86 LEPIDOPTERA. 



cocoon of shining white silk, which lines a chamber made by 

 drawing together the edges of a leaf, or between two leaves, 

 or among ddhris or moss, on or just under the surface of the 

 ground. 



In this state through the winter. 



The moth sits during the day on the branches of trees or 

 in bushes, sometimes, indeed, quite conspicuously upon the 

 top of a bush, as though well aware that, from the peculiar 

 rich brown and reddish colouring of its wings, their unusual 

 shape, and its position with wings half raised or more, it 

 presents one of the most interesting instances which we have 

 of deceptive resemblance to a dead and crumpled leaf. At 

 dusk it flies quietly about bushes and sometimes even hedges, 

 and is, in both sexes, in some small degree attracted by light 

 on a dark night. A local species and usually scarce, and 

 perhaps most frequent in extensive woods, yet I have taken 

 it in a garden, and it is not very unfrequent on wooded heaths. 

 It has been taken, more or less uncommonly, and far more 

 often as a larva than in the perfect state, in Kent, Surrey, 

 Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Wilts, Berks, Bucks, 

 Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Hunts, Cambs, 

 and Essex ; very rarely in Cornwall, and rather so in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk. A single example is recorded each from Derby- 

 shire and AVarwickshire, and it has been taken in Salo]x 

 AVestmoreland, and Cumberland. In Wales it has been found 

 in the south, at Swansea and Pembroke. In Dr. Buchanan 

 White s Lid of Scottish Lepidoptera, it is recorded as occurring- 

 at Eanuoch, Perthshire, but no particulars are given, and 

 confirmation seems desirable. It does not seem to be found 

 in Ireland. Abroad it has a wide distribution, through 

 Central Europe, Northern Italj^, Dalmatia, Livonia, Finland, 

 Southern and Eastern Russia, and Japan — by which may be 

 inferred also some distribution in Central Asia. 



This species has been made the subject of certain experi- 

 ments which are of an interest too great to be here ignored. 



