulated behind ; hind wings broad, their hind margins
scalloped.

We have only one species.

1. A. prunaria, L. — Expanse 1| to 2^ inches. Wings
all ample, rather crenulated ; in the male rich orange, dusted,
rippled, or banded with purple-brown ; in the female pale
ochreous, similarly dusted or banded.

Antennas of the male strongly pectinated with rather long,
solid, ciliated black-brown teeth, which taper off to the tip.
shaft yellow -brown ; palpi short and small, fulvous; head
rather smooth, pale fulvous; thorax narrow, covered with
raised and somewhat spreading scales of a rich dark orange ;
abdomen rather slender, purple-brown with orange lateral
and anal tufts. Fore wings broad ; costa very faintly arched ;
apex angulated ; hind margin gently rounded ; dorsal margin
also rather filled out ; colour rich dark orange-red ; discal
spot elongated, orange-brown ; general surface stippled all
over with short and very slender, obscure, perpendicular
orange-brown streaks ; cilia pale yellowish-red chequered
with dark red-brown at irregular distances. Hind wings
rounded, but their hind margins scalloped or strongly crenu-
lated ; of the same rich orange colour and similarly covered
with faint perpendicular orange-brown streaks; cilia yellowish-
red, tipped with dark brown at the apex of each crenu-
lation.

Or — The orange-red colour with the delicate darker streaks
confined to the middle area of the fore wings ; the basal por-
tion, a very broad stripe along the hind margin, and frequently
the dorsal margin, dull orange-brown with a purplish bloom,
or purple-brown. The hind wings almost wholly of this

/U )ARMIDAZ—ANGERONA. 345

darker colour, with but a cloud of orange-red remaining in
the middle.

In the female the antennae are simple, the thorax but
little thicker, but the abdomen very much so; fore wings
crenulated behind, pale yellowish-ochreous, dusted with
orange-brown in minute erect streaks ; the discal spot a
perpendicular orange-brown or purple-brown streak ; hind
wings deeply scalloped at the hind margin, similar in colour,
with a dull brown central spot ; cilia concolorous.

Or — With very broad markings, similar to those in the
second form of the male ; the base of the fore wings to near
the middle and sometimes that of the hind wings purple-
brown, very smooth in tint, darker or paler ; and with a very
broad band of the same along the hind margins.

Underside much less dusted, but in other respects, in the
various forms, almost an exact reproduction of the upper.

The alternative forms above mentioned occur so much
together, and so constantly, that both seem to be typical of
the insect, though perhaps the banded females are hardly so
widely distributed as in the other sex, and in the Northern
Midlands such examples, in either sex, are very rare.

Variation naturally surrounds these forms, but is not
frequent. In Mr. Sydney Webb's collection are pale orange
males devoid of the darker streaks and spots, or with the
cilia only spotted ; one, on the other hand, has the dark
orange perpendicular streaks so greatly developed as to
crowd the whole of the wings; another is striped in
longitudinal clouds with orange and yellow ; another has
the bands of the second form broad and very silky,
but of an excessively pale purple-brown, in which the
orange blotches show a singular glow of colour; in
another specimen the hind wings are wholly purple-brown,
without a trace of orange, while two others extend that
variation to both fore and hind wings, one being wholly silky
purple-brown, the other purple-drab. Most of these are
reared from Kentish larvae.

346 LEPIDOPTERA.

In Professor Meldola's collection is a specimen in which
the usual darkened portions of the wings are entirely pale
fuscous ; Mr. S. J. Capper has a pale yellow male, with
orange longitudinal stripes, and the Rev. Joseph Greene one
of a deeper yellow. Aberrations in the female are not so
extreme ; some in the paler form are almost or quite devoid
of the small perpendicular streaks, while those of the banded
form vary in the colour of the bands from purple-brown to
purple-drab. One of Mr. Webb's specimens has the central
blotch of ground colour of the fore wings of a very warm
soft orange ; another is wholly of a pale primrose ; and one
in Mr. Capper's collection has the bands of an excessively
pale fuscous, yet delicately visible. The Rev. T. W. Daltry
tells me that in North Staffordshire, where he does not find
the banded forms, the perpendicular streaks and speckles are
very dark.

On the wing at the end of June and in July.

Larva twig-like, rounded, slightly tapering towards the
head ; there is a small transverse hump on the fifth segment,
and a large transverse prominence, with four points, on the
ninth, the two outer points being the larger; two small
dorsal points on the twelfth, and similar but smaller on the
tenth and eleventh, while two little points protrude from the
anal segment ; head flattened, brown, not shining, having a
whitish projection on each side of the mouth. Body ochreous-
brown or pale ochreous, sparsely mottled with dark brown,
especially on the humped segments ; dorsal line much inter-
rupted, dark grey, most apparent on the third and fourth
segments ; undersurface paler than the ground colour, but
dotted with black, and with two indistinct blackish lines on
the segments, most conspicuous before the first pair of pro-
legs. (C. Fenn.)

August till May on blackthorn, hawthorn, sallow, plum,
guelder-rose, clematis, honeysuckle, broom, pear, and other
fruit trees, privet, birch, hazel, and mountain ash; in con-

BOARMIDAZ—ANGERONA. 347

finenient it will eat various shrubs, mint, and garden flowers.
Hoffmann adds whortlebeny, raspberry, and golden-rod. It
hybernates while rather small, and maybe kept alive easily by
sleeving it out upon a shoot of ivy, which it will occasionally
gnaw. It continues to feed for a rather long time, yet is
easy to rear.

Pupa rather gracefully formed, elongated, a little flattened
in front, wing-covers rather thickened but unsculptured,
dull black ; limb and antenna-cases of the same colour, the
latter sculptured with indications of the pectinations ; dorsal
plate smoky-brown, smooth ; dorsal segments chestnut,
minutely pitted in a scattered manner ; abdominal segments
also chestnut, pitted more extensively, except at the posterior
margins, with minute punctures ; cremaster rather flattened
and drawn out to a point, terminated by a very strong curved
spine and attendant curled bristles. In a thin white silken
cocoon, among leaves. The hooks of the cremaster are
entangled firmly in the silk, and the pupa wriggles and
turns with extreme activity therein when disturbed.

The moth frequents woods, especially those which abound
in undergrowth, among which it hides during the day ; yet
may often be beaten out, when it hurries away to some similar
retreat. Soon after sunset the male flies of its own accord,
vigorously, over the bushes, and especially along open wood-
rides, and continues on the wing till dusk, or on favourable
nights till 10 or 11 P.M., but apparently not later at night,
nor in the morning ; the female being less active, and flying
a little later. At one time it was frequent in the woods
which now have disappeared, giving place to the outer
suburbs of London. Still, it is quite common in the woods
of Kent — whence the most richly coloured forms are usually
obtained — and in Sussex, Surrey. Hants, Dorset, Wilts,
Berks, Middlesex, and Essex. Also found in the woods
which edge Dartmoor, and elsewhere in Devon, in East Corn-
wall, Somerset. Gloucestershire. Herefordshire, and Worcester-

348 LEPIDOPTERA.

shire ; Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire ;
apparently Yorkshire, where it is very local, is its northern
limit in these islands. In Wales, where I have taken it in a
large wood in the middle of Pembrokeshire, it is likely to
occur in all suitable places. Extremely local in Ireland,
occurring in Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Galway.
Abroad it has an extensive range through Central Europe,
the temperate portions of Northern Europe, the Northern
half of Italy, Southern and Eastern Russia, Bithynia, Tartary,
the districts of the Altai range, the Corea, and Japan ; in the
last-named country varying very greatly in size.

Genus 3. RTJMIA.

Antennas threadlike ; palpi rather short ; head rough ;
thorax and abdomen smooth and slender ; fore wings squared
at the tip, hind margin quite even ; hind wings broad,
rounded, also with even margins.

We have but one species.

1. R. cratsegata, L. ; luteolata, Stand. Cat. —
Expanse \\ to If inch. Wings bright sulphur-yellow,
clouded and spotted on the costa with dull purple ; reniform
stigma edged with the same colour.

Antennas of the male simple, nearly naked, dull purple at
the base and in front, yellowish-white elsewhere ; palpi
slender and short, pale chocolate ; eyes dark brown ; head
rough and tufted, bright yellow, tinged with chocolate around
the eyes ; thorax also bright yellow, loosely covered with long
scales ; abdomen slender, smooth, pale yellow, lateral tufts
spreading, anal tuft small. Fore wings broad ; costa very
faintly arched ; apex squarely angulated ; hind margin gently
rounded, and but little oblique ; dorsal margin straight ;
colour bright sulphur-yellow ; first and second lines obscurely
perceptible as rows of greyish crescents or streaks ; reniform
discal spot white, with a chocolate margin ; this is connected
with the third of a series of dull purple-brown, or purple-

B( KlRMin.-E- RUMIA. 349

red, blotches or clouds which lie upon the costa, and are very
irregular in form and size ; towards the apex of the wing is a
more definite prostrate triangle of the same colour ; cilia
yellow, dotted with chocolate. Hind wings rounded behind ;
sulphur-yellow ; central spot obscurely pale grey, followed
by a most indistinct, and often fragmentary, irregular, central
transverse line ; cilia yellow, spotted and clouded with choco-
late. Female very similar, a little stouter, often larger, and
with the transverse markings more visible.

Underside light yellow, with the central spot of all the
wings, and a slender curved transverse line towards the hind
margin, dark chocolate; a pale chocolate stripe lies along the
costa of the fore wings, thickened and then tapered off
towards the apex ; cilia spotted with chocolate ; legs of the
same colour, untufted ; body pale yellow.

Usually very constant in colour and markings — such as
they are — but occasional sjaecimens have the transverse lines
very prettily and distinctly rippled in crescents between the
nervures, and much more rarely these ripples give rise to
longitudinal dashes of the same semi-transparent grejnsh
shade. Two such — male and female — are in the collection
of Mr. Sydney Webb. Another of his specimens is quite
white, having no trace of the usual yellow colour, and a very
lovely example of this form is in the cabinet of the Kev.
Joseph Greene. Mr. S. J. Capper has another such, and also
a yellow specimen in which the chocolate costal blotches have
ran together into a complete costal stripe. Variation in
this direction, though in a less complete degree, is not very
rare, as also in the absence of these spots, specimens wholly
yellow being found in Somerset and other western counties.
A specimen having the fore wings white is in Mr. P.M. Bright's
collection, and I remember the exhibition by Dr. R. Freer
at the Birmingham Entomological Society of a beautiful
example, taken in Staffordshire, of a rich orange yellow, with
a deeper shade of the same along the costa. A supposed
aberration, occasionally to be seen in collections, has long

350 LEPIDOPTERA.

brown stripes on all the wings between the nervures ; this
form is (naturally) always obtained at light, usually in a
room, and may at once be produced by passing an ordinary
fresh specimen quickly through a gas flame.

On the wing in April, May, and June, and as a second
generation in July and August.

Larva stout, very twig-like ; third segment swollen
laterally ; seventh with a large bifid dorsal protuberance ;
slight transverse prominences on the eighth, ninth, and
tenth, that on the ninth the largest, but one of them, or
even all three, sometimes wanting ; eighth and ninth seg-
ments of the undersurface each with two small tubercles or
rudimentary legs. Head squared above, slightly bifid, the
face vertically flattened ; ventral spots raised ; third pair of
legs extended in repose. Dull purple, shaded with pale grey
and red, but without markings ; face similar, top of the head
paler.

Or — Dull brown, or blackish, dusted with green towards
each extremity, and having a pale greenish crescent-shaped
lateral marking on the third segment.

Or — Dull dark grey with indistinct blackish diamond-
shaped dorsal pattern ; sides shaded with pale grey.

Or — Ferruginous with indistinct pale bluish-grey dorsal
diamonds; sides of the middle segments clouded with
purplish-grey, and the dorsal line very faint grey.

Or — Of the exact colour of a purple hawthorn-twig, with
the tips of the dorsal projections redder.

All these forms graduate into each other. (C. Fenn.)

September to April (hybernating), and as another genera-
tion in July and August, sometimes September. On haw-
thorn, and occasionally upon blackthorn and apple ; more
rarely on other fruit trees, wild-service (Sorlus torminalis),
whitebeam, and hazel ; feeding at night.

By prolonged and careful experiments Professor Poulton
and Miss Lilian Gould have succeeded in proving that the

BOARMIDjE—RUMIA. 351

varying colours of the larva of this species, from dark brown
to green, are directly affected, and to all appearance caused,
by their surroundings ; the green colour being gradually
assumed by almost every larva which was fed continuously
on very green and light-coloured food ; while those fed on
old dark green leaves, with dark twigs, remained in a large
proportion dark brown. While watching the larvas in the
course of these experiments Miss Gould made the curious and
interesting discovery that, when hanging by a thread from
the food plant, the larva would whirl itself round when dis-
turbed, and spin upon the thread with such swiftness as to
become quite indistinguishable from any bit of dead leaf
twirling in the wind on a thread of spider's web.

