SOCIETIES. 



83 



possibly exert a certain influence in some seasons. The day on which 

 we found the single <? in 189U, was an example of such a change, the 

 afternoon turning very cold, snow and hail falling fast, and benig driven 

 by a strong N.W. wind into the crevices of the bark. I have been told 

 by friends who have reared the species, that tlie larva is very subject to 

 the attacks of Ichneamonidae, Tachinidae, etc., but we know so lit,tle as to 

 the relative abundance or scarcity of these parasites, that their influence 

 must, I am afraid, remain an undetermined factor. 



Eispidaria is, I am given to understand, a very prolific insect, but 

 it seems no marvel, when we consider the perils through which it has 

 to pass, that so few reach maturity. The ova have to withstand the 

 attacks of tits, creepers, spiders, &c.— By the way, the Faridae seem to 

 find the forest tree-trunks a prime feeding ground in the winter months ; 

 they rove through the woods in large flocks. — The larvae have to run the 

 gauntlet of the inclemency of our springs, of lehneumonidae, Tachinidne, 

 birds, and other enemies ; the pupa? are beloved by the mole ; the imago 

 emerges in a month so cheerless as is our customary February, and in a 

 very dry or frosty season might even be unable to reach the surface. 

 Our friends (or enemies) the tits may often be observed during the 

 winter months searching on the ground and about the roots of the 

 trees, and no doubt many a $ falls to their lot. But the prolificness of 

 the species would render probable its appearance in unusual numbers, 

 whenever the attentions of its numerous enemies was in any degree 

 relaxed, or meteorological conditions were unusually favourable. It 

 may be interesting to note in passing that another moth, Taeniocampa 

 munda, was much more, abundant than usual in the early part of 1893. 

 Since 1890, this moth has been far from common, but last spring it 

 might have been captured by hundreds at the sallows. Its larva feeds 

 on oak, and undergoes pupation at the base of the tree, favouring 

 similar situations to N. Mspidaria. I fear, however, that we cannot 

 arrive at any very definite conclusions as to the causes of the pheno- 

 menal abundance of the last-named species last year. The only really 

 determinable among the, perhaps, many determining causes, appears to 

 be the favourable spring of 1892 for the development of the larva}, and 

 the equally favourable February of 1893, for the emergence of the 

 perfect insect. 



Uispidaria is a Vienna Catalogue, name but, as that work contains no de- 

 scription of the insect, we take the following, made from Schiifermiiller's 

 specimens by Fabricius {Mant. Insect., ii, p. 191, no. 59), as the type, 

 " Phalaena pectinicornis alis cinereo-fuscis : striga undata obscuriore, 

 margine alba punctate, antennis flavis. Nimis aifinis P. hirtariae at 

 paullo minor. Corpus hirtum griseo-fuscum. Antennas flav;e.' Ala? 

 obscuraj striga media undata obscuriore. Margo albo punctatus." 

 Iliilmer (Sariiml. europ. Schmett., iv., fig. 177), figures the insect as pale 

 brown (not greenish), the fore wings with three and the hind wings 

 with two transverse lines. Inferior wings, pale ; outer margin of fore 

 wings, yellowish-white. Treitsclike {Srlnuet. v. Enrnp., vi., 1, -547), 

 seems to have been the first author to mention the 2 ; to a diagnosis 

 similar to that of Fabricius he adds " foemina aptera." Duponchel 

 {Hist. Nat., vii., 154, 3), describes the fore wings as being of a rather 

 dark bistre, with a band of a clearer tint at the outer margin, traversed 

 by three blackish diverging lines, of which two are curved and the 

 third is sinuous and toothed ; and the hind wings as being pale bistre. 



