"Sr^ LEPIDOPTERA 



; So. far as I jim an'ai'e, this is the usual form 'of the spebies 

 ta,ken in thi^ country^ but' on the Continent it appears to be 

 more usually of a yellower colour and more like X. gilvdgo ; 

 .while, in its Asiatic, range, t)f the' more orange-brown, uni- 

 formly coloured variety described aboye. This is known as var; 

 iincccffo, arid it is;; exceedingly remarkable tjiat our few speci- 

 mens should so' much more closely resemble Eastern examples 

 Jbhan . those of the adjacent European countries. Possibly 

 there is a good deal to be learned as to its range and 

 Variation — certainly the dealers in Lepidoptera abroad are 

 ^'ery apt to send over X. yilvago by mistake for this species. 

 The difficulty is complicated, with them, by the existence 

 abroad of a pale yellow form of the present species, sometimes 

 called var. pallcago. - 



On the wing in September. : - 



., Larva, according to Rossler, yeliowish-gr^y with black 

 dorsal dots. When young in the catkins of poplars, when 

 older hidipg in the daytime under fallen leaves upon the 

 ground, and feeding upon low -growing plants. But hardly 

 anything is really known of this . larva : it has not been 

 noticed here, and Rossler seems to confound it with that 

 oi-X. gilvqgo and to doubt their distinctness as species. 

 Guenee, says that, the larva of the present species lives in 

 &wc?s of poplar. - . . ,. ..„.-.?: -- 



- Pupa undesdribed. i • ^ j . : . ; ' :: ': : : j..( ;; ■ ■ . 



, Of the moth scarcely anything is knowii in this country 

 except that it will come to sugar, and to light, at night. As 

 already noted under the last species, the present was recorded 

 as British in 1857 and in following years, the specimens so 

 noticed having been taken near Brighton ; but these were 

 all subsequently proved to be yellow varieties oi X. gilvdgo. 

 The first actual British specimens of the species now under 

 consideration were one taken in September 1893, by Mr. E. H. 

 Taylor at sugar at Wimbledon Common, and two others by 



