no LEPWOPTERA. 



back ; before the pale patch is a black dorsal spot ; subdorsal 

 lines white or yellow, exceedingly fine, most distinct on the 

 fifth and sixth segments ; subdorsal siiots small, conspicuously 

 white, edged with velvety-black ; usual raised dots black ; 

 undersurface bluish-white faintly tinged with lilac, and with 

 two obliquely placed black blotches on each segment; or 

 with a broad blackish central stri})e, containing two pale 

 threads. (C. Fenn.) 



May till the beginning of July, on Salix phylicifolia — one 

 of the dwarf willows — also upon dwarf sallow, birch, and 

 aspen, and in confinement on weeping willow. 



Pupa very lively ; spun u]> among the leaves of its food- 

 plant ; apparently undescribed. 



The winter is passed in the egg-state. 



The male moth flies in the ear-ly morning sunshine, and 

 again at evening dusk, and late at night ; the female is much 

 more sluggish, hardly ever seen on the wing and only occa- 

 sionally captured sitting upou the leaves of its food-plant ; 

 but having no personal experience I am inclined to quote the 

 remarks of one of my earliest friends and co-workers, the 

 late Mr. Edwin Birchall. " I had the pleasure lately, of 

 visiting, near York, the only English station of Epioiu 

 vespertaria. A flat boggy moor, covered with dwarf sallow 

 bushes and ling, and scattered Norway pines, looks and feels 

 a dreary place soon after sunrise ; the aspect of nature varies 

 with our own changing moods, and even fine scenery has no 

 charm for a sleepy man. But it is vespertaria s chosen place 

 and hour ; about 7 a.m. the first specimen is seen on the 

 wing, another and another rises, and presently the whole 

 beath is alive with the brilliant little orange moths. By 

 9 A.M. the numbers are sensibly fewer, and soon not one is to 

 he seen, the flight is over for the day. All the insects on the 

 wing were males; the female may be occasionally found 

 ghaugin to a twig of sallow, but seems never, or rarely, to 

 take flight. No disproportion of the sexes, however, exists • 