Pupa elongated and moderately slender ; eye-covers smooth
and prominent ; limb and antenna-covers very strongly
marked, but not sculptured ; wing-covers showing all the
nervures raised in strong relief, with the surface between so
sunken that the whole front thoracic region is corded longi-
tudinally with ribs and limbs, and without sculpture ; colour
black-brown ; the dorsal region also smooth, dull pale olive-
brown, or yellow-brown ; abdominal segments similar but of
a redder colour towards the anal extremity ; cremaster darker,
short and blunt, roughened and furnished with a bunch of
curled bristles. In a thin paper-like silken cocoon of a pink
or reddish colour, among leaves or rubbish on the ground.

It has been definitely ascertained that this species passes
the winter in the larva, and also in the pupa state. The Rev.
C. R. Bree says " it differs from all other British species as
far as I am aware in its broods ; it emerges from the pupa
state at three different periods of the same year — viz., April,
June, and August ; but the June brood is not the produce of
the April moths, but of those of the preceding August, which
pass the winter in the larva state, and feed again in the
spring, while those from the June brood become pupas in the
autumn, and produce moths in April. The specimens which

352 LEPIDOPTERA.

appear in June are always larger and finer in colour and
markings than those of the other two broods."

The moth appears to exist in almost every hawthorn hedge
in these Islands. It may anywhere be beaten out in the
daytime, or seen at rest under a leaf on a hedge-bank. It
flies briskly and plentifully at dusk, and is so strongly
attracted by light as to fly at once stupidly into a flame.
There is no appearance of double broodedness in its more
northern range, and doubtless the overlapping broods, noticed
in the south, are there absent. So far as is known it has not
been taken further north than Mora}- and the Hebrides, but
in England, Wales and Ireland its abundance is universal.
Also found in all parts of the Continent of Europe, except
the coldest ; and in Asia Minor, Armenia, Eastern Siberia,
and Northern Africa.

Genus 4. VENILIA.

Antennas simple, palpi minute, head and thorax rough,
abdomen smooth and slender, fore wings with the apex
squared and the hind margin beneath it faintly hollowed,
hind wings slightly squared.

We have only one species.

1. V. maculata, L. — Expanse 1 to 1| inch. Slender,
orange-yellow, all the wings spotted, in transverse rows, with
dull yellowish-black, usually blacker on the hind wings.

Antennas of the male rather short and thick, notched,
almost naked, purple-brown ; palpi very small, and, with the
head, covered with rather rough scales of mixed j^ellow and
black ; thorax narrow, similar, the scales not very long ;
abdomen slender, smooth, black-brown, dusted with yellow ;
lateral tufts minute ; anal tuft small, yellow.

Fore wings retuse, moderately broad ; costa gently arched ;
apex angulated ; hind margin just below it faintly hollowed,
but in the middle elbowed, and rounded off below ; dorsal

BOARMIDsE—VENILIA. 353

margin rather straight ; colour soft ochreous or chrome-
yellow, with numerous large yellow-black spots disposed in
stripes— a rather straight and unbroken stripe near the base,
a central band, composed of a large erect dorsal blotch and
two broken or constricted spots, and a series of three before
the hind margin— two elongated blotches on the hind margin,
including most of the cilia, form a sort of fourth stripe ; the
remainder of the cilia are yellow. Hind wings rather deeper
yellow or ochreous, having usually five or six similar large
angulated spots which are not quite placed in stripes, yet in
some degree suggest them ; along the hind margin is a row
of similar spots which include the adjacent cilia, the latter
between them being ochreous; in all the wings there is
towards the base a dusting or dotting of black. Female very
similar.

Underside of the fore wings of a rather richer ochreous-
yellow, the spots reproduced but blacker ; hind wings paler
yellow, and the spots of the upper side indicated, but paler.
Body and legs yellow, dusted with black.

Very variable in the depth of the ground colour, from pale
yellow to rich orange-ochreous, but the paler colouring some-
times results from fading during life, and this probably
accounts for the disparity often seen between the colours of
the fore and hind wings. But it is in the size of the yellow-
black spots and the degree of intermediate dusting that the
most striking variations are found. In a form formerlv
described as a distinct species, under the name of quadri-
maculala, these are reduced to four spots on the costa of each
fore wing, the remainder and the hind wings being immacu-
late. This was — and is — a very rare form. Mr. Sydney
Webb has one such in Mr. Bond's collection, and there is a
specimen in that of the late Mr. H. Doubleday, at Bethnal
Green Museum. In Mr. Webb's cabinet is a specimen devoid
of spots — merely plain yellow — also some having three costal
spots ; others in which the usual spots are present in faint
indications, or are distinct but very small ; others have the

VOL. VI.

354 LEPIDOPTERA.

spots crowded in the basal half of the wings, the outer halves
being almost spotless ; one from Mr. Bond's collection has a
broad band of coalesced black spots, another a band of elon-
gated spots or bars ; and one specimen is almost wholly dark
orange-brown, the costa a little more yellow. Mr. J. A. Clarke
also has one almost wholly dark brown, and another with a
broad black-brown band near the base of the fore wings ; and
in Professor Meldola's collection is one richly coloured, but
with the usual black spots only indicated in deeper yellow.
In a specimen which I took in Surrey many years ago more
than one-half the spots are absent from the fore wings and
the rest altered in shape, while the hind wiDgs have only a
few dark dots. Most of these seem to be mere aberrations,
but Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher has pointed out that there seem
to be racial variations in the North of Scotland, where, in
Sutherland shire, the black blotches are frequently very much
enlarged, or else greatly crowded towards the base of the
wings.

On the wing at the end of May and in June.

Larva smooth and without projections ; head rounded,
shining green, body longitudinally and alternately striped
with green and white ; the dorsal stripe dark green or
purplish-brown ; parallel with it on each side are three
slender white subdorsal lines, divided by stripes of green,
which are in each case darkest at the edge, and the lowest of
which includes the spiracles ; these are white, in black
ovals ; below them is a broad greenish-white longitudinal
stripe ; legs green.

July and August on wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia),
Lamium jpurjpurium, Stachys syJratka, and almost certainly
Galcobdolon luteum.

Pupa very thick in the middle, the tips of the wing-covers
considerably raised from the adjoining segments, tapering a
little forward, and very considerably behind ; head rather
full and prominent, the palpus-covers forming a round button ;

BOA RMIDJE— VENILIA . 355

leg-covers abundantly and minutely sculptured in fine, cross,
incised lines ; antenna-covers strongly barred at the joints ;
wing-covers rather roughly sculptured all over in transverse
lines, dorsal and abdominal segments with distinct pits, except
each hinder edge, where is a smooth band ; colour purple-
brown, more chestnut on the back ; cremaster a strong knob
arising from a thickened anal segment ; it is armed with a
strong curved spike, around which are several hooked
bristles.

In this condition through the winter.

This moth flies only in the daytime, and principally in
bright sunshine, and in hot weather the male is extremely
active, hurrying along wood paths, over undergrowth, through
all the open parts of woods, and along their margins, in a
most restless manner. The female flies at the same time but
more gently. I have never seen either sex on the wing in
the evening, nor at night. In warm cloudy weather it will
move about by day, flying quietly, or will sit on a leaf with
wings half-erect, alert and ready to flit away on the least
disturbance, yet it is then quite easy to catch. Almost
confined to woods and their neighbourhood, including any
meadows, roads, and lanes close by, and is there a very con-
spicuous and pretty object. Very common in such situations
throughout the greater part of the South of England, though
said to be scarce in Dorset and Wilts ; much less common in
the Eastern Counties north of Essex, and in the Midlands —
indeed, there seems to be but one record of its occurrence in
Cambridgeshire. Not scarce in the Western Counties, but
apparently absent from fen and marsh districts. In York-
shire it is local and not common, in Lancashire confined to
the district around Grange and Silverdale, and now scarce ;
found also in Westmoreland, and at Keswick in Cumberland.
Abundant at Dolgelly and Bala, North Wales, but I have no
record for South Wales. In Scotland it has a wide range, in
wooded areas, in the Solway and Clyde districts, in Perthshire,

356 LEPIDOPTERA.

Inverness-shire, Moray, Argyleshire, and Sutherland. In
Ireland it is very local though not scarce, confined to the
South and West — Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Galway,
and Sligo.

Abroad it is found all over the Continent of Europe except
the extreme North and South, also in Bithynia and Asia
Minor.

Genus 5. CABERA.

Antennae of the male strongly pectinated, the tip thread-
like ; of the female simple ; palpi short ; head, thorax, and
abdomen smooth, the latter tapering ; fore and hind wings
evenly rounded.

Larvje cylindrical, a little thickened behind ; feeding on
trees.

We have two species, both white and much alike, yet
readily discriminated.

A. Wings white, sparingly dusted with brown-black atoms,

outer lines of fore wings straight. C. pusaria.

A2. Wings white, much dust e- 3 with ochreous-brown, outer

lines curved. C. exanthemaria.

1. C. pusaria, L. — Expanse 1 to \\ inch. Wiugs all
rounded, glistening silky white ; on the fore wings three
and on the hind wings two tolerably straight, transverse,
faint brownish-grey lines.

Antenna? of the male rather short, pectinated with long
oblique, solid, ciliated teeth to near the tips, white ; palpi
very small and obscure, apparently not protecting the tongue
in any way, it being well developed ; head smoky- white, the
scales smoothed forward and downward; thorax and abdomen
slender, quite white, the shoulder-lappets covered with long
raised loose scales, and the lateral and anal abdominal tufts
well developed. Fore wings short and. blunt, costa arched,
apex bluntly angulated, hino. and dorsal margins gently

BOARMID/E—CABERA. 357

rounded ; silky and glistening, snowy-white, faintly dusted,
along the costa and hind margin, with minute black-brown
scales ; the first line rather curved, the second oblique and
very straight, the central line between them almost equally
so, all three of a faint undertone of grey-brown or smoky-
grey ; no other markings ; cilia white. Hind wings broad
and rounded, of the same silky-white, faintly dusted with
blackish scales ; and crossed by two similar transverse lines,
both very slightly curved. Female with simple antennas and
stouter body, not otherwise differing.

Underside of all the wings silky-white, the costal region of
the fore wings dusted with black-brown. Body and legs
greyish-white.

There is variation in the number of transverse lines on the
fore and hind wings, an additional one appearing as the
ordinary basal line, sometimes therefore there are four
equidistant lines on the fore wings and three on the hind.
In other examples one or move of the ordinary lines disappears,
until in rare instances the insect is of a pure white devoid of
markings. Such a specimen, of a glittering brilliancy of white-
ness, was reared by Mr. R. Newstead, from Delamere Forest,
Cheshire, in 1887. Another condition in which it is without
the lines is where the dusting of dark atoms has so enormously
increased that the wings ?nv wholly, or almost wholly, leaden
black. This is rare, but specimens exist in various collections,
and occasionally the costa of the fore wings alone is white.
Intermediate specimens are very rare, but in the North of
Ireland a tendency in this direction is shown, a peculiar grey
shading suffusing the wings, while the lines are tinged with
brown.

Besides these forms there is a peculiar, almost structural
variety, which was long looked upon as a distinct species under
the name of C. rotundaria. In this the fore wings are more
rounded, sometimes very much so, and their first and central
lines drawn near together, or actually fused, giving it a
notably different appearance. But strong suspicions as to its

358 LEPIDOP TERA .

distinctness were aroused by the circumstance that it was
reared always among typical C. pusaria, from larvae not
separable from those of that species. Finally Mr. E. A.
Atmore, having collected a very large number of larvaa from
alder and birch in the neighbourhood of King's Lynn, reared
from them, among abundance of typical C. pusaria, some
with reduced numbers of transverse lines, several of the form
rotundaria, others intermediate between them, and one
example not symmetrical, the wings of one side being of the
typical pusaria, on the other of a variety approaching to
rotundaria.

On the wing in May and June, and as a second brood in
August.

Larva slender, cylindrical, slightly enlarged behind ; head
rounded, rather sloped, and flattened in front, reddish-
chocolate; face green; body reddish -chocolate with a purple
tinge on the sides ; a series of pairs of whitish dorsal spots,
two on each segment ; an interrupted pale ventral stripe, but
the undersurface from the second to the fourth segments pale
green, between the prolegs pale bluish-green ; the whitish
dorsal spots are lengthened into white dashes on the middle
segments. (C. Fenn.)

July, and again in September, on birch, alder, oak. sallow,
hazel, and other trees, feeding at night upon the leaves.

