BOARMID.^—ENNOMOS. 63 



uarily wrinkled, apparently furnislied with a tuft of hooked 

 bristles, which are thrust so firmly into the silk of its cocoon 

 that they are not easy to examine. In a loose but tough 

 silken cocoon among fallen leaves or moss, on the ground, 

 or among blades of grass growing in the corners of tree- 

 roots. 



The winter is passed in the egg-state. 



The moth sits by day in thick bushes of alder or birch, its 

 wings raised but not perpendicular, and its general appear- 

 ance that of a yellow withered leaf. At late dusk it flies, and 

 is strongly attracted at night by a light, so as sometimes even 

 to fly to a lantern in the hand, or it will then show great 

 excitement, dashing wildly about among the trees. Its 

 favourite haunts are marshy places where alder is plentiful, 

 but it is generally distributed about the outskirts of woods 

 and over country districts where trees abound, being still to 

 be taken occasionally in the outskirts of London, attracted by 

 the gas-lamps; formerly it was almost common in the 

 suburbs. Never abundant, but moderately common in the 

 Eastern Counties, and almost throughout England in suitable 

 places, though as yet I find no record in Cornwall, and those 

 which exist for the North show it to be extremely scarce in 

 Northumberland and Cumberland. In Wales it is found in 

 Glamorganshire, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire, and 

 cannot well be quite absent from the more northern portions ; 

 indeed, Lord Boston has found it in Anglesey. In Scotland, 

 rare in Roxburghshire, Ayrshire, Argyleshire, Inverness, and 

 Moray, and once taken near Hawick. Rather local in Ire- 

 land, but has been obtained in Wicklow, Waterford, Kildare, 

 Westmeath, and Fermanagh, so probably occurs rarely in 

 other districts. Abroad it is found throughout Central 

 Europe, Northern Italy, and Livonia ; and in Sweden. 



3. E. fuscantaria, ^«?r._Expanse If to If inch. For 

 wings with a very square projection at the hind margin ; hind 

 wings with a projection like a very short tail ; thorax and all 



•e 



