262 LEP1D0PTERA. 



spun among rubbish, under moss, in crevices of bark, or on the 

 surface of the ground. (C. Fenn.) But Mr. Newman found 

 it to spin up " among oak leaves without descending to the 

 ground " ; and Mr. W. Buckler says that it spins a loose kind 

 of hammock amongst the oak leaves, and therein changes 

 to pupa, from all which we may conclude that it is much 

 influenced in its arrangements for pupation by its surround- 

 ings. 



The winter is passed in the egg state. 



In all probability the moth sits during the day upon the 

 branches and upper portions of the trunks of oak-trees ; it 

 seems rarely to be noticed at that time, yet it is on record 

 that on some afternoons, when the moth is common, it may 

 be seen flying high round the oak-trees long before sunset ; 

 at dusk it flies vigorously round them, sometimes so early as 

 to be distinctly visible without a light, and comes eagerly to 

 sugar on the oak trunks. Here it usually sits down quietly 

 with wings closed, or nearly closed, and showing a stripe of 

 crimson, when it is a beautiful object; but sometimes flies 

 off readily, and requires the net for its capture. Apparently 

 its evening flight is over at about half-past eight or nine 

 o'clock. This magnificent species is one of the especial 

 prizes of that most interesting collecting-ground, the New 

 Forest, Hants. Here in certain years, at quite irregular 

 intervals, it may be taken at sugar by dozens, scores, or even 

 hundreds, while in other years, from no apparent cause, 

 hardly a specimen can be found. I do not know of any other 

 locality in the United Kingdom in which it is ever to be 

 found in plenty ; it is, however, taken occasionally at Win- 

 chelsea and Ewhurst, Sussex ; in Dorset, Oxfordshire, and 

 Suffolk ; and the capture of a specimen has recently been 

 recorded so near to London as Blackheath. Formerly it was 

 more widely distributed ; taken in Richmond Park and Birch 

 Wood, Surrey, also at Windsor and Leatherhead, the woods 

 at Sydenham and Shooter's Hill, Kent, rarely at Darenth 