PurA stout, rather ovate, having a full curve from the head
over the dorsal region to the tail ; head and eye-covers rather
prominent; antenna-cases ridged and delicately sculptured
with cross lines ; wing and limb-covers unusually smooth,
olive-green ; anterior portion of the dorsal region greenish or
olive-brown ; dorsal segments glossy chestnut-brown ; abdo-
minal segments similar, but deepening in colour to the anal,
and with the divisions rather darker ; tip of the anal segment
somewhat swollen, dark brown ; cremaster a mere tubercle of
the same colour, armed with a pair of closely appressed
terminal spikes or bristles. In a cocoon of silk and earth

BOARMID.E—CABERA. 359

under moss, or under a dead leaf on the ground ; spun closely
to this covering. In this state through the winter.

The moth hides during the day in bushes, sitting on the
underside of a leaf, and may be beaten out with the greatest
ease, when it flies sluggishly to a similar shelter close at
hand. At early dusk it flies voluntarily but is always gentle
and slow in its movements, and may easily be caught in the
hand. After dusk it sits about on the undergrowth and may
constantly be seen by the aid of a lantern. I have even
found it sitting on the upper leaves of tall reeds, in company
with common Noctucc. Most plentiful in open woods, but
found also along hedges about lanes and fields. Apparently
rather local in Cornwall, but otherwise abundant throughout
England, Wales, and Ireland, and in Scotland to Moray and
the Hebrides, if not beyond.

Its variety rotundaria seems to be scarcely so widely dis-
tributed, and is perhaps most frequent in the Eastern Counties,
but has been twice reared, in Ireland, from larva? found near
Dublin and in Mayo; and once captured on the wing in
Scotland. It is also recorded from Germany. The typical
insect is widely distributed through Central and Northern
Europe, Northern Italy, Corsica, the Balkan States, Southern
Russia and Eastern Siberia.

2. C. exanthemaria, Scop. — Expanse 1 to 1] inch.
Wings broad and rounded, white, much dusted with pale
yellow-brown ; fore wings with three, and hind wings with
two, faint curved yellow-brown transverse lines.

Antennas of the male pectinated with solid, oblique, ciliated
teeth to near the apex, the final portion being notched,
brownish-white ; palpi minute, white ; tongue well developed ;
head smooth, white ; thorax and abdomen dull white, smooth
except for the long scales on the shoulder-lappets; lateral
and anal tufts of the abdomen small. Fore wings broad and
blunt; costa arched; apex extremely bluntly angulated,
almost rounded ; hind margin perpendicular to the middle,

360 LEPIDOPTERA.

there elbowed, and thence rounded off; dorsal margin nearly
straight; colour white, much dusted with yellow-brown, and
on the costal and hind-marginal areas with darker brown ;
first, central, and second lines narrow, equidistant, curved
and a little indented, obscure brownish-yellow, cilia yellowish-
white. Hind wings broad, rounded, similar in colour and in
dusting, and having two similar, obscure, curved transverse
stripes ; cilia yellowish-white. Female rather stouter, with
simple antennae, and colour sometimes whiter, but very
similar.

Underside of all the wings white, abundantly dusted with
dull brown, especially so on the costal half of the fore wings.
Body and legs dusky-white.

Variation in respect of the number of the transverse lines
occurs in this species in much the same degree as in the last ;
in the collection of the late Mr. Frederick Bond is a specimen
devoid of lines, and Mr. G. B. Routledge has taken a similar
example in Cumberland. Dr. Mason possesses a specimen in
which two lines coalesce just as is the case in the var.
rotundaria of C. pusaria, and others in which they tend in
the same direction. An individual taken at Scarborough,
and in Mr. Webb's cabinet, has the central and second lines
much broadened and toothed ; another, obtained from Tilgate
Forest, has the portion of the fore wings outside the second
line blackened. Further than this melanism does not seem
to obtain in this species.

On the wing from the end of May or June till the beginning
of August, but apparently in but a single generation.

Larva elongated, slightly attenuated in front, face sloping
forwards, flattened ; a dark purple, reddish, or brownish dash
on the outside of each lobe of the green head, and a grey
shade down the face ; body yellowish-green, yellowish-brown,
or brownish-green ; dorsal line pale grey, containing a black
spot at each incision and edged laterally with whitish ; each
segment shaded transversely with purple ; spots and spiracles

BO ARM//). E—CABERA. 361

dusky-black, each of the latter placed in a purple blotch ; legs
and prolegs reddish or purplish.

Or — Pale yellowish-green, the dorsal portion shaded with
lemon-yellow between the subdorsal lines ; dorsal line reddish,
spotted as above ; subdorsal and spiracular lines yellow,
threadlike and indistinct ; incisions of the segments yellow ;
head dull green, lobe dashes dark brown ; legs pink ; a black
or reddish-black dot on the first pair of prolegs.

Or — The black dorsal spots are placed in an ochreous
stripe, which often is enlarged into a series of dorsal
diamonds, separated by the white-margined black spots.

Or — Grass-green with a broad reddish cloud on the back,
through which the dorsal line passes ; subdorsal lines broad,
yellow ; other body markings absent.

All these variations shade into each other. (C. Fenn.)

July, August, and September on sallow, alder, and birch.
According to Hofmann it is found on other deciduous trees.
It feeds at night, and usually conceals itself by day near the
ground.

Pupa short and thick ; head and eye-covers but slightly
prominent ; limb-covers closely compressed, and those of the
antennas only just cross-sculptured at the joints ; wing-cases
thickened and smooth, glossy brownish-green, as is all the
front thoracic portion ; dorsal region pale brown ; abdomen
short and small, tapering very suddenly, chestnut-brown,
with the edges of the segments rather darker; anal tip
black, the cremaster shortly triangular, and tipped with a
little tuft of hooked bristles.

In a thin cocoon of silk and earth, at the surface of the
ground, and ordinarily attached to a root, fallen leaf, or
stone.

In this condition through the winter.

The moth sits by day in sallow and other bushes, and may
be beaten out, but very often will just flutter down to the
ground, and is always sluggish. Its habits are quite like

362 LEPIDOPTERA.

those of the last species, except that it is perhaps more
attached to damp woods, marshes, and fens, though occurring
in woods generally, and along hedges in lanes and fields. At
dusk it flies, though lazily, and afterwards may be found
sitting on herbage and sallow bushes, or attracted to any
strong light. Common in most parts of the Southern half of
England, except Cornwall, where it seems to be scarce, and
throughout the Eastern. Midland, and Western Counties ;
but becoming scarce in South Yorkshire, and local in the rest
of that County. I find no record north of this on the east
side of England, but on the west it reaches Cumberland.
Doubtless common throughout Wales, though scarcely
recorded further than my own observation in Pembrokeshire.
In Scotland it is well distributed, again reaching the Eastern
districts at Edinburgh and in Aberdeenshire and Kincardine-
shire ; in the west extending to West Ross. In Ireland
everywhere abundant.

Abroad its range is very wide, over Central and Northern
Europe, the North of Spain and Italy, Corsica, the Ural
Mountain district, Bithynia, Armenia, Tartar)-, and Japan.

Genus 6. BAPTA.

Antennas short, simple, rather thick ; palpi small ; head,
thorax, and abdomen smooth, the latter short and cylindrical ;
fore wings not broad, apex angulated, of delicate texture ;
hind wings evenly rounded, but squared at the anal angle.

Larvae smooth, stout, cylindrical.

We have but two species, both white, but readily distin-
guished.

A. Fore wings with a large silver-grey cloud beyond the
middle. B. temcvata.

A2. Fore wings with two triangular black costal spots.

B. taminata.

1. B. temerata, Schiff. ; punctata, F. — Expanse 1 to

BOARMIDjE—BAPTA. 363

1 \ inch. Fore wings somewhat ovate, very silky ; white, with
a black central dot, and a blackish streak below it ; a large
silver-grey cloud towards the hind margin is divided by a
rippling white stripe. Hind wings white.

Antennas of the male threadlike, almost naked, pale brown,
but at the back white towards the base ; palpi minute, pale
brown ; tongue exposed ; eyes black ; head pure silky-white,
the face remarkably smooth and glossy ; thorax and abdomen
glossy white, the former with long loose scales on the shoulder-
lappets, the latter with very small lateral and anal tufts.
Fore wings slightly ovate ; costa arched ; apex decidedly
augulated ; hind margin gently rounded, but the anal angle
distinct ; dorsal margin straight ; colour silky snowy white ;
discal spot a round black dot ; below it near the dorsal
margin is a short rippled black cloudy streak ; no first line ;
second line black, repeatedly angulated and indented, shaded
inwardly with black dusting, but hardly reaching the costa ;
outside it, above the middle, separated by a rippled white
stripe, is a large dense cloud of black atoms, and along the
hind margin a row of distinct black lunules ; cilia white,
shaded with smoky-grey. Hind wings broad, rounded
behind, but squared at the anal angle ; silky-white ; the
central spot a minute black dot; just beyond the middle is a
shaded faintly black transverse stripe, followed by another,
more obscure, lying near the hind margin, and formed of a
mere dusting of black scales ; hind margin faintly streaked
with black ; cilia glossy white. Female accurately similar.

Underside of all the wings snowy-white; the fore wings
having a faint smoky tinge along the costa, and the black
discal spot visible through from above. Body silky-white ;
legs pale brown.

loanable in the intensity of the black clouding in both
sexes, some specimens being darker, others much whiter than
typical forms. One in Mr. Sydney Webb's collection has a
central striate visible and tolerably straight, another has
a very strong leaden tinge with blackenel apex and hind

364 LEPIDOPTERA.

margins ; and in the cabinet of the late Mr. F. Bond is a
specimen having a black spot at the base of the fore wings.
On the wing in May and June.

Larva cylindrical, but the head a little narrower and rather
flattened ; pale green, with an orange-red spot, bordered with
black, upon each lobe ; body smooth and soft in texture, bright
green, with a row of red or orange-red spots down the back,
each of which is bordered with rich brown ; these are separated
on the middle segments, but joined together on the anterior
and hinder ; the back is faintly dotted with greenish-white,
and the sides with black, the spiracles being brown ; under-
surface and legs pale green. Before full growth the red spots
are absent, the space being occupied by a broad yellow dorsal
line ; but the infant larva is wholly deep yellow. The Rev.
J. Hellins says " the only variety of the larva that I ever saw
was of a pale bluish-green ground colour, the sides and
ventral surface being more of a whitish-green ; the bright red
dorsal spots of the type were replaced by a very indistinct,
interrupted, reddish-brown line, and on either side of this
there was, on each segment, a whitish dot, while the usual
red spots on each side of the head were absent." This larva
was figured by Mr. Buckler, and reared.

End of June and July, sometimes August, on blackthorn,
bird-cherry, and plum ; but abroad, also on rose, willow,
birch, and oak. Mr. Hellins states that the egg is laid in
crevices of the bark, or at the axils of the shoots, of the food
plant, and that if not furnished with these, the moths will lay
few, if any, eggs.

Pupa apparently not described. In this stage through the
winter.

The moth hides during the day among undergrowth in
woods, or in hedges in wooded districts, and flies at early
dusk along the lanes, rides and open portions, with a very
soft gentle movement. It seems more particularly attached

BOARMIDsE—BAPTA. 365

to the neighbourhood of beech woods. Formerly it was to be
found in the woods close to the London suburbs, but seems
now to have retired further into the country. Still to be
found, though often sparingly, in Kent, Sussex, Surrey,
Hants, Berks, Middlesex, Bucks, and Wilts, very locally in
Dorset, in Devon plentifully on the south coast — even upon
sea-cliffs — also in Cornwall, but rarely in the Western portion.
Locally rather common in the Eastern Counties, including
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire ; and in Somerset,
Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire; becoming
more local or rare in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, and
Yorkshire, and rare in Cumberland. Apparently throughout
Wales, and not rare in Pembrokeshire. In Scotland I know
of but a single capture, a specimen — which I have seen —
taken at Corsemalzie, Wigtownshire, by the Messrs. Goixlon.
In Ireland it is said to be plentiful at Killarney, common in
several localities in Galway, and found occasionally in Wicklow
and Sligo.

Abroad it is found throughout Central Europe, the Northern
half of Italy, Livonia, the Ural Mountain district, Tartary,
and Japan — those from the last-named being sometimes
suffused with grey.

2. B. taminata, Hub. ; bimaculata, Haw. — Expanse
1 to 1| inch. Fore wings silky- white, with two black-brown
spots on the costa, from which frequently arise slender dotted
transverse lines. Hind wings silky-white with a similar line.

Antennas of the male simple, almost naked, pale brown, the
back portion towards the base white ; palpi small, brown; face
also brown, very smooth, cut off by a sharp division between
the antennas from the upper part of the head, which is pure
white and rather rough ; thorax and abdomen smooth, snowy
white, but the scales on the shoulder-lappets rather raised ;
lateral and anal tufts very small. Costa of the fore wings
much arched ; apex decidedly angulated ; hind margin gently
curved, but the anal angle well formed ; dorsal margin

366 LEPIDOPTERA.

straight ; silky-white with a very faint tinge of brown dusting
along the dorsal and hind marginal regions; on the costal
margin are two conspicuous triangular black or reddish-black
spots, from each of which arises a slender transverse line of
faint cloudy- brown dots ; near the first of these is a small
black discal dot ; cilia white, with a faint brown line along
the base. Hind wings broad, rounded, but with the anal
angle squared, white ; central spot minute, black ; midway
between it and the hind margin is a slender, curved and
dotted, pale brown line ; cilia white. Female accurately
similar.

