33S LEPIDOPTERA. 



black ; beyond it is a slender similar transverse line or 

 stripe ; hind margin tinged with smoke-colour ; cilia pale 

 yellow. Body and legs pale ochi'eous. 



Variable in the ground colour of the fore wings from pale 

 yellow to pale fulvous, brownish-buff, or even greyish-bufF ; 

 and in the intensity of the markings, which commonly are 

 rather faint, often very so, but on the other hand, in some 

 individuals extremely distinct, the two transverse slender 

 stripes especially so, or in addition all the lines and the 

 ncrvures strongly coloured. This last tendency is conspi 

 cuous in specimens from South Wales ; and in examples in 

 the collections of Mr. G. T. Porritt and Dr. H. H. Corbett, all 

 taken in South Yorkshire, it is so intensified that the central 

 shade is broadly dark purple, and the lines of the same 

 colour. On the other hand, another specimen from the same 

 district is of a rich ochreous colour with hardly a trace of 

 markings. 



On the wing at the end of August and in September and 

 October. 



Larva rather thick and plump, especially behind the middle, 

 tapering a little gradually toward the head, and a very little at 

 the anal segment ; head reddish-brown ; dorsal plate blackish- 

 brown, rounded behind ; body brown or ochreous-brown ; 

 dorsal line either entire or interrupted in the middle of each 

 segment by dark purplish-brown markings of an urn-shape 

 and narrowed behind ; subdorsal lines paler than the ground 

 colour, often suffused at the end, but visible at the beginning 

 of each segment, and there edged above by a strong black- 

 brown streak; spiracular stripe yellowish-grey, its upper 

 margin still paler; spiracles black, surrounded by mottling 

 of purplish-brown; undersurface and legs yellowish-grey. 

 The subdorsal and spiracular lines are visible through the 

 sides of the dorsal plate, but are often obscured by darker 

 colour on the third and fourth segments. 



March or April to June on wych-elm {Ulmus montana) 



