136 - LEPIDOPTERA. 



able distance. At dusk it flies vigoroush' over the hedges, 

 and over bushes in the more open parts of the woods, con- 

 tinues on the wing into the night, and will often come to tht- 

 sugar placed on tree trunks as a bait for Noctufe. Generally 

 distributed throughout the United Kingdom, and often 

 abundant. Also distributed abroad throughout Central and 

 Northern Europe, Spain, and Italy. 



3. P. semifuscana, Haii:.; piceana, Wilk. — Expanse 

 I to f inch (15-18 mm.). Fore wings elongate, shinint/, grey- 

 brown with an obscure, paler, dorsal blotch, on each side of 

 which is a round dark spot. 



Antenna? and pali:)i pale brown, head and thorax dull 

 brown ; abdomen pale grey-brown. Fore wings elongated, 

 costa folded at the base and strongly arched ; apex blunt, 

 hind margin nearly perpendicular and straight ; almost any 

 shade of brown, but always shining — umbreous, purplish- 

 brown, brownioh drab or ochreous brown; — basal blotch 

 obscure, usually indicated by the base of its outer margin, 

 which is angulated — brown or black — and small fragments 

 of the margin, particularly a cloudy round dot on either side ; 

 central band, when perceptible, reduced to a narrow brown 

 central cloud, and some slender suggestions of extension to 

 the margins ; sometimes a faint cloud lies before the apex ; 

 cilia brown. Hind wings smoky white, cilia whiter. Female 

 similar, but without the costal fold. 



Underside of the fore wings smoky black ; costal and hind 

 margins broadly clouded with pale brown. Hind wings 

 shining yellowish white. 



Variable thi^ough many shades of grej'-brown, golden 

 brown, rosy brown, grey-brown and grey-drab, the usual in- 

 conspicuous markings often absent or obscured ; but in fen 

 districts a foi'm very different from the rest, and on which 

 the original name seuiifuscana seems to have been based, is 

 not at all rare. In it the costal half of the fore wings is dark 



