TRIFID^. 145 



four short diverging spines, the outer pair much the shorter ; 

 surface shining, general colour pale purplish-brown. In a 

 chamber of earth under the surface of the ground. In this 

 state through the winter, usually at the roots of trees. 



The moth emerges from pupa in the morning, and sits 

 through the day on the trunks of trees, more especially oak 

 and hawthorn, or on a post near the ground, and bears a 

 great resemblance to a narrow chip of dead wood. At dusk 

 it flies swiftly, and is said to frequent lanes rather than 

 woods. It is, however, hardly ever taken in flight, and 

 very rarely indeed at sugar. There is no record of its 

 occurrence at flowers, but with us it is so very scarce a 

 species that its habits are almost unknown. The majority 

 of the specimens in our collections have been reared from the 

 Q^g^ a female moth found by Dr. J. H. Wood, sitting upon a 

 post near Tarrington, Herefordshire, being the progenitor of 

 a considerable portion of them. Others have been reared 

 from pupa3 found — at the cost of enormous labour — by digging 

 at the roots of trees. Of these nearly all have been obtained 

 in Worcestershire, the country round ]\Ialvern appearing to 

 be more especially the home of the species. It has also 

 occurred in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Somerset ; 

 and there are one or two records in Kent, Surrey, and 

 Suffolk. There has been a notice of one specimen at Gower, 

 South Wales, in 1875, but I know of no other localities in 

 these Islands. Abroad it is found in Central Europe, North 

 Italy, South Russia, and also in Central Asia. 



Genus 13. PACHETRA. 



Antenna of the male pectinated, eyes hairy, without 

 lashes ; thorax slightly crested at the back ; abdomen short, 

 furnished with two or three small crests, the third long and 

 curled ; fore wings broad, slightly dentate behind. 



1. P. leucophaea, F^Vza^.— Expanse 1^ to If inch. 

 Fore wings broad, whitish, with black marbling and mark- 



VOL. IV. K 



