354 I.EPIDOPTERA. 



niarldiins : in the iiortli the groiiml colour is occasionalU- 

 almost wliite. 



On the wing from .lune till August, in one generation. 



Lauva sluggish, nearly cylindrical, but with the hinder 

 segments rather attenuated ; slate-grey, the divisions paler ; 

 raised dots large, black, and ver}- prominent ; head flat and 

 rather broad, jet black, as also are the plates and feet. 



May and June, on larch, drawing together the needle-like 

 leaves into a bundle united around a silken tube, and eating 

 down the leaves from the tip to the same extent all round 

 until the bunch becomes extremely short, when it attacks 

 another tuft of leaves. Sometimes also on Scotch fir, spin- 

 ning together the brown scales at the base of the leaves, 

 eating the latter from the tips down ; also occasionally on 

 silver fir. Where common it greatlj^ disfigures the larches, 

 the infested tufts becoming of a red-brown colour. 



Pita light brown or chestnut, wing and limb covers 

 glossy ; segments dull, each with two ridges of spines ; 

 cremaster short and blunt, furnished with cui'ved spines ; in 

 a silken cocoon on the ground among the fallen needles. 



The moth sits during the day on larch trees, from which it 

 may easily be beaten out; and induced to fly; and may 

 sometimes be swept off the dead twigs. At dusk it flies over 

 the same trees of its own accord ; and later at night will 

 come to a strong light. Apparently it was discovered in 

 this country about 1846, and was then very rare; now it 

 has found its way, wherever there is larch, all over England 

 and the south of Scotland to Perthshire, becoming, in some 

 northern localities, very common ; but in Ireland I have 

 only a record in Antrim ; and I cannot find that it has been 

 noticed in Wales — where it must occur. Abroad it is common 

 in Northern Europe and the Alpine districts of Central 

 Europe, also in Siberia : and in North America in New 

 York State, and Wisconsin. 



