34 THE entomologist's eecord. 



Imago. — Hahiis of the imago : — It seems most natural to commence 

 this section with the emergence of the perfect insect. The Rev. 

 Bernard Smith (Entomologist, xx., 290) says that it usually emerges 

 at about 10 p.m., and advises keeping the imago till the follo^ving 

 evening, in order that its wings may dry thoroughly. The next 

 question which arises is, where does fagi hide during the day ? Mr. 

 Holland wrote in 1891 (Ent. Record, ii., 227) that "it was found at all 

 hours of the day, from early morning till dark, on all sides of the tree 

 and at all heights from the ground." As to the first point our experience 

 entirely agrees with that of Mr. Holland. The next point is as to 

 the height from the gi-ound. In the Entomologisfs Monthly Magazine 

 (2nd series, vol, ii. [vol. xxviii.] 236-7), Mr. Holland continuing his 

 former notes on the subject of this species says that " the moths 

 generally rest comfortably within reach, sometimes, however, they are 

 high up," and continues, " occasionally they are found at the foot of the 

 tree." I have made a few notes from our specimens, and the heights 

 from the ground are, I think, fairly correct. They ranged from a mini- 

 mum of about 6 in. (on a projecting root) to a maximum of 20 to 25 ft. 

 The instance in which the distance was only 6 in. was, however, in the 

 case of a specimen which, unfortunately, had one hind wing quite un- 

 developed. The usual height was from 3 to 6 or 7 ft. We now come 

 to a question which seems to have excited a good deal of interest. 

 On what size of tree does fagi most often rest? In his Record 

 article, Mr. Holland stated that three out of four moths were found on 

 small trees, but he did not attach much importance then to this fact, 

 the beech woods at Eeading being, he says, " cut severely, and there 

 are 20 small trees to one of fair size." However, in the August number 

 of the Ent. Mo. Mag., Mr. Holland returns to this question, and says : 

 " Last year I thoiight it was accidental to find Stauropus fagi resting so 

 often on small trees, because we have a large proportion of small trees 

 in our close-cut beech woods. This year, however, it has been my 

 fortune to see more of this species than I have ever seen before, 

 and I find it is not a matter of accident where they rest. They 

 decidedly make a selection of the smaller trees and saplings to sit i;pon. 

 It is unusual to find them — tiie males in particular — on anything larger 

 than a small scaffold jjole, and the more favourite tree is from the size 

 of a hop-polo to that of a walking stick. The small tree need not be a 

 beech, a young ash, thorn, nut-bush, dead stick, in fact, anything 

 which stands upright in the beech-wood will do for fagi, so that it is 

 not too large. The females are not found quite so constantly on young 

 trees, perhaps because they are less active than the males, but when once 

 they have flown, they also seem to prefer the smaller trees." In Epping 

 Forest (at least, in those parts most frequented by this species), the 

 conditions as to size of trees, are almost the exact opposite of those pre- 

 vailing at Reading. The woods are not cut, the trunks are mostly very 

 large and old, and have been polled, though now many years ago, and 

 small saplings are quite the exception. Still we find that 9 out of 19 

 occurred on small trees, i.e., trees smaller than a scaffold pole. Of these 

 nine specimens, six were <?■ 's, and three ? 's ; two of the latter being 

 worn. Mr. Holland, in his article (E. M. M.) still speaking of the 

 preference shown by S. fagi for the small trees, goes on to say " This 

 selection of trees may be a protection to the moth. The trunks of the 

 large beech trees are very smooth and clean, and a large moth like this 



