Fabricius and other writers have occasioned so much con- 

 fusion by altering and transposing specific names, that it fre- 

 quently happens in sending to the continent for a species, in- 

 stead of receiving the one desired, another of no value in this 

 country is transmitted to us : it was owing to such a misunder- 

 standing that the beautiful moth now represented has not ap- 

 peared earlier in this work, for I wrote to a correspondent in 

 Germany for a specimen to dissect, but instead of D. Orion I 

 received specimens of Misdia aprilina, of which I had an 

 abundance before. I was therefore happy to adopt Esper's 

 name in my Guide, hoping that it may at once enable all 

 Lepidopterists to identify this rare and handsome moth. 



In the markings of the sunerior winjrs our ffenus resembles 

 Acronycta, (pi. 136.) and some of the larvae are similar, but 

 in habit the moth seems to approach Thyatira, and the inferior 

 wings have the same peculiar anal strigae as characterize Miselia 

 (pi. 177.). There is however a good character of distinction 

 to be found in the palpi, the basal joint is longer than usual, 

 (Mr. Stephens says it is very minute,) and the 3rd does not 

 form an angle with the 2nd, but is porrected in the same line. 



The moths vary so considerably, that Dr. Leach thought 

 there were two species, and the caterpillars of Sepp and 

 Hiibner are sufficiently dissimilar to justify such an opinion ; 

 but as all the males that I have seen have had much fewer 

 black marks on the upper wings than the females, I am in- 

 clined to think the difference merely sexual. 



A few years since this moth used to be sold for 305. a spe- 

 cimen ; but the indefatigable researches of entomologists have 

 been attended with so much success, that there are few cabinets 

 of the present day that do not contain this lovely insect, which 

 was first discovered in Britain by the late Duchess of Portland. 



We learn from Godart that the caterpillar is found in Sep- 

 tember upon the Oak, Birch and Beech, and is full fed in Oc- 

 tober, when it buries itself in the earth to become a pupa, and 

 the moth is hatched the end of the following spring. Mr. Dale 

 informs me that Mr. Cocks of High Bickington in Devon, 

 has found the larvae from the 3rd of September to the beginning 

 of October ; Dr. Abbot also found the caterpillar near 13edford 

 the 26tli August. The moth is generally observed on the 

 trunks of trees in May or the beginning of June. Mr. Standish 

 I believe has often met with them in Birch-wood : for my spe- 

 cimen I am indebted to Mr. C. A. Johnson, who received it 

 from Ipswich ; others I believe have been taken by Dr. Leach 

 at Woodlands, near Plymouth, and Oakhampton Park, So- 

 mersetshire. 



The Plant is Fumaria officinalis (Common Fumitory). 



