298 LEPIDOPTERA 



currant, apricot, and the lower branches of garden shrubs, 

 feeding at night. The o.^^ is laid in October and hatches in 

 the spring. 



Pupa rather elongated, stoutest in the middle, abdomen 

 somewhat extended, terminated by a broad tumid black-brown 

 ere master, which is armed with two fine black converging 

 and recurved spikes ; wing-covers abundantly sculptured 

 with fine incised lines, anterior portions of dorsal and abdo- 

 minal segments more scantily with minute pits, but the whole 

 surface glossy ; colour rich red-brown. In a strongly con- 

 structed but flexible cocoon of silk, soft inside but outwardly 

 covered with sand or earth ; subterranean. 



The moth is very fond of gardens, its larva feeding on 

 almost any weeds and many cultivated plants ; it may be 

 found sitting near the ground on walls, or among the plants ; 

 it also frequents lanes, roads and cultivated ground, as well 

 as woodlands. It flies at dusk and is rather conspicuous on 

 the wing from its light colour ; it is not known to frequent 

 flowers mnch, but comes readily to sugar. At one time it 

 was common in the gardens of the suburbs of London, but 

 has now apparently moved further away ; rare in Kent, 

 Sussex, and the rest of the south-coast counties to Devon, 

 where it is more frequent ; and found locally in Cornwall ; 

 much more common in the Eastern Counties, and Berks 

 Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Gloucestershire, extending up the 

 west through Herefordshire and the adjoining counties to 

 Lancashire, where it is rare. Rather common in the Southern 

 Midlands, recorded once only in Derbyshire, but widely dis- 

 tributed — in its darker varieties — in Yorkshire. I can find 

 no record in Wales where it 'inust exist ; and in Scotland the 

 only indication is the note by Dr. Buchanan White (with 

 doubt) from the districts of the Tay and Moray. In Ireland, 

 Mr. E. Birchall recorded it from Wicklow, but this statement 

 does not seem to have been confirmed. Abroad its range 

 extends almost all over Continental Europe. 



