354 LEPIDOPTERA. 



Pupa naked, beaked, rather angular, slender, surface 

 dulled, pink or green, or pale grey, with or without pink or 

 red longitudinal dorsal stripes, and reddish clouding. In the 

 cavity at the base of a seed-head of coltsfoot, excavated by 

 the larva, with the terminal pappus drawn together ; or in 

 the second generation attached to the stem of the plant. 

 The covers of the antennas and legs are detached, in part, on 

 the emergence of the moth. 



The moth hides during the day among the coltsfoot, well 

 concealed, and sheltered by the large leaves, and if aroused 

 is unwilling to move to any distance, scrambling hastily 

 down among the herbage to the ground ; yet in the late 

 afternoon is more lively, and towards sunset flies freely about 

 railway banks, rough fields, and waste places; later at night 

 leaving the coltsfoot beds, to roam more widely, and very 

 often to come to a lighted window or a gas lamp. Often a 

 specimen may be found in the morning in some unexpected 

 place, away from its natural haunts, as though it had lost its 

 way. Still common in the suburbs of Loudon, where the 

 coltsfoot grows on railway banks, or the embankments of 

 waterworks; and to be found commonly in suitable places 

 throughout England ; probably also Wales, though the only 

 records seem to be in Pembrokeshire, and at Penmaenmawr, 

 Carnarvonshire. In Scotland it occurs in Berwickshire, 

 Fife, Lanark, Dumbartonshire, and elsewhere in the Clj'de 

 Valley ; in Perthshire ; and rarely in Aberdeenshire, but 

 apparently not farther north, nor in the Isles. In Ireland it 

 is common about Dublin, in Kerry, and in the north near 

 Belfast and Armagh, and is probably generally distri- 

 buted. 



Abroad it has a more wide distribution than some of the 

 allied species, being found through Central Europe, the 

 temperate portions of Northern Europe, including Norway ; 

 South-east France, Central Italy, Southern and Eastern 

 Russia, and Bithynia. 



