BOARMID^—ANISOPTERYX. 247 



circumstance seems to have been overlooked that the female 

 is much in the habit of crawling to the outermost spray of a 

 bush before pairing, which occurs late at night, and that in 

 this position it is very easy to sweep both moths off into the 

 net unconsciously ; and also that while so sitting on a twig 

 the wings of the male flutter in any breeze, and deceive the 

 eye in the darkness, so that it appears to be flying when it is 

 not so. This latter circumstance I have myself seen, and I 

 still feel doubt of the ability of the male to carry the female 

 through the air. Certainly nothing can well exceed the 

 sluggishness of the male in this species ; and it, like the 

 female, is readily beaten off the hedge into an umbrella early 

 in the evening and before pairing. 



Common in lanes, fields, orchards, and garden hedges over 

 the whole of England, and doubtless throughout Wales ; but 

 apparently not extending beyond Perthshire and the Clyde 

 Valley in Scotland. In Ireland recorded from many localities, 

 and probably to be found everywhere. Abroad its range is 

 over the greater portion of Central Europe, Northern Italy, 

 and Armenia. 



Genus 38. ANISOPTERYX. 



Antennas of the male thinly subpectinated with bristle-like 

 teeth ; palpi minute ; head rough ; thorax smooth, but 

 shoulder-lai3pets a little raised ; abdomen slender, smooth ; 

 fore wings thin, narrow, long, almost triangular, laid one upon 

 the other when at rest; hind wings long, weak, aud thin. 

 Female apterous. 



We have but one species. 



1. A. aescularia, Bcliiff. — Expanse of the male 1-^ to \\ 

 inch. Fore wings long, triangular, silky, thinly scaled, pale 

 grey-brown ; the two transverse lines smoky-black edged 

 with yellowish-white, the second rippled ; hind wings silky- 

 white. Female apterous, and bavin g a large anal tuft. 



Antennae of the male hardly pectinated, strongly notched 