Underside white, the fore wings shaded towards the costa
with smoky-brown ; each wing has an elongated, central,
black cloudy dot. and beyond it a faint transverse brownish
line. Body white ; legs whitish-brown.

Not very variable ; but the size of the two costal spots is
somewhat uncertain and also their position — nearer or farther
apart — and the dotted transverse lines arising from them are
similarly shifted. These lines also are often nearly obsolete ;
but more rarely are rather distinct, with also traces of central
and subterminal lines ; this last form being apparently most
frequent in the New Forest. Occasional specimens have a
smoky tinge over the cilia. An example in Mr. Sydney
Webb's collection has suffused streaks running in brown lines
the whole length of the fore wings ; another is devoid of the
inner black costal spot; and one of the late Mr. F. Bond's
specimens is pure white, absolutely spotless.

On the wing in May and June.

Larva rather stout, smooth, cylindrical ; head yellowish-
green, dusted with purple ; body dark velvety green ; dorsal
surface with a row of irregularly diamond-shaped purple
spots ; spiracular line very minute, threadlike, yellow ; in-
cisions of the segments yellow ; spiracles black ; undersurface
whitish-green. (C. Fenn.)

June and July, on wild cherry, and occasionally plum and

BOARMIDA£—BAPTA. 367

hawthorn. During the day it rests extended along the mid-
rib of a leaf, and feeds at night.

Pupa stout, polished, reddish-brown, the wing-cases tinged
with green ; anal extremity furnished with a short projecting
bristle. Subterranean, in an egg-shaped silken cocoon*
covered externally with grains of sand, and attached to a
stone, root, or other object about one inch below the surface
of the ground. (C. Fenn.)

The moth rests by day in undergrowth of woods, or in
very thick hedges, from which it may be disturbed by the
beating-stick, yet often merely nutters down to the ground.
It flies at early dusk, and is confined to woods and well-
wooded country, in the latter— in West Norfolk unquestion-
ably—frequenting large well-grown hawthorn hedges. It
has been found sitting upon the trunks of fir-trees— doubt-
less for shelter from strong wind. Attention has been called,
by Mr. Lovell Keays, to an unpleasant odour emanating from
this insect.

A local and very uncertain species with us ; in its most
favoured localities, as in the New Forest and the woods of
West Norfolk, quite plentiful in certain seasons, very scarce
in others. Also found, though not plentifully, in Kent,
Surrey, Sussex, other parts of Hants, Berks, Wilts, Somerset'
Gloucestershire, Bucks, Middlesex, Herts, Oxfordshire, and
the Eastern Counties; in Devon rare, and but once recorded
in Cornwall. Apparently absent from the Midland and some
of the Western Counties, but found rarely in North Lanca-
shire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, and very doubtfully
in Yorkshire. In Wales I found it rarely in Pembrokeshire,
but know of no other record ; and it seems to be absent from
Scotland and Ireland.

Abroad it has a wide range over Central Europe, the
Northern half of Italy, Southern and Eastern Russia,
Bithynia, the mountainous regions of Central Asia, Japan^
and the Corea.

368 LEPIDOPTERA.

Genus 7. AL.EUCIS.

Antenna? simple, ratlier short ; palpi short ; head and
thorax smooth ; abdomen short, faintly crested on two seg-
ments ; fore wings broadly trigonate, silky ; hind wings
broad, rounded behind, all the margins even.

We have but one species.

1. A. pictaria, Curt. — Expanse 1 to 1\ inch. Fore wings
broadly trigonate, slate-grey dusted with black ; first and
second lines black, the latter very irregular ; between them
is a black discal spot. Hind wings greyish-white with a
slender central line and grey cilia.

Antennas of the male rather short, simple, finely ciliated,
grey -brown ; palpi minute, dark grey ; tongue well developed,
unprotected; head aud thorax rather roughened with large
scales, slate-grey dusted with darker ; scales on the shoulder-
lappets rough but not very long : abdomen glossy blackish-
grey, with two very small grey dorsal tufts near the base ;
lateral tufts minute ; anal tuft small, silvery-grey. Fore wings
broadly trigonate ; costa hardly arched except at the base
and apex, which last is a little produced and angulated ;
hind margin oblique, almost straight, the anal angle well
developed ; dorsal margin nearly straight ; colour slate-grey,
or dark brownish-grey, dusted with black ; first line curved,
ill-defined, cloudy-black ; second line a little more definite,
of the same colour, angulated above the dorsal margin, and
scalloped throughout, edged outwardly by a paler shade ;
discal spot ovate, dull black ; along the extreme hind margin
is a row of deep black dots ; cilia shining grey. Hind wings
rather elongated, rounded behind, and the anal angle hardly
squared; glossy, smoky-white, tinged towards the hind margin
with grey ; along the extreme hind margin is a row of black
dots ; cilia grey. Female quite similar.

Underside of the fore wings shining, very pale grey, dusted
on the costa and dotted along the hind margin with black ;

BOARMIDAZ—ALEUCIS. 369

cliscalspot and second line faintly visible, the latter blackened
toward the costa ; hind wings shining, smoky-white, dusted
with brown ; central spot black ; beyond it is an obscure
rippled smoky-black transverse line ; cilia pale grey. Body
and legs dark grey.

Very constant in colour, but in the collection of Mr. Sydney
Webb are specimens having the cilia of the fore wings dusky-
grey and black, and one in which a large black blotch lies on
the dorsal margin of the fore wings, and a subterminal band
of blackish scales on the hind.

On the wing in the middle to end of April.

Larva almost cylindrical, the third and fourth segments
very little swollen ; anal segment squared behind ; toward
the hinder part of the body are several small tubercles ; head
blackish-brown, rounded, with the face flattened, a rounded
spot on each lobe ; body smoky-brown with an imperfect
row of faintly black V-shaped dorsal markings ; on each side
of segments eight and nine is a dusky white blotch, some-
times almost uniting on the back, across the twelfth segment
is a black line, and in front of the second and third pairs of
legs is a black oblique streak ; undersurface mottled with
paler smoky-brown. Exactly the colour of the blackthorn
twigs on which it rests. Mr. Buckler figures a curious
variety which bears, indeed, no resemblance to the usual
form, but is very pale blue-green with slender white longitu-
dinal lines and an imperfect, dotted, darker dorsal line.

June, and the beginning of July, on blackthorn.

Pupa short and thick, the wing-covers very broad and
rather dull from excessively fine sculpture of incised lines ;
head and eye-covers prominent and rather shining ; antenna
and limb-covers compressed and dull, sculptured with fine
cross-lines ; dorsal region glossy, roughly punctured ; abdo-
minal segments swollen, rather smooth, rapidly decreasing in
size, anal segment swollen but very short, cremaster a sort
of flattened button on which are two long hooked spines ;

VOL. vi. 2 A

37° LEPIDOPTERA.

colour red-brown ; cremaster dark brown. In a cocoon of
silk mixed with earth, or in moss on the ground. In this
condition through the winter.

The moth hides in the daytime in thick blackthorn bushes,
or close to the ground about their stems, and is very rarely
seen at that time, yet has been beaten out, and induced to
fly. in the sunshine. At dusk it flies a little about the black-
thorn blossom and has been known to visit sallow bloom ;
but as soon as darkness comes on settles down and may then
be found sitting upon the bushes, by the aid of a lantern.
Probably it flies again toward midnight and then is strongly
attracted by light. So far as I have observed, the blackthorns
growing in hedges are not favoured, but the stunted plants
on open heaths or hillsides are usually selected. It is an
exceedingly local species, and until its habit of sitting on
the blackthorns at night was discovered by Mr. S. Stevens
about the year 1856. was looked upon as a great rarity here.
Its metropolis with us seems to be in Essex, where it was
first captured at Berechurch near Colchester, in plenty, and
since near Loughton, Maiden, Hazeleigh, Danbury, Southend,
and Leigh. In Kent its great locality used to be Dartford
Heath, but it is said to have been exterminated there by
over-collecting. It has not, however, I think, disappeared
from the county. Also found in Sussex, and pretty commonly
in the New Forest, Hants. There are records in Surrey,
Berks and Suffolk, and it was reported to occur in Devon by
Mr. Parfitt. So far as I know this is the extent of its range
in these Islands. Abroad also it is somewhat local and not
very widely distributed, being found in Central. Southern,
and Eastern Germany, France. Switzerland, and Spain.

Genus 8. MACATUA.

Antennas of the male not pectinated but rather dentate;
palpi small ; head rough ; thorax and abdomen smooth and

BOARMIDAZ-MACARIA. 371

slender ; fore wings rather elongated, arcuate or sub-arcuate ;
hind wings angulated.

Larva rather short, cylindrical ; living on trees and
shrubs.

We have three species, two of which are very similar.

A. Fore wings distinctly excavated below the tip ; a much

divided chocolate spot beyond the middle,

B. Dusky white tinged with yellow-brown, the spot dis-

tinctly divided by white lines. M. notata.

B2. Dusky white tinged with grey-brown ; the spot obscurely

divided and crossed by a grey band. M. alternata.
A2. Fore wings very slightly excavated, slate grey; no

divided spot. M. liturata.

1. M. alternata, Schift. — Expanse 1| to l\ inch. Fore
wings concave below the tip ; greyish white with faintly
darker cloud}?- lines arising from chestnut costal spots ; a
grey band crosses a divided chocolate spot beyond the middle.
Hind wings angulated behind, greyish white with a grey
shade across the middle.

Antennae of the male notched like a saw, ciliated, light
brown ; palpi small, chestnut-brown ; head of the same
colour, moderately smooth ; collar light chestnut ; in front
of it is a raised, sharp, paler ridge ; thorax very pale grey,
dotted with dark grey, scales of the shoulder-lappets long
and loose ; abdomen smooth, the basal portion grey-white,
the hinder yellowish-white, all dusted with black, and barred
with small black streaks on each segment ; lateral and anal
tufts pale yellow-brown. Fore wings rather elongated and
pointed ; costa almost straight to near the tip where it
becomes arched ; apex decidedly pointed ; hind margin
immediately below it sharply hollowed to above the middle,
whence it is oblique and almost straight to the anal angle ;
dorsal margin straight ; colour dusky white shaded and

372 LEPIDOPTERA.

dappled with greyish-brown ; along the costa are three small
oblique cloudy brown-black spots, from each of which arises,
at a sudden angle, an oppositely oblique obscure slender
brownish transverse line ; outside the third of these is a
broad better-defined grey stripe arising at the costa from a
larger chocolate spot, and enclosing in its middle portion a
considerable chocolate-black spot which is obscurely broken
up into several portions ; the concave portion of the hind
margin below the apex is sharply edged with chocolate-
black, the cilia here being smoky-black ; the remainder
dusky-white. Hind wings not broad, decidedly angulated or
tailed, the hind margin tendiug outward toward this sharp
angle ; greyish-white dusted with purplish-grey ; central
spot small and obscure, grey ; across the middle is a broad
faint pale purplish-grey band, and another, still fainter, and
composed of short rippled lines, occupies the hind-marginal
region ; cilia white. Female similar.

Under side very pretty, fore wings yellowish-white,
sprinkled all over with short, fine, transverse, purplish-brown
lines and dots ; costa shaded with light brown ; beyond the
middle is a broad straight band of dark brown and chocolate-
browu, becoming bright chestnut at the costa ; the concavity
below the apex is blackened, as on the upper side. Hind
wings yellowish-white, dusted with brown ; central spot
black. Before it is a slender yellow-brown transverse line,
beyond it a broad yellow and chestnut transverse stripe ;
hind margin dotted with black ; cilia white. Body and legs
pale grey-brown.

Not very variable, but in the collection of Mr. P. M. Bright
is a specimen nearly white, with the markings very pale ;
and others with the sub-apical costal spot large and deeper
black ; or with a broad slate-coloured band ; of this last form
one is exceedingly dark. Mr. Sydney AVebb possesses one
almost devoid of the rippled or irrorated grey dusting ;
another wholly irrorated with this, but without the dark
spots ; and others intermediate between this and the type

BOARMIDJE—MACARIA, 373

while a specimen in the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper is
almost devoid of the usual markings.

On the wing in May and the beginning of June, and as a
partial second generation in July or August.

Larva smooth, elongated, very slightly stouter behind ;
head rounded, pale green, with a large cloudy black spot on
each lobe ; body extremely pale green, with faint longi-
tudinal parallel red-brown lines, and upon the sides of the
fourth, fifth, and seventh segments a large purple-brown
blotch.

Or, the purple-brown blotches extended to other segments,
and all joined to a broad similar dorsal stripe.

