58 LEPIDOPTERA. 



side ; colour bright red-brown. In a very brittle earthen 

 cocoon under the surface of the ground. 



The moth doubtless hides in the daytime among dead 

 leaves and herbage on the ground ; but it is veiy rarely, 

 if ever, captured by daylight. At dusk it flies actively 

 and is readily attracted by sugar, yet restless under 

 observation and very apt to fly off or dart to the ground 

 and hide itself. It may also be taken occasionally at 

 blossoms of wood-sage, ragwort, and rushes in damp woods ; 

 and occasionally at light. It is a local and far from common 

 species, almost wholly contined to woods, especially those in 

 which birch is plentiful. In such situations it is not rare in 

 Surrey, occurring even so near to London as Richmond Park, 

 also in Kent, Sussex, Hants, and Dorset, and found in several 

 localities in Devon ; at Cromer and Fdxley Wood, Norfolk ; 

 and in South Wales, near Swansea. I have no record of 

 English or Welsh localities further north except that a few 

 are said to have been obtained this year, as larvas, at Rother- 

 liam, Yorks, yet in Scotland it is found, not uncommonly, at 

 Moncrieff Hill, Perthshire ; and in Ireland two specimens were 

 taken in the year 1857, near Kilcolgan, Gal way, by the late 

 Mr, E. Birchall. It has been known as a British species only 

 from the year 1844, when a larva was obtained at Weybridge, 

 Surrey, by Mr. Samuel Stevens. It does not seem to inhabit 

 any other portion of Northern Europe, but is found in Central 

 Europe, Northern Italy, Siberia, Japan, and the North-west 

 Himalayas. 



9. N. rhomboidea, Tr. stigmatica, Staud. Cat. — Ex- 

 panse H- to 1 'l inch. Fore wings very broad, rather truncate ; 

 dark brown with a purplish flush and blackish clouds ; two 

 large black spots near the costa ; hind wings dark grey- 

 brown. 



Antennee of the male i-ather stout, ciliated with rows of 

 perceptible bristles, dark brown ; palpi densely tufted, 

 blackish-brown ; head and thorax umbre-brown, the collar 



