SERICORIDJ£S TE GA NOP T J 'CHA . 93 



the beating-stick in multitudes, and most confusing from its 

 variation in colour and depth of markings. Towards dusk 

 it flies voluntarily about the branches of trees and the tops 

 of hedges. In Scotland it seems to frequent the Lowlands 

 everywhere, but it is hardly recorded beyond Perthshire ; in 

 Ireland recorded from Cork, but more commonly from 

 Antrim, Sligo, and Enniskillen. Abroad it is plentiful all 

 over Central and Northern Europe, the south of Spain, and 

 of Italy. 



11. S. geminana, Steph. — Expanse h to |- inch (12-15 

 mm.) Fore wings rather short and blunt, j^ale silvery grey 

 with the broad basal blotch, narrow central band, and apical 

 spots reddish brown or slate brown. 



Antennse deep brown ; palpi, head, and thorax dull brown 

 or brownish drab ; abdomen grey-brown ; fore wings shorter 

 and broader than in the last species, costa arched, apex 

 minutely pointed and projecting ; hind margin filled out ; 

 pale silvery grey ; basal blotch reddish brown, extended on 

 the dorsal margin, its edge outwardly squarely angulated and 

 very oblique back to the costa ; central band slender and 

 oblique, hardly defined, reddish brown, its colour extended 

 on the costa to the apex ; ocellus obscure, very large, but 

 almost immaculate ; costa dotted with white ; cilia grey. 

 Hind wings and their cilia pale smoky brown. Female 

 similar. 



Underside of the fore wings leaden black ; costa dotted, 

 and cilia shaded, with white. Hind wings leaden grey. 



Only a very little variable, and this in the depth of the 

 ground colour. Very similar to the last species, but with 

 broader and more ovate fore wings. 



On the wing from the end of June till August. 



Larva active, cylindrical, dusky pale yellow strongly 

 tinged on the back with grey-green and showing a darker 



