gg^ LEPIDOPTERA. 



sometimes seen on a single tree, and thousands in the course 

 of a night. Every kind of sweet is attractive to it, ragwort 

 and tansy bloom, even blossoms of dock and burdock ; also 

 honeydew and the sap of a wounded tree, and its numbers at 

 heather bloom are sometimes so great that scarcer species 

 are hardly noticeable. Light also exerts its usual influence, 

 and indeed, while this species is out nothing else is so con- 

 stantly in evidence. Apparently it is common throughout 

 the United Kingdom, except perhaps in some of the Scottish 

 Isles, as the Orkneys and Shetlands, where, though present, 

 it is not plentiful. Abroad it seems to be confined to the 

 European Continent, and rather to the Central, Southern, 

 and Western portions than to the North, so that its general 

 abundance in these Islands appears to be somewhat re- 

 markable. 



19. N. neglecta. Huh. ; castanea, Stand. Cat. — Ex- 

 panse, If to If inch. Fore wings smooth pale drab or brick- 

 red, without markings except a blackish spot in the lower half 

 of the reniform stigma ; hind wings dark grey-brown. 



Antennae of the male very shortly pectinated with small 

 pointed teeth like those of a saw, each surmounted by a tuft 

 of minute bristles and between which is also dense minute 

 ciliation, light brown ; palpi broadly tufted, dark chocolate 

 on each side, pale brown in front ; head and thorax pale 

 brownish-drab or reddish-drab ; collar faintly edged with 

 light brown, crest at the back very faintly indicated; fascicles 

 brownish-white ; abdomen pale greyish-brown ; lateral and 

 anal tufts purplish. Fore wings oblong, rather broadened 

 behind ; costa gently rounded, but more so near the base and 

 apex, which last is very bluntly angulated, almost rounded ; 

 hind margin also rounded and rather full, curved off a little 

 toward the anal angle ; dorsal margin faintly hollowed ; colour 

 pale drab faintly tinged with purple or red and almost devoid 

 of distinct markings, but showing faint indications of an 

 abbreviated red-brown basal line, a blackish dot on the costa 



