SERICORID^—SPILONOTA. 19 



Larva apparently undescribed. Treitschke says that it 

 is very similar to that of S. roborana, but smaller. There 

 can be no doubt that the smaller forms feed upon Rosa 

 spinosissima on the coast ; the larger are said to substitute 

 Hosa canina. I strongly doubt its feeding on birch, 

 with us. 



Pupa light brown with darker wing cases (Treitschke). 



The moth seems to hide always among rose of some 

 species; on the sea sandhills in abundance in the great beds 

 of the pretty little burnet-rose (Bosa spinosissima), springing 

 up and flitting away in numbers from the footstep in the 

 afternoon ; inland, usually in chalk districts, among Rosa 

 micrantha, R. riibiginosa, and R. canina. When disturbed 

 it flies but a short distance to settle again among rose ; but 

 at sunset begins to move about of its own will, and may 

 sometimes then be seen buzzing about in hundreds ; and 

 continuing its flight till darkness hides it from view. The 

 scarce, inland, larger form is found in Epping Forest, Essex, 

 on Box Hill, and elsewhere in Surrey and Sussex ; and 

 rarely in Norfolk, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire ; the 

 small coast form in Dorset, Cornwall, Cheshire, Lancashire, 

 Westmoreland, Durham and Cumberland ; in South Wales 

 in Glamorganshire, and in North Wales at Conway Bay, and 

 Llandudno ; while a larger — intermediate — form is common 

 on the Pembroke coast. In Ireland the small varieties 

 abound at the Hill of Houth and at Malahide on the Dublin 

 coast near Cork, and on the sandhills of Down and Derry ; 

 but I find no record in Scotland. 



Abroad its range extends over Central and Southern 

 Europe, Finland, Livonia, Asia Minor, Southern Siberia, 

 and the trans-Caspian region. 