Or, the purple-brown colour extended to the whole dorsal
and sub-dorsal surface, with the blotches of the same extend-
ing down to the pale green undersurface, the legs also
brown, and head black.

Mr. Buckler figures a variet}r entirely devoid of purple-
brown markings, the whole surface pale glaucous green with-
out definite markings, except that the usual raised spots,
which in the other forms are obscure, are here black and
distinct ; there are three or four faint black streaks on its
sides, and the large spots on the lobes of the head are black.

June, and again in August and September, on blackthorn,
sallow, and alder.

Pupa rather slender, stoutest in the middle from thicken-
ing of the wing-covers, which are rather swollen, moderately
glossy, and faintly pitted and sculptured with a few incised
lines ; limb-covers but little sculptured and very closely
appressed ; antenna-covers ornamented with broad cross-
sculpture, which seems as though arranged over pectinations;
dorsal region much pitted, except the hinder edge of each
segment, where is a narrow smooth band ; all these parts
dark chestnut, except the wing-covers, which are darker ;
abdominal segments dark purple-brown, strongly pitted in
broad bands ; cremaster small, conical, armed with a pair of

374 LEPIDOPTERA.

short spines so closely pressed together as to look like a
single one with a small fork at its tip. The skin seems to be
unusually thick and strong, and is lined iuside with a white
membrane. In a slight cocoon in the ground. In this con-
dition through the winter.

The moth hides in the daytime among the leaves of bushes,
its food-plants especially, and may readily be beaten out,
when it flies vigorously. Its natural time of flight, however,
is at dusk, and doubtlessly again late at night, since it will
come to a strong light.

An exceedingly local species and usually scarce ; apparently
confined to woods. Not very scarce in the New Forest and
the Isle of Wight, and found rather frequently in Kent,
especially in the small woods which crown or skirt the hills
near the coast. Formerly it was common at Coombe Wood,
Surrey, but has long disappeared from that locality ; rare in
Sussex and Middlesex, less so in Dorset and Devon ; very
rare in Suffolk, and only once taken — by Dr. A. W. Carlier
— in Norfolk. Further north it has been found near Winder-
mere, in Westmoreland ; but apparently not be}rond. In
Wales it is recorded only at Neath, Glamorganshire, by Sir
J. T. D. Llewellyn ; and not in Ireland.

Abroad it has a wide range throughout Central Europe,
the northern half of Italy. Dalmatia, Livonia. Finland. Central
and Eastern llussia, Bithynia. Armenia. Tartar y, Japan,
China, and even Vancouver Island in North America.

2. M. notata, L. — Expanse \\ to 1\ inch. Fore wings
excavated below the apex ; yellowish-white, dusted with light
brown ; three yellow-brown transverse lines arise from
reddish-brown costal spots ; beyond is another costal spot,
large, squared, chocolate colour ; and beneath it a darker
spot, distinctly divided into five sections by white lines,
Hind wings faintly dusted and barred with pale brown.

Antennas of the male rather short, notched, light brown;
palpi very small, yellow-brown, as is the head ; neck paler

BOARMIDJL—MA CAR1A . 37 5

and faintly ridged ; collar bright reddish-brown ; thorax
rather smooth, brownish-white ; the shoulder-lappets fur-
nished with long scales ; abdomen paie drab, dusted with black
and spotted along the dorsal region with brown-black ; lateral
and anal tufts small. Fore wings moderately broad, arcuate;
costa arched ; apex pointed ; hind margin beneath it con-
cave to above the middle, there angulated. and rounded off
below ; dorsal margin straight ; colour yellowish -white,
dusted all over with pale brown ; from three obscure cloudy
chestnut spots on the costal margin arise equidistant pale
brown transverse slender lines or cloudy threads ; beyond the
third spot is a much larger and more conspicuous rich chest-
nut or chocolate costal spot ; from this proceeds an excessively
faint, yellowish-brown, cloudy transverse band, in which lies
a large chocolate-black spot divided into five sections by
slender white lines ; the concavity below the apex is edged
with pale chocolate, the cilia arising from it being purplish -
brown, the rest yellowish-white. Hind wings angulated
behind and rather tailed, the anterior margin rounded, the
hinder straight, to the tail : colour and dusting as in the fore
wings ; central spot a reddish dot ; before it is a faint yellow-
brown transverse line, beyond it a broader similar band or
shade of faint lines ; hind margin edged with a red-brown
line ; cilia yellowish white. Female similar.

Underside very pretty ; fore wings white, dusted with pale
chestnut ; all the wings have a central red-black spot or dot,
before which is a slender chestnut transverse line, and beyond
it a broad similar rich stripe, its inner edge the darkest ;
hind margins edged and dashed with the same. Body
brownish- white, legs pale brown.

Extremely constant in colour and markings, but a specimen
taken a good many years ago near Folkestone, by Mr. Purdey,
has a repetition of the compound spot of the fore wings upon
the hind. Forty years ago, when this species was common
at West Wickham Wood, Kent, a recurrent malformation,
having three wings only, was there not scarce — I have taken

J76 LEPIDOPTERA.

three such in one day — in some the right hind wing was
aborted, in others the left. This occurred in both broods —
yet I found no such specimen among those reared from the
egg. Mr. J. Jenner Weir met with an example flying,
although both its hind wings were absent.

On the wing at the end of May and in June, and in a
second generation at the end of July and in August.

Larva eloDgate, third segment a little swollen laterally ;
head small, flattened, shining black ; face whitish ; skin
highly polished ; thirteenth segment bristly and furnished
with three very minute anal points ; colour uniform shining
hazel-brown, with a series of pale green blotches in a line
with, and surrounding, the inconspicuous brownish spiracles ;
a faintly paler ventral stripe, and blackish ventral spots ;
legs black.

Or. bright green shaded on each segment with light
yellowish-brown, having ill-defined light brown or grey sub-
dorsal lines, between which and the spiracular line is a series
of oblique brown blotches ; sides of second and third seg-
ments purplish-brown ; face green ; undersurface greenish,
clouded with pale brown, and having a faintly paler central
band.

Or, yellowish-green, with very faintly indicated paler
dorsal, sub-doi\sal, spiracular, and ventral stripes ; head green
with a black dash on the summit of each lobe ; legs purplish-
black ; first pair of prolegs purple ; anal prolegs green.

Or. pale green, the sides broadly shaded with hazel-
brown, forming an irregular series of pale green dorsal and
lateral blotches ; head and legs black, face green ; both pairs
of prolegs tinged with dark purplish-brown ; under-surface
purplish or hazel-brown, with a paler or greener central
stripe.

All these varieties graduate into each other. (C. Fenn.)

End of June and beginning of July ; another generation
at the end of August and in September ; on birch, sallow,

BOARMIDAZ—MACARIA. 377

and, according to Mr. Buckler, on blackthorn. Hoffmann
adds alder and willow. It is but a short time in the larva
state, feeding up sometimes in three or four weeks.

Pupa moderately stout, anal extremity spiked ; very dark
red-brown ; wing-cases with an olive tinge. In a loose
cocoon on the surface of the ground. (C. Fenn.) In this
condition through the winter.

The moth hides in the daytime principally in birch bushes
and small birch trees, from which it is readily disturbed by
the beating-stick. It seems especially to frequent heath-
carpeted woods. Often it rests close to the ground. Its
natural time of flight is dusk, and probably also late at night,
but it is very local and usually scarce, and its habits have
not been very thoroughly observed. It inhabits woods in
Kent, Sussex, Dorset, and Devon, is rare in Cornwall, and
has once been recorded in Surrey ; a single capture seems
also to have been made in Cambridgeshire, and it is scarce
in Suffolk and Gloucestershire. Rather common in heathy
woods in Staffordshire and Cheshire, but I find no record, for
other parts of England ; and in Wales only Glamorganshire.
In Scotland it re -appears in Inverness-shire and Ross-shire ;
and in Ireland it was said by the late Mr. E. Birchall to be
plentiful at Killarney, but I can find no recent confirmation
of this statement.

Abroad it is widely distributed over Central and the tem-
perate portions of Northern Europe, South Lapland, Finland,
Northern Italy, Greece, Southern Russia, Eastern Siberia,
Armenia, and the mountain regions of Central Asia. More-
over, it appears to be known under the names of cnotata,
Packard, and cemulataria, Walk, in North America, in
Florida, Texas, and the Washington Territory.

3. M. liturata, L.— Expanse 1| inch. Fore wings very
slightly arcuate ; pale slate-grey, with three darker transverse
lines arising from black costal spots ; beyond the third is a

378 LEPIDOPTERA.

yellowish-tawny band and a chocolate costal spot. Hind
wings brownish-white, shaded with grey, and similarly
banded.

Antennae of the male distinctly notched, ciliated, light
brown ; palpi small, and with the head, dull reddish-brown,
as also are the collar and a raised ridge on the neck ; thorax
slate-grey, smooth, except the loosely raised shoulder-tufts ;
abdomen smooth, whitish-grey, with small lateral and anal
tufts. Fore wings rather pointed ; costa slightly but regularly
arched ; apex bluntly angulated ; hind margin below it very
slightly retuse and decidedly oblique, rounded off at the anal
angle quite to the dorsal margin, which is also a little
rounded ; colour light slate-grey minutely dappled with very
pale grey ; three black-brown spots on the costa give rise to
slender black-brown transverse lines, which are rather
accentuated on the nervures ; immediately following the
third is a broad complete stripe of light cloudy chocolate,
widened at the costa, where its anterior portion is orange-
yellow, and the hinder portion is formed into a red-brown
crescent ; beyond this to the apex the costa is narrowly dark
chestnut, barred by two pale yellow streaks ; extreme hind
margin faintly dotted with black ; cilia glossy grey. Hind
wings moderately broad ; hind margin rounded, except a
somewhat blunt angle, which cannot be called a tail, near
the middle; colour paler slate-grey, similarly dappled ; central
spot black ; before it is a faint, slender, and very straight
transverse reddish-black line, beyond it another, more
sinuous, which is closely followed by a broad obscure pale
tawny transverse stripe, edged again outside by another dark
line ; cilia pale slate-grey. Female similar, sometimes a little
paler.

Underside pale grey dusted with yellow-brown ; each wing
has a central black dot preceded by one, and traces of
another, slender, transverse, reddish-grey stripe, and followed
by a third, which is merely the inner margin of a broad
yellow band which shades off toward the apex of the wing to

BOARMIDjE—MACARIA. 379

tawny-brown, and in the fore wings is suddenly extended, in
part, to the hind margin ; above this the apical area is
silvery-white dotted with brown and purple-grey ; cilia all
yellowish white clouded and dashed with smoky-black. Body
and legs pale drab ; tarsi pale brown.

Usually very constant in colour and markings, though the
slate-grey of the wings fades rapidly even during life ; but
there seems to be a tendency to variation in the Western and
Midland districts ; a striking variety found occasionally in
Delamere Forest, Cheshire, is of a suffused, smoky black-
brown colour with the lines obscured, but the tawny trans-
verse band ill-defined and extended toward the costa into a
rusty blotch. A very striking example of this form is lent me
by Mr. F. N. Pierce. A somewhat similar variation has been
obtained by Mr. F. C. Woodforde in Salop. A specimen in
the collection of Mr. S. J. Capper has the three transverse
lines of the fore wings and two upon the hind wings much
intensified ; and the late Mr. W. G. Blatch took at Knowle.
near Birmingham, one which has upon the fore wings four
such lines.

On the wing in June and July, or even occasionally as
early as the end of May ; and as a very partial second genera-
tion, in favoured localities, in August and September.

Larva rather slender, smooth and even in thickness ; head
rounded, green, the lobes edged and barred with black ;
body dark green ; dorsal line indistinctly darker, darkest at
the divisions of the segments ; subdorsal lines, two in number,
white, the lower edged with a very dark green spiracular
line, below which is a more slender similar line ; under-
surface and legs paler green. When younger lighter green
with three white subdorsal lines and a yellowish white line
below the spiracles. The resemblance of this larva to a
little bundle of leaves of its food plant is, at all ages, extra-
ordinary.

July and August, possibly sometimes in September and

380 LEP1D0PTERA.

October, on Scotch fir (Pimts sylvestris), feeding upon the
leaves. Abroad it is said to feed also upon Silver fir (P. picca)
and even upon juniper.

Pupa short, stout, and compact, the wing-cases the thickest
portion, but not much swollen ; limb-covers very smooth and
level, but the antenna-covers sculptured so as to indicate the
joints ; the first abdominal incision of the segments rather
deep, the other segments edged behind by a slightly raised
blackish rim ; cremaster triangular and running to a sharp
point but apparently without bristles — unless in my examples
they are broken off ; eyes rather prominent, black ; wing-
cases and limb-covers black-brown ; dorsal and abdominal
regions red-brown, except that the edges of the segments are
darker ; only moderately glossy. Among fallen fir-needles
upon the ground, beneath the surface-masses.

