4ifi l.i:i'IIK)l>TERA. 



Ilatly. Ill tills position it cxliibits one of tin- most curious 

 cases of protpctive resemblancL' within my knowledge. The 

 seed pods ol' tlie broom, wlien tliey open to let fall the seed, 

 remain persistently upon the plant, wide open and lying back 

 so that the silky inner surface with its hollows where the 

 seeds have lain is visible, and indeed conspicuous, on every 

 broom bush. 'J'o those pods the moths when sitting ou the 

 bushes at night, bear the most striking resemblance, their 

 wings being placed in precisely the same plane, so that the 

 body separating the wings answers to the long hinge of the 

 pod, the yellow-white longitudinal stripe, to the glossy line 

 of reflected light ; while the hollows from which the seeds 

 have fallen are exactly imitated by the ovate shades or vague 

 spots on the fore wings. This I have often seen, and with 

 undiminished wonder, when searching the bushes at night 

 with a lantern. 



A widely distributed species in I'lngland. rqipan-ntly to Le 

 found wherever broom abounds : but in Wales I have but 

 two records in Denbighshire and (llamorganshire. In Scot- 

 land it is found in Berwickshire, Jvoxburghshire, Ayrshire, 

 ivenfrew, Stirlingshire, I'erthshire, Aberdeenshire, Uoss- 

 shire, and .Moray ; in Freland ap])aiently very local, but re- 

 corded in Monaghan and also in Derry. Abroad its range 

 extends through Central and ^\'estern l']iiro])e including (ier- 

 many. Switzerland, Northern Italy and Spain. 



-. C. obliqiiaria, Srliiff. -. rufata. Sinnd. Vol. — Expanse 

 1 I inch. Fore wings narrowly oval, pale shining grey tinged 

 with fulvous, beyond the midille is a pale reddish-fulvous 

 band edged inwardly with black. Hind wings narrow, pale 

 smoky brown. 



Antenna; of the male simple, naked but faintly downy in 

 front, brown ; palpi rather prominent, dark brown, whiter 

 above ; face covered witii a ])rotuberant mass of grey and 

 white scales dusted with ])lack- and brown : head, neck-ridge 

 and front of the thorax white, dusted with bright brown; 



