2J6 LEPIDOPTERA. 



with short hairs ; head black, blackisli-browii or brown ; 

 dorsal plate shining jet black ; anal plate yellowish-green ; 

 legs black. 



July and August on Mijrica (jah, drawing the terminal 

 leaves neatly together and eating out the heart ; feeding 

 equally well upon sallow {Salix cajyrea). Also reared upon 

 Spircca uhnaria, and on Salix rcpens and Populu.s alba. 



Pupa dark brown ; in a silken cocoon among dead leaves 

 and rubbish on the ground, or in the earth. 



The moth hides itself among sweet gale, dwarf sallow, or 

 other low-growing plants near the ground ; but in the after- 

 noon creeps up and sits on their tops or on those of brake 

 tern, flying gently about as the evening advances. It used 

 to be found on Wimbledon Common, Surrey, but has, I fear, 

 been exterminated there ; still to be found in the New 

 Forest, Hants, in Sussex, Wilts, Dorset, and East Cornwall ; 

 also in Essex, Norfolk, Berks, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, 

 Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland ; 

 and at Tan-y-bwlch, North Wales. More plentiful in Scot- 

 land ; very so at Bute and Arran, also in lienfrew, the 

 Edinburgh district, Perthshire, and Moray. There is a 

 single record in Ireland, at Ballincar, Sligo, which very 

 probably is correct. Abroad it is found in France, Germany, 

 Switzerland, Northern Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Northern 

 Russia. 



11. P. sponsana, Fab.; favillaceana, Hub. Wilk.— 

 Expanse f to § inch (18-22 nun.). Fore wings unusually 

 broad and blunt, slate-grey or pale grey, often with a large 

 tawny costal triangle crossing the wing. 



Antennas and palpi dull slate-brown ; head and thorax 

 purplish-grey ; abdomen dull brown, the anal tuft yellowish- 

 brown. Fore wings broad ; costa arched throughout ; apex 

 bluntly angulated ; pale slate-grey or whitish grey, occa- 

 sionally with some rufous clouding ; basal blotch sometimes 

 ^'^^gssted by a line or some grey dots from the costa; 



