TRIFID&. 43 



Only a little variable in the intensity of the dusting of black, 

 and of the flush of purple, or of grey, in the ground colour, as 

 already suggested, but in some specimens the stigmata are 

 tinged with purplish-red rather than grey, or the longitudinal 

 stripe of black atoms partially disappears. 



On the wing in March and April. 



Larva elongated and much attenuated at each extremity ; 

 anal prolegs projecting backward; twelfth segment raised 

 into a slight hump ; head rounded, pale brown ; body ochre- 

 ous with the back slightly darker ; dorsal line paler and most 

 conspicuous on the head, second, twelfth, and thirteenth 

 segments, where it is edged with black ; it divides a very 

 faint dorsal diamond pattern ; subdorsal lines slender, pale 

 brown ; spiracular lines darker ; spiracles black ; undersurface 

 furnished with a darker central line and a black spot on each 

 segment. (0. Fenn.) Mr. Buckler's figures vary from pale 

 drab to pale brownish-slate colour, with darker stripes, or with 

 a black spiracular line. A singular-looking larva, appearing 

 as though stretched out to the utmost ; when young it is said 

 to have two pairs of anterior prolegs ill-developed, and to 

 have a habit of resting with all the anterior segments raised 

 straight from the surface on which it is placed, in the manner 

 of a larva of one of the Geometridrv. 



May to the beginning of July on honeysuckle, feeding at 

 night, hiding during the day upon the stem of the plant. 



Pupa rather elongated, tapering very suddenly toward the 

 anal extremity, which is furnished with a short blunt pro- 

 jection ; dark mahogany-colour ; abdomen slightly paler. On 

 or under the surface of the earth in a very hard, egg-shaped, 

 shell-like cocoon of silk covered with earth, usually attached 

 to a root or a stone. (0. Fenn.) 



The moth sits in the daytime upon tree-trunks or palings, 

 where honeysuckle is growing ; and in some districts, as in 

 South Wales, particularly affects the substantial wall-piers of 



