TRIFID.-E. 225 



spicuous, dark brown ; cremaster conical, silvery grey, bearing 

 two long, straight, parallel, black spikes. In a rather solid, 

 rough cocoon of earth and silk, beneath the surface of the- 

 ground. In this condition through the winter. 



The moth sits in the daytime on the trunks of trees such 

 as pine and ash trees, sometimes at a height of ten or fifteen 

 feet, but usually lower, and is most conspicuous in such 

 situations ; or on palings, posts, rails, old walls, and even 

 rocks. It ilies at early dusk, visiting flowers for the sake of 

 their honey, though not so eagerly as the last species ; but 

 may often also be seen hovering about the blossoms of 

 Sonchus and other Gomposita:, doubtless to deposit eggs. It 

 is also a rare and casual visitant at sugar. Widely distributed 

 and moderately common over the southern half of England, 

 though in some counties, as Susses, Dorset, and Devon, very 

 local or even scarce. Perhaps most plentiful in the Breck- 

 sand district of Norfolk and Suffolk. Rare in North Staf- 

 fordshire and generally through the northern Midlands ; not 

 common in Lincolnshire ; very local in Cheshire, Lancashire, 

 and Yorkshire. Probably in most parts of South Wales, 

 since I have found it in Pembrokeshire, where it frequented 

 the limestone quarries. In North Wales it is recorded at 

 Barmouth. Apparently very rare in Scotland ; Mr. Adam 

 Elliot has met with two specimens in Roxburghshire, and 

 there is a record from Perthshire. Much more frequent in 

 Ireland, though there local ; rather plentiful in Kerry, and 

 found on the Dublin coast, in Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, 

 Galway, Westmeath, and even in Antrim. Abroad its range 

 is through Central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, 

 Armenia, and the Ural Mountain district. 



Genus 10. DIANTHCECIA. 



AxTENN.K of the male ciliated, sometimes in small tufts ; 

 eyes hairy; lashes prostrate, or nearly so: thorax crested at 



