4o6 LIll'IDOI'TERA. 



The moth loves to sit during the day upon the smooth bark 

 of a sycamore, holly, or pine tree, and upon the two former 

 it is, while fresh, wonderfully protected by its close resem- 

 blance to their patches of colour and of lichens. So accurate 

 is this that I have stood before a tree and pointed out a 

 specimen to a friend, not having an entomological training, 

 who, at a yard's distance, was (|uite unable to see it. 

 On the fir-trees where hollies abound it is far less careful of 

 itself and is sufficiently cons])icuous. It is rather sluggish, 

 anil if disturbed will only tly to the ground at a short distance, 

 or drift away if the wind is rough. AN'hether it is from its 

 peculiar colour, or rather colours, as it fades, or from its 

 triangular form as it sits on the tree with wings closely back 

 and covering the abdomen, I know of uo Ccomririi which is 

 more instanth' recognisable when at rest than this. At dusk- 

 it Hies around its favourite trees, but is then hard to see. 

 .\t night it comes willingl}- to a strong light. 



Formerly it was taken so close to the London outskirts as 

 Norwood, I'utne}- Heath and Wimbledon, and it still exists 

 pretty commonly, though locally, in Surrey, Kent, Snsse.x, 

 Hants, ^\'ilts. Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Gloucester- 

 shire, Bucks, l>erks, O.xfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk 

 and rambridgeshire. though in the Kastern Counties it is 

 more infrequent ; in the Midlands it is found in Leicester- 

 shire, and in abundance about the hollies of Sutton Parle, 

 near I'irminghain, also very locally in StaUbrdsbire ; more 

 frequent in the west in Herefordshire, and in Cheshire, Lan- 

 cashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, also in Yorkshire, 

 and rarely in Durham and Northumberland. Probably 

 throughout ^\'ales, since it is recorded in the northern portion, 

 and in Glamorganshire and r'armarthenshire in the south, 

 while in Pembrolceshire it is common about the ivy on the 

 walls of the ancient ruined (-astles. and I found it (juite at 

 homo in little shrubberies at the backs of the houses in 

 l'embio]<e. In Scotland it is apjiarently very rare, Dr. F. 

 ituchanau White includeil it in his List as occurrino; in the- 