The moth sits by day in the branches of the fir trees, or in
wiudy weather upon the trunks, or among the undergrowth
of bramble, whortleberry, or fern underneath. Usually rest-
less in such a position, and in sunny weather on the alert,
and ready to fly up into the branches if disturbed. Doubt-
less it flies at dusk, but as this is necessarily around the
branches of the fir trees it is rarely taken at that time.
Later at night it will sometimes visit flowers, and has been
taken upon those of Knautia arvensis. Apparently to be
found in fir woods throughout England, though usually in
small numbers. It is said, however, to be common in Saver-
nake Forest, Wilts, and also in Somerset and Gloucestershire ;
but I find no record of it in Wales — where it must occur.
In Scotland it is found rarely in Berwickshire and Roxburgh-
shire ; more frequently in Perthshire, where it used to be
rather common on Moncrieffe Hill ; also in the Edinburgh
district ; in Ayrshire, and other portions of the Clyde Valley ;
and in the Counties of Inverness, Ross, Aberdeen, Kincardine
and Moray. In Ireland it is widely distributed, through
Dublin County, Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny,

BOARMID&—HALIA. 381

Galway, Roscommon, Meath, Westmeath, and to Slieve
Donard in County Down. Abroad its range is through
Central and Northern Europe, the North of Spain and Italy,
Central and Eastern Russia, Armenia, and Eastern Siberia.

Genus 9. HAL.IA.

Antennas of the male shortly pectinated; palpi small;
head and thorax rough ; abdomen smooth and slender ; fore
wings broad, blunt, and faintly refuse; hind wings broad
but elongated, very faintly angulated behind.

We have but one species.

1. H. wauaria, L.; wavaria, F. — Expanse If inch.
Very pale smoky-brown, or smoky-white, often with a violet
tino-e ; costa of fore wings ornamented with four wedge-
shaped red-black spots, the second making a V with a similar
discal spot. Hind wings plain, smoky- white.

Antennse of the male pectinated with short stout ciliated
teeth, dark brown ; palpi of the same colour, short and blunt ;
head ashy-grey, a small ridge behind it whitish-grey ; thorax
rather roughened with raised scales, smoky-brown ; abdomen
similar, the anal tuft darker, lateral tufts minute. Fore
wings broad and slightly refuse, costa arched, especially so
toward the apex, which is bluntly angulated ; hind margin
below it faintly hollowed ; then filled out and gently rounded
off; dorsal margiu rather full ; colour very pale smoky-brown,
or smoky-white, shading into smoky-grey along the hind
margin and anal angle ; four chocolate-black spots lie upon
the costal margin, the first narrow, and in some specimens
originating a faint, obscure, aud rather direct first line ; the
second thicker and extended so as to join an elongated black
discal spot, and from it make a sharp V-shaped angle ; the
third narrow, and originating a faintly dotted, and obscure
second line ; the fourth large and somewhat rhomboid, its
lower portion black ; costa otherwise yellowish with chocolate
dotting ; from the second costal spot across the opening of

382 LEPIDOP TERA .

the V-inark is usually an obscure and incomplete cloudy-
black central shade, and on the opposite or dorsal margin is
a pair of chocolate dots indicating its termination ; cilia
smoky-brown. Hind wings broad and elongated ; hind
margin very obtusely augulated ; smoky brownish-white, the
hind margin more clouded with smoke-colour ; central spot
round, black ; on the dorsal margin are two blackish-brown
dashes with some freckling of the same colour; cilia smoky-
brown. Female similar but with simple antennas.

Underside of the fore wings smoky-brown ; costa more
ochreous, much barred with smoky-black ; dorsal margin
white. Hind wings yellowish- white abundantly dusted and
rippled with pale purplish-brown, and having a cloudy band
of the same before the hind margin ; central spot black ;
cilia yellow-brown, spotted with purplish-brown. Body and
legs grey-brown ; tibias dotted with white.

Rather variable in the ground colour, from dusky-white to
uniform pale smoky-brown ; and also in respect of the central
shade, which often is so much blackened as to confuse the
V-mark, or to make with it a triangle, or else to join together
the first and second costal spots ; occasionally this central
shade distinctly crosses the wing, forming a full curve on its
way ; in other specimens it is very indistinct, and the dark
streak which should complete the V is absent, or even the
discal spot or streak is detached from the costal spot. Mr.
Sydney Webb has in his collection a specimen in which the
first and second lines are distinct and well-formed, the central
shade blackened, and the discal and second costal spots far
removed from each other ; another of a uniform smooth
smoky black-brown without markings, except that the
chocolate colour asserts itself along the costa ; hind wings
smoky-black. In South-west Yorkshire Mr. Porritt con-
stantly finds it with the fore wings clouded along the hind
margin with smoky-black, which shades off inward to the
middle of the wings.

On the wing in July and August.

BOARMID.E-HAIJA. 383

Larva stout, bristly, the usual spots raised, the incisions
of the segments well marked, otherwise moderately cylin-
drical ; head lead-coloured and streaked with black ; colour
of the body yellowish-green or some darker shade to bluish-
green, violet-brown, purple-brown, or leaden-brown ; dorsal
line white, double, both duplicates very slender ; sub-dorsal
lines thread-like, waved, white; spiracular stripe broad,
yellow, rather extended into a blotch in the middle of each
segment ; usual raised spots black and conspicuous, each
furnished with a short bristle; uudersurface yellow-green
or deep green, with two conspicuous, yellowish or white,
longitudinal lines ; legs black ; prolegs dull brownish-black.
Sometimes the slender longitudinal lines are smoky-black
instead of white. The green individuals usually become
reddish-brown just before entering the pupa state.

April to June on gooseberry, currant — especially red-
currant — and other species of Bibcs ; feeding at night on the
younger shoots, and resting by day on the undersides or
petioles of leaves. Especially attached to gooseberry or
currant bushes which are trained against a wall, sometimes
stripping these of their leaves, while bushes standing in open
ground are comparatively neglected. Very timid and sensi-
tive, dropping instantly when touched, and remaining sus-
pended by a thread. Dr. A. G. Butler has noted that this
larva is distasteful to frogs.

Pupa moderately stout, anal extremity with a single ter-
minal bristle ; colour red-brown or blackish-brown. Sub-
terranean, not enclosed in a cocoon. (0. Penn.)

The winter is passed in the egg-state.

The moth hides during the day in gooseberry and currant
bushes, or sits on a wall in their vicinity, and is easily dis-
turbed, flying quickly about the bushes to a similar hiding-
place. At dusk it is lively and active. From the nature of
its food-plants it is almost confined to gardens, and is in
them often very common ; and its larva destructive, stripping

/

/77

384 LEPIDOPTERA.

the leaves so as seriously to injure the crop of fruit and the
growth of the plant. Apparently common throughout
England, except in Cornwall, in which county it seems to be
absent to the west of Bodmin. Doubtless also common
throughout Wales, though I have no records except my own
at Pembroke. In Scotland it seems to be common in gardens
in the lower districts — though not on the hills — to Moray and
"West Ross. In Ireland it is scarce, but has been taken at
Howth near Dublin, in Wicklow, Kerry, Gal way, Westmeath
Sligo, Tyrone, and Deny. Abroad commonly in Central
Europe, the temperate portions of Northern Europe, Northern
Italy, Greece. Dalmatia, and Southern Russia.

END OF VOL. VI.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Vol. iv. p. 194 — My information as to the pupa of Hadena
glauca, that " though the larva changes to pupa under-
ground, it forms no cocoon," proves to be erroneous. Mr.
G. O. Day has, most kindly, sent me, from Knutsford, pupse
of this species in their cocoons. The latter are soft but well
formed and moderately tough ; one in moss, the rest thickly
covered with earth. Mr. E. Newman's remark that " each
abdominal segment has a ring of strong rough spines, some-
what similar to those of the goat-moth," is well confirmed so
far as the first three abdominal segments are concerned, the
rings of spines thereupon being quite remarkably rough, and
projecting outwards to a degree unusual in Noctua pupas.

Vol. v. p. 163. — Leucania unipuncta. Mr. Day tells
me that he secured a specimen of this rare moth on the
Carnarvonshire coast, North Wales, on August 28, 1897.

Vol. v. p. 255. — Amphipyra tragopogonis. The exist-
ence of this species in North Wales is now certain, Lord Boston
having taken several specimens in the Isle of Anglesey.

Present Volume.

VOL. V!

150 (

•<;

en us

88"

shoi

aid be '

• Genus

89."

167

, .

89

: ;

..

'.Ml.

171

90

..

91.

181

91

92.

188

92

93.

192

93

'.•1.

200

,.

94

95.

204

95

96.

214

96

J?

97.

217

97

v

98.

229

?;

98

5 J

99.
2 b

I N I) E X.

PAGE

FA(iE

Acontia

171 Catephia

229

(catena)

180 alchemysta

229

luctuosa .

171 Catocala

246

Solaris

174 electa

256

venustula .

177 (elocata) .

2S8

Mthia, .

286 fraxini

247

emortualis

286 nupta

2C2

Agrophila

188 promissa .

263

sulphuralis

188 sponsa

259

Aleucis

368 Cerastis

9

pictaria .

368 erythrocephala

9

Anarta .

217 ligula

IS

cordigera .

222 vaccinii .

12

m elan o pa .

218 Chariclea

143

myrtilli

224 delphinii .

143

Angerona

344 marginata

146

prunaria

344

Cacullia

60

Aventia

276

abrotani .

83

flexula

276 absynthii .

80

Bapta .

362 asteris

73

taminata .

365

chamomilhi'

86

temerata .

362

gnaphalii .

77

BoarmicLi'

339

lychnitis .

70

Boletobia

280

scrophulariae

66

fuliginaria

280

umbratica

90

Bomolocha .

312

verbasci .

62

crassalis .

312

Dasycampa .

4

Brephides .

327

rubiginea .

4

Biephos

327

Deltoides

276

notha

332

Erastria

200

parthenias

327

fuscula

200

Bryophila

204

Euclidia

268

(algae)

214

glyphica .

268

glandifeni

204

mi

272

perla

210

Geometrina .

337

Cabera .

356

Gonoptera .

238

exanthema ria

359

libatrix

239

pusaria

356

Gonoptericlas

238

Calocampa .

5i

Habrostola .

134

exoleta

52

triplasia .

139

vetusta

56 urticae

135

(Calophasia)

49 Halia .

381

(linariae) .

50 wauaria

38i

(platyptera)

49

Heliodes

167

Heliodes —

arbuti

168

Heliothis

!5o

armigera .

•5o

dipsacea .

[60

peltigera .

'57

scutosa

K>4

Herminia

288

barbalis

291

cribralis .

jOI

' derivalis .

28t)

grisealis .

198

tarsipennalis

294

Hoporina

I

croceago .

1

Hydrelia

1N1

argentula .

182

uncana

(8s

Hypena

315

(obsitalis) .

322

proboscidalis

319

rostralis

316

Hypenodes .

3°4

albistrigalis

304

costasstrigalis

306

Lithomia

44

solidaginis

44

Macaria

370

alternata .

371

liturata

377

notata

374

Madopa

283

salicalis

283

Ophiodes

243

lunaris

244

Ourapteryx .

340

sambucata

340

Phytometra .

214

senea

214

Plusia .

94

(aurifera) .

ior

bractea

109

chrysitis .

98

chryson

95

388

INDEX.

Plusia —

festucse

gamma

illustris

interrogation!?

iota .

ruoneta

ni

pulchrina .

(verticillata)
Quadrifidse .
Rivula .

sericealis .

112

!23

107

131
119

102
128
116
122
243
323
323

Kumia .

cratsegata .
Sarrothripidse

Sarrothripa .

revayana .
Schrankia

turfosalis .
Scopelosoma

satellitia .
Tbalpocbares

ostrina

parva

348
348
232

233
233
3io
3io
18

19
192
192
195

Thaipochares—
paula

197

Venilia
maculata .

352
352

Xylina.
conform^

30

lambda

34

petrificata
rhizolitha .

26
37

semibrunnen

23

Xylocampa .
litboriza

41

41

Primed by Ballantyne, Hanson 6r Co
London &= Edinburgh

PLATE CCXXXIII.

Fig. 1 . Hoporina croceago, male.
la. „ „ female.

lb. ., ,. larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Dasycampa rubiginea.

2a. ,. ,, var. Mr. Sydney Webb.

2b. ., „ ,, ,, ,,

2c. ,, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler

3. Cerastis erythrocephala, Mr. S. Webb.

3a. ,. „ var. glabra, Mr. S. Webb.

PLATE 233.

;

RMopfon del,etlitK.

Vincent Brodks,Day &San£t?Iro.p

L Reeve &.C? London

PLATE CCXXXIV.

Fig,

. 1.

Cerastis

vaccinii.

la.

5)

,. var. mixta.

lb.

J«

,, spadicea.

lc.

