3o6 LEPIDOPTERA. 



case in Yorkshire in 1891, and again in 1S95. In this last 

 year Mr. G. T. Porritt says : " The most noticeable event of 

 the year was undoubtedly the extraordinary abundance of 

 this species, which occurred in far greater profusion than I 

 have before seen ; the birch-woods seemed alive with it — 

 thousands everywhere. It even found its way into my own, 

 and no doubt all the neighbouring, gardens and houses. A 

 friend picked up twenty-four in his greenhouse, right away 

 from the birch-woods. On some evenings we noticed the 

 females in numbers, depositing their eggs, with the long 

 ovipositor, in the crevices and under the bark, on the trunks 

 of the birch-trees. Earlier in the season twigs of birch, 

 gathered casually for feeding other larvre, had suspccia larvae 

 on them. Until quite recently this larvge was scarcely 

 known." The moth does not seem to have been noticed 

 in this country until the year 1841, when it was discovered 

 near York by the late Mr. T. H. Allis ; and for very many 

 years almost all the specimens obtained were from the same 

 county, especially its southern portion. To all appearance it 

 has recently extended its range, since in 1896 it was found 

 abundantly in the New Forest, Hants, and also by Mr. 

 Woodforde in Salop. There is a single record of its capture 

 at West Wickham, Kent, within a few miles of London ; it 

 is also found locally in Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, in the 

 last named frequenting fens and marshes as well as wooded 

 heaths ; also very locally in Be^ks, and rarely in Gloucester- 

 shire. Passing northward it becomes more generally distri- 

 buted, and has been taken in Warwickshire, Nottingham- 

 shire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and more freely in Cheshire, 

 Lancashire, and Cumberland, as well as in plenty in \ork- 

 shire as previously mentioned. In Wales the only record 

 tliat I find is near Swansea. In Scotland in Roxburghshire, 

 Perthshire, Inverness, Moray, Aberdeenshire, Argyleshire, 

 and the Clyde district. Scarce in Ireland, but it has occurred 

 in Kerry and Wicklow. Abroad it has a wide range — through 

 Northern France, Holland, (iiermany, Hungary, Dalmatia, 



