SERICORID^—SPILONOTA. 17 



Antennte notched, ciliated, dark brown ; palpi, head, and 

 thorax blackish brown ; abdomen pale browu. Fore wings 

 rather elongated, costa arched beyond the middle, apex 

 bluntly angulated ; white obscured by much grey clouding ; 

 basal blotch large, black-brown, its outer edge erect and 

 faintly curved ; a tall irregular brown spot on the dorsal 

 margin is formed into a large blotch, or ocellus, by an 

 edging and clouding of grey enclosing lustrous lines ; apex 

 black-brown edged by a broad curved chestnut-brown stripe 

 or line, which meanders to the anal angle ; in its costal 

 portion are three pairs of white dots ; cilia black-brown. 

 Hind wings and their cilia smoky brown. Female similar, 

 but without the costal fold. 



Underside of the fore wings dark smoky brown, with faint 

 white costal dots. Hind wings pale smoky brown. 



On the wing from the end of May till July. 



Larva short and obese, tapering to both ends from near 

 the middle ; liver-brown, tinged with greenish brown, some- 

 times yellowish beneath ; head light brown ; dorsal plate 

 black ; anal plate dull yellow. 



April and May on hawthorn, in the young shoots, drawing 

 the leaves together and eating out the heart; preferring a 

 strong terminal shoot which shows the distortion very little, 

 and usually one which is placed high up in the bush ; moving 

 readily from shoot to shoot, but when full-fed leaving it to 

 spin up among rubbish. 



Pupa light red-brown ; rather short and stout ; anal 

 segment very blunt and rounded ; abdominal spines few 

 and short. In the larval habitation. 



The moth hides itself in tall hawthorn hedges, and is 

 rather sluggish, flying unwillingly when disturbed, but 

 much more active toward dusk. Common throughout the 

 southern half of England, including the eastern counties, 

 where it is plentiful ; also found less frequently in Stafford- 



VOL. XI. B 