))

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

?)

ligula.

2a.

J5

var.

•2b.

V

M J?

2c.

,,

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

3.

Scopelosoma satellitia.

3a.

?1

., var.

36.

5!

„ Mr. S. Webb.

3c.

51

larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 234.

R.Morgan, del.etli.th.

"Vincent Brodte,Day&. Son Lt^Jmp

1 Reeve &C?Lon.cLon.

PLATE CCXXXV.

Fig. 1. Xylina sernibrunnea, male.

]a. ,, ., female.

lb. „ „ larva Mr. W. Buckler.

2. ., petrificata.

2a. ,. ,, var.

26. „ „ „ Mr. S. Webb.

2c. ,, ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

3 , . conformis, Mr. Evan John.

3a ,, ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

4 ., lambda, Mr. S. Webb.

PLATE 235.

N£Z/i

HMordan del,etlith..

3

~Vmaeri.~Bro6Us.fiay .^Sanlt^-Imp

JL Reeve &. C ° London. .

PLATE CCXXXVI.

Fig. 1. Xylina rhizolitha.

1«. .. ,, var.

lb. „ ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Xylocampa lithoriza, male.
la. ., ,, female.

2b. ,, ,, larva. Mr. W. Buckler.

3. Lithomia solidaginis, male.
3a, „ ,, female.

3?'. ,, ,. var. Mr. G. T. Porritt.

oc. ,. „ ,, Cannock Chase, Mr. F.

C. Woodforde.
od, .. ,. larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 236

5 9

C-&

&

fei

R.Morgan. del et 1th

X A

"VmcentBrookspsy&SonLtMmp

L Reeve &. C? Ionian.

PLATE CCXXXVII.

Fig. 1.

Calocampa exoleta.

la.

var. Dr. H. H. Corbett

lb.

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

vetusta.

2a.

,, ,. var. Scotland.

2b.

,, ., ,, South England.

2c.

,, ,. larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 237.

RJVTorgan. de^etMh,

'VLncentBro o>s,Day &. San LtHntp

ITteeve &. C?Londan.

PLATE CCXXXVIII.

Fig. 1. Oucullia verbasci, male.

la. ,

, „ female.

lb.

larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

scrophularias, male, Dr. F. D. Wheeler

2a.

„ female, ,,

2b.

, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

<->

O. j

, lychnitis, male.

3a.

, ,, female.

3b.

, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 238.

»,,»

3?

HMorjrfan &el,et lifh.

"Vincent Brooks.D ay &-SonXt?-In:.5

X Reeve &.C° London

PLATE CCXXXIX.

Fig. 1. Cucullia asteris, male.

la.

,, ., female.

lb.

,, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

., gnaphalii.

2a.

„ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler,

3.

., absynthii, male.

3a.

,, ., female.

36.

,, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler

4.

,, abrotani, Dr. P. B. Mason.

PLATS 239.

"\Sncen.tBrooks,Da7&Son LtdImp

L Reeve & I : London.

PLATE CCXL.

Fig. 1. Cucullia chamomillas, male.

la.

>?

,, female.

lb.

j >

„ larva. Mr. F. C. Woodforde

2.

55

umbratica, male.

2a.

;>

,, female.

2b.

)>

„ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

3.

Plusia illustris.

4.

5)

chryson, male.

4a.

,, female.

4&. ,, ,, larva.

PLATE 240.

RHortfarL del. et Hth

Vm.cen.tBrooks.Dav :■ S m Lt^imp

L "Reeve &C° London..

PLATE CCXLI.

Fig. 1. Plusia chrysitis, male.

la.

,,

11

female.

15.

)>

5)

var.

lc.

55

> J

larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

5J

moneta,

male.

2a.

) J

j'

female.

26.

JJ

ii

larva.

3.

!J

bractea,

male.

3a.

)»

■>i

female.

36.

55

>•>

larva, Mr. W. Buckler

1

PLAT.K 241.

\+m

; h

"RMoi'Pajv del, et Mi

Vuwent'Srocfes^ay & S<

L "Reeve. & C 3 L indori .

PLATE CCXLII.

Fig. I. Plusia festucae, male.

la. ,

,, female.

lb. ,

„ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

pulchrina, male.

2a.

,. female.

2b. ,

., larva, Mr. W. Buckler

3.

iota, male.

3a. ,

,, female.

3b.

„ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PI .ATE 242.

^

F-Morgan. del et lith.

VLacentBroaksDav a. SojiIt^Lu

l.Tteeve <°y.C0 London.

PLATE CCXLIII.

Fig. 1. Plusia gamma, male.

la.

»j

,, female.

lb.

5'

,, var.

\c.

)5

small form, Mr. G. T. Porritt.

Id.

)1

, var. Devon, Mr. F. J. Han bury

le.

) J

, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

?5

ni.

Mr. W. R. Jeffrey.

3.

5J

interrogationis.

3a.

5)

,, var. N. of Ireland.

3b.

))

„ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 243

-

;'V-'-

X .More an deletH+K.

15ncen.tBrod<s,Dajr&Son.Ita-Incp

L.Heevs 3c C? London

PLATE CCXLIV.

Fig. 1. Habrostola urtica?, male.
la. ,, ,, female,

lb. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. ,; triplasia, male.
2a. ,, ,, female.

2b. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

3. Chariclea delphinii.

4. ,, marginata, male.

4a. ,, ,, female, var.

46. „ „ dwarf, Mr. G. T. Porritt.

4c. ,, „ larva. Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 244.

R.Moi-cTam del, etlith.

. . [itf-Sup

a

PLATE CCXLV.

Fig. 1. Heliothis arrnigera, male.

la.

, ,, female.

lb.

,, larva.

2.

, peltigera, male, Mr.

F. C. Woodforde

2a. ,

, ,. female.

2b.

, ,, larva, Mr

W. Buckler.

o

O. ,

, clipsacea, male.

3a.

, ,, female.

36.

, „ larva, Mr.

W. Buckler.

4.

scutosa, Mr. W. H.

Tkorntkwaite.

PLATE 245

^k

%

z™

R-MorfSan. del.etlith

VLneentErooks Ud-lmp

L Reeve ft 0° London

PLATE CCXLVI.

FlG. 1. Heliodes arbuti, male.
la. ,, ,, female.

16. „ ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Acontia luctuosa, male.

2a.

5J

„ female.

2b.

>)

„ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

O.

J>

Solaris.

4.

J)

venustula, male.

4a.

J>

,, female.

46.

JJ

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler,

PLATE 246

<tifrrTiTff'

' vii>

"R.TMoroaxt del, et Hth.

L Reel's 5. C? London.

VrnceTitBroo] U4hng

PLATE CCXLYII.

Fig. 1. Hydrelia argentula, male.

la.

j)

., female.

lb.

! J

„ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

5)

nncana, male.

2a.

?)

„ female.

2b.

!J

., larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

o
O.

Tkalpocb

ares ostrina.

4.

5>

parva.

5.

95

paula.

PLATE 247

<f *

ft-

o-LdeleUi

^5ncentBi?oaks;Dar 5 Son

L Reeve &.C°London

PLA.TE CCXLVIII.

Fig. 1. Agropkila sulphuralis, male.
la. „ ,, female.

lb. „ „ var.

\c. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Erastria fuscula, male.
2a. „ ,, female.

25. ,, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

3. Pbytometra tenea, male.
3a. ,, ,, female.
3b. ,, ,, var.

3d. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 243.

m

:

3.

V^A^j

Rifor^aJLdel.e* lifh

cfcBroo>sX'ay& San

L. Reev<>

PLATE CCXLIX.

Fig. 1.
la.
lb.
lc.
Id.
le.

If-

lh.
li.

V-

Bryophila glandifera, male,
female.

var. Devon, Mr. F. 0. Woodforde.
Devon, Eev. 0. F. Benthall.

Cambridge, Mr. W. Warren.
larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 249.

19

1?

H.MOTgan. del etliflv

I1
AfoicentBrooks.Day &.SonLtdImp

X.. Reeve &-C° Londorv

PLATE CCL.

. 1.

Bryophila perla, male.

la.

,, ,. female.

lb.

„ var.

\c.

„ ,, „ Mr. S. J. Capper.

Id.

5; ii 5)

h:

,, ., larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2.

Anarta melanopa, male, Mrs. Fraser.

2a.

,, ,, female, ,,

2b.

,. larva, Mr. W. Buckler

3.

,, cordigera, male.

3a.

„ ,, female.

3b.

,, ,, var.

3c.

,, ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

. . :

'.--

u^:^€W

Wb&ti

f

^''^S-fif^y^"1^'

ttiogr

R.l/Toi-paxL del. at hth

"\63\centBroo'k5,Davf0'-So7i I

L.Ree\ I i n don

PLATE CCLI.

Fig. 1. Anarta myrtilli, male.
la. ,, ,, female.

lb. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Catephia alcliemysta, Sussex, Mr. W. Borrer.

3. Sarrothripa revayana.

oa.
3b.

3c.
3d.
3e.
of-

var.

PLATE 251

s"?

R.Morgan. del est 1th.

"\finceRtBrodksJ)av&.Sori.LtS-]ii5)

L. Re eve &.C? London

PLATE CCLIL

Fig. 1. Gonoptera libatrix, male.
la. ,, ,, female.

lb. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Ophiodes lunaris.

3. Catocala fraxini.

3a. „ ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 252

R.TVTor £an del. et lith

"\5noent Brooks ,Day SoSonLt* Imp '

L Reeve &. C° London

PLATE CCLIII.

Fig. 1.

Catocala electa,

Mr. E. Bankes.

2.

nupta,

male.

2a.

female.

2b.

)•

at rest.

2c.

" 5?

larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2d.

" J)

egg (magnified), Mr. E. Wheeler

PLATE 253.

P..Mbrpart del etlith

ASjicerLt Brooks J3 ay &.SonXtS- Imp

X Reeve &_C°Xo:n.dori

PLATE CCLIV.

Fig. 1. Catocala spon sa, male.

la. „ „ female.

lb. „ „ var. Mr. P. M. Bright.

Ic. ,, „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

Id. ,, ,, egg (magnified), Mr. E. Wheeler.

2. „ fraxini ,,

PLATE 254.

2 v

R.Mbrgan del, etTiiX

"Vin.C£n.tBrooJcs,Day&. Sonlt2-Inrp

L Reeve «5c C ° I ondon. .

PLATE CCLV.

Fig. 1. Catocala . promissa, male.

la.

))

,, female.

16.

?!

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler

2.

Euclidia

mi, male.

2a.

?;

,, female.

26.

,,

,. larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

3.

glyphica, male.

3a.

.,

,, female.

36.

,,

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 255

v

,6 " ^'

3*

RMorpan d el et lith.

"\5j\c ent Br o oks,D ay & S an

j "Re eve &-C° London..

PLATE CCLVI.

Fig. 1. Egg of Orthosia rufina (magnified), Mr. E. Wheeler

2.

,, ferruginea ,

55 '1

3.

,, pistacina ,

5 3 '5

4-

,, rnacilenta

J3 >5

5.

Xanthia aurago ,

>> >>

6.

Xylocampa lithoriza ,

Ji >5

7.

Calocampa exoleta ,

•' 55

8.

Cucullia verbasci ,

> J 31

9.

absynthii .

,, ,,

10.

Plnsia interrogationis .,

3 i

PLATE 256.

RitopSaa li-th .

Vincent Br o olts P ay &. S on Ltf-Irap

L.Reeve &.C° London.

PLATE CCLVII.

Fig. 1. Egg (magnified) Cymatophora flavicornis.
2. ,, Acronycta megacephala.

3.

4.
5.
6.

9.
10.

alni.

psi.

myncae.

Agrotis cinerea.
Noctna f estiva.

From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler, Bristol.

PLATE 257

-~4

R-Moi-ganJith

L Reeve &. C° London.-

PLATE CCLVIII.

Fig. 1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
0.
10.

Egg (magnified) Noctua sobrina.

Xylomiges conspicillaris.
Pachetra leucophsea.
Hadena contigua.

„ suasa.
Mamestva persicaria3.
Epunda nigra.
Dasypolia templi.
Polia flavicincta.
,, chi.

From drawings oy Mr. E. Wlicclcr, Bristol.

PLATE 258.

v

R.Morgaxi-Jtith.

"Vrneent. Brooks^D ay & SonXt imp

1 Reeve & C° London-

PLATE CCLIX.

Fig. 1.

Egg

(magnified) Dryobota protea.

2.

j?

,, ,, (reversed)

o
O.

,, Chariptera aprilina.

4.

,,

,, Miselia oxyacanthas.

5.

Valeria oleagiua.

6.

*>

,, Cerigo cytherea.

7.

..

Xylophasia polyodon.

8.

j "

,, Apamea oculea.

9.

?:

Hyppa rectiliuea.

10.

)J

„ Trachaea atriplicis.

From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler, Bristol.

