TRIFIDjE. io i 



July and August (which in warmer climates is constant), on 

 stinging-nettle and dead-nettle (Lamium). Reported also 

 to feed upon Salvia, Echium, and Marrubium abroad, and 

 Mr. Stainton gives thistle as a food-plant. It hybernates 

 when quite small, among dead leaves upon the ground. 



Pupa black-brown, and provided with a long tongue-case. 

 In a soft silken cocoon. (Hofmann.) 



The moth hides usually during the day among herbage, 

 but has been observed to fly in hot sunshine and even to 

 bask on sunny walls. Its ordinary flight is at early dusk, 

 and again at about 10 p.m., and it is strongly attracted by 

 the blossoms of Ballota nigra and other Labiates, as well as 

 by those of campion, thistle, garden-flowers, and probably any 

 honey-producing blossoms available. It also flies about beds 

 of nettles, and is a constant frequenter of weedy lanes, hedge- 

 sides, and rank ditches, as well as cultivated ground. Appa- 

 rently found all over England and in many districts in 

 abundance ; doubtless also in suitable places throughout 

 Wales, since I have taken it in Pembrokeshire. In Scotland 

 it is plentiful on some parts of the East coast, particularly in 

 Kincardineshire ; found also in the South in Wigtonshire, in 

 the West in Ayrshire, Renfrew, Arran and elsewhere in 

 Argyleshire ; locally abundant in Perthshire, and extending to 

 Moray and Sutherlandshire, but apparently not to the Isles. 

 In Ireland generally distributed and often abundant. Abroad 

 its range extends through Northern and Central Europe, Italy, 

 Sardinia, Russia, Southern and Eastern Turkey, Armenia, 

 Tartary, Japan, and the mountainous regions of Central Asia. 



(P. aurifera, Hub. — A very handsome species, fore wings 

 purplish-brown, with a large brilliant golden stripe or blotch, 

 commencing as a point at the middle of the first line, widening 

 gradually, then suddenly, until it occupies the whole hind 

 marginal space. It is figured as British by Humphrey and 

 Westwood, Mr. J. F. Stephens having recorded the capture 