P1ATE 258

^*>m&

"VracentBrooks^Day&SonLt^innp

L Reeve &C° London

PLATE CCLX.

Fig. 1. Egg (magnified) Euplexia lucipara.

2. ,, ., Nouagria gemiiiipuncta.

3. ,, ,, Tapinostola fulva.

4. ,, ,, Tasniocampa gothica.

5. „ „ „ gracilis.

O. ,, ,, )j )>

7. ,, ., Amphipyra pyramidea.

8. ,, ,, >) >>

9. ,, ,, Toxocampa pastinum.
10. .. ,, Calymnia affinis.

* From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler, Bristol.

PUVTE 260.

^R.TyTor&uT. Mh.

A5ncen.tBrooksJ)ajr<ScSonLta-Irnp

L Reeve & CPXcmdon

PLATE CCLXI.

Fig. 1. Aventia flexula, male.
la. ,, ,, female.

lb. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Boletobia fuliginaria.
2a.

3. Madopa salicalis, male.
3a. ,, ,, female.

3b. ,, ,, larva (Hofmann).

4. yEtkia emortualis.

5. Herminia derivalis, male.
5a. „ „ female.

PLATE 2G1.

\A

H. Morgan del. etlith

"VLneentBroolfs Day&SanLt^Im.p

LTReeve ScC 9 London.

PLATE CCLXII.

Fig. 1. Herminia barbalis, male.

la.

5>

„ female.

2.

J 1

tarsipemalis, male.

2a.

?;

,, female.

3.

■>■>

grisealis, male.

3a.

JJ

,, female.

4.

;»

cribralis, male.

4a.

)5

,, female.

5.

Schrankia turfosalis, male.

oa.

>>

„ female

PLlATE 262

R Morgan, del et Hth.

Vincent Broo~ks,Day VSanltflmp

L Reeve & C? London-

PLATE CCLXIIL

Fig. 1. Hypenodes albistrigalis, male.

la. „ „ female.

2. ,, costasstrigalis, male.
2a. „ „ female.

3. Bomolocha crassalis, male.
3a. „ ,, female.
36. „ ., larva.

4. Hypena rostralis, male.
4a. ,, ,, female.
46. „ ,, var.
4c. .. ,, larva.

PLATE 263

5 V"

RMorgan del eblith

A5noentBroote,Day & SonXt^imp

X Re eve & CLondon.

PLATE CCLXIV.

Fig. 1. Hypena probosciclalis, male.
Iff. „ „ female.

2. Rivula sericealis, male.
2a. „ ,, female.

3. Brephos parthenias, male.
3a. „ ,, female.

ob. ,, ,, larva, Mr. Buckler.

4. ,, notha, male, Major Ficklin.
4a. ,, ,, female, „

4&. „ ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 264

Sl/Toi>£an. del etlith-

"^TLcentBrool£S,Da^&.SonIt?'Iir5

L Reeve &. C° London.

PLATE CCLXV.

Fig

. 1.

(magni

Lfied)

Petasia nubeculosa.

2

55

55

Diloba casruleocepliala

3.

>)

••

PtilopLora plumigera.

1,

,,

.,

Clostera reclusa.

5.

,,

•5

,, cur tula.

6.

,,

,.

Cerura bicuspis.

i .

55

Pygeera bucephala.

8.

5?

55

Poecilocatnpa populi.

9.

(

55 )•

ft*a From drawing* by Mr. E. Wheeler.

PLATE 265

S.Mo:rj?arixixh .

"Vincent Brooks ,Day & Sc ■•

L Reeve gcC^ILorLdon

PLATE CCLXVI.

Fig. 1.

Egg

(magnified) Tricbiura cratasgi.

o

,, Liparis dispar.

8.

,, ,, „ covered with down

4.

,, ,, salicis.

5.

,, Dasychira fascelina.

6.

,, Liparis monacha.

7.

,, Eriogaster lanestris.

8.

,, Clisiocampa castrensis.

9.

,, ,, neustria.

From drawings by Mr. E. Wlieeler.

PLATE 266.

R.MorAmMh.

Vincent Brooks,Day & GojiLt^Imp

L Reeve 8cC°londOTi.

PLATE CCLXVII.

. 1.

(magnified) Odonestis potatoria.

2.

,, Lasiocampa rubi.

8.

,, „ quercus.

4.

„ ,, „ var. callunee

5.

,, Endromis versicolor.

6.

,, Gastropacha quercifolia.

7.

,, Zeuzera sesculi.

8.

,, Cossus ligniperda.

9.

„ Limacodes testudo.

#*# From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler.

PLATE 267.

H

4A

JLMordan-Hth

A&-icentBrodkH,Day-&-San Ltdimp

L Reeve &.C°loruiori

PLATE CCLXVIII.

i. 1.

E£

g (magnified)

Setina irrorella.

2.

5

)

CEnistis quadra.

3.

?5

?

Nemeophila plantaginis

4.

J

5

Hepialus sylvinus.

5.

J

Macrogiossa fuciformis.

6.

5

5

Chaerocampa Elpenor.

17

,,

Smerinthus tilife.

8.

5

5

populi.

9.

5

)

,, ocellatus.

*

From (

Irawi

ngs by Mr. E. Wheeler.

PLATE 268.

m

R.Mbpganlitft

TfincentBrooks Day &SonL£lrn.p

I, Reeve &.C° London

PLATE CCLXIX.

Fig. 1. Ourapteryx sambucata, male,
la, ,, ,, female*

\b. „ ,. male, var., Mr, S. Webb.

\r. ,. ., larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

\d. ,, ,, cocoon.

2. Ang'erona prunaria, male.
2a. ,, ,, ,, var.

2b. ,, ,, female.

2c. .,, ,, ,, var.

2d. „ „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 268.

R Morgan, del etitk

"Vincent Brooks Day &Sanit£Irap

IReeve & C° L arvdoTi.

PLATE CCLXX.

Fig. 1. Angerona prunaria, male, var. Mr. S. Webb

'-"• >> ■>> )> 11 11

i-0. ,, ,, ,, ,, >,

ic. ., ., ,, ,,
id

1''. ,, •■ •• 55 5)

'./• 11 '• 11 11 "

\g. „ ., female ,,

ill. .. ,, ,, ■),. .,

PLATE 270.

,.««.';'■ vV ;

Y''.-'V~- ■ ^<i\' .•$ " , '1.6

7?

R Morgan deL sblitk

^5n.oajvt Brooks D ay &.S on Lt^Irap

1 Reev-e & C° London

PLATE CCLXXI.

Fig. 1. Rumia crateegata, male.

female.

J.W.. ,,
1&.

,, male, var.

lc.

., Mr. S. J. Cai

Id.

}> >J )) it

le.

)) ?! 5) 5>

!/• ,

,, female ,,

\g. ,

male ,, Mr. S. Webb

\h.

, ,, female ,, ,,

li.

,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 271

7*

^

19

&x ft*-

V

I'}

R.Margan ael.eUith.

' 3rool<3,D ay S^SonLt^Imp

i."Reeve&.C"

PLATE CCLXXII.

G. 1.

Venilia macul

la.

»> »>

16.

ii >»

\c.

>» )>

U.

:) )J

le.

») "

'/

>l 11

ig-

>5 >J

n.

>j )'

K

female.

male, var. Mr. S. Webb.

female ,,

male

„ ,, quadrimaculata,

Mr. S. Webb.
larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

PLATE 272

w

*!%

1°-

ft

r3

^

//'

R.Morgan- del, etTitk

I

I, Reeve &

PLATE CCLXXIII.

Fig. 1. Cabera pusaria. male.

la. „

„ female.

lb.

„ male var. Mr. E. A. Atmore.

1* „

„ female .,

Id.

,, ,, .. Mr. Sydney Webb.

le.

male ..

V. »

.. rotundaria, Mr. E. A.

Atmore.

I.'/-

female.. .. Mr. Gk T.

Porritt.

1/;.

intermediate and

unsymmetrical, Mr. E. A. Atmore.

1*.

larva. Mr. TV. Buckler.

PLATE 273.

R-MorgarL del eblith.

"VmcentBroo^SpDay & Son ''..■

Xj Reeve & C ° Londom

PLATE CCLXXIV.

IG. 1.

Caber;

a exantbemaria, male.

la.

5>

?»

female.

lb.

55

?j

male. var. Mr. Gr. T. Porritt

1c.

,,

55

larva. Mr. W. Buckler.

2

Bapta

temerata,

male.

2a.

>)

55

female.

2b.

i)

'5

var. Mr. Sydney Webb.

2c.

j>

JJ

larva. Mr. W. Buckler.

o
O.

>?

tainmata

. male.

??

•i

female.

3//.

var. Mr. Sydney Webb.

3c.

5 5

larva, 3Ir. W. Buckler.

P LATE' 274

2*

^

•^.^f*D'

R Morgan del.etli.th.

Vincent Brooks,!)^ &SonI/t?-lmp

L Reeve 6c G ° London.

PLATE CCLXXV.

Fig. 1. Aleucis pictaria.

la. „ ,, larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Macaria altemata.

2a. ,, „ var. Mr. S. J. Capper.

2b. ,, ,, ,, Mr. Sydney Webb.

2c. ,, „ larva. Mr. W. Buckler.

o. .. notata. male. Mr. F. C. Woodforde.

3a. ,, ., female

3b. .. ., var.

3c. ., .. larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

rE 275

'W^f

3

^

B.Morgan del

"Vincent BrooksJDay & Sor

L Reeve 8c C? London

PLATE CCLXXVI.

Fig. 1. Macaria litm'ata, male.
la. ,, „ female.

lb. ,, ,, var. Delamere Foret ■>, Mr. F.N. Pierce.

l<: ,. „ larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

2. Halia vvavaria, male.
2a. „ ., female.

2//. ,. .. var.

2c. „ „ „ Mr. Sydney Webb.

— "• >> ?i ii ?• i»

2''. ,, . larva, Mr. W. Buckler.

P1ATE 276.'

2<»/

«/$?§

!v

V^-'

R.Mbrgan. del . et MX

"V<s,Day & Son LtS-Imp.

L. Reeve &- C? London

PLATE CCLXXVII.

Fig. 1.

Egg — magnified-

-of Ourapteryx sambucata

o

,, Rumia cratasgata.

3.

,, Cabera exanthemaria.

4.

,, Bapta taminata.

-
5.

,, Macaria alternata.

6.

,, Halia wauaria.

7.

,, Fidonia atomaria.

8.

,, Numeria pulveraria.

9.

,, Scoria dealbata.

10.

,, Selenia illustraria.

,.,*# From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler.

PLATE 277.

R.WoriSar.lith

"\5nceiitBTooVcs,Day &SonLt Imp

L Reeve &-C° London.

PLATE CCLXXVIII.

FlG. t. Egg — magnified — of Ennomos alniaria.

2. ,, ,, ., „ fuscantaria.

'■'> .. ,, „ „ erosaria.

I. .. ,, ,, ,, angularia.

5. .. .. „ Crocallis elinguaria.

6. ,, ., ., Pericallia syringaria.

7. .. ,, „ Epione apiciaria.

8. .. ,. „ Metrocauipa margaritata.

9. ,, .v, ,, Ellopia fasciaria.
10. .. .. „ Biston hirtaria.

, From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler.

PLATE 278.

R.Morgan. Kth.

VmceritBrooks, Day &. Sort ]

L Reeve &.C9I,o3\don

PLATE CCLXXIX.

Fig. 1.

Egg-

-uiagnified — of Tephrosia biundularia.

2.

,, ,, ,, extersaria.

3.

5> 5

,, punctulata.

4.

>> J

Boarmia rhomboidaria.

5.

Hemerophila abruptaria

6.

5> )

Abraxas ulmata.

7.

5) )

Lomaspilis marginata.

8.

)) )

Phorodesma bajularia.

9.

,, ., Ephyra trilinearia.

10.

i> >

,, ornicronaria.

From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler,

PLATE 279

Vincent Brooks Day&SonLta Imp

L Reeve &.C "London

PLATE CCLXXX.

Fig. 1. Egg — magnified — of Acidalia ochrata.

2. ,, ,, „ ,, promutata.

3. ,. .. ,, Timandra imitaria.

1. .. ,, ,, Coremia pectinitaria.

5. „ .. „ „ mnltistvigaria.

6. ,, ,, ,, Cidaria pyraliata.

7. .. „ ,, ,, testata.

8. ,, ,, .. Camptogramma bilineata,
0. ,, „ ,, Lobophora lobulata.

10. ,. ,, ,, Eubolia bipunctata.

From drawings by Mr. E. Wheeler.

PLATE 280.

:<

> » » » ' ;,

Vincent Brooks Day &Son LtaIn<{>

L Reeve ccCXondon

wm

BBaSi ^^

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES

3 ^Ofifi DD2MS2A3 7

nhent QL555.G7B3
v. 6 The Lepidoptera of the British Is