70 LEPIDOPTERA. 



the other hand, no record seems to be obtainable of their 

 being laid at any time before hybernation. 



A generally distributed and rather common species, and in 

 certain seasons — as in 18G5 — everywhere abundant ; while in 

 other years it is comparatively scarce. In England most 

 plentiful in the southern counties, and along the eastern and 

 western coasts. Much less common in the Midlands and 

 scarce in hill districts. In Scotland less common, but found 

 occasionally from the southern border to the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands. Common and widely distributed in Ireland. It is 

 also found occasionally at midnight at lighthouses, possibly 

 passing from one country to another. It is found all over 

 Europe, Northern Asia, Northern Africa with the Canaries, 

 and in India, China, Japan, and the Corea. 



2. M. fuciformis, L. ; bombyliformis, Oc/is., Stcmd. 

 Cat. — Expanse, If to 2 inches. Wings transparent, with a 

 rather broad reddish hind-marginal band; back of the 

 abdomen yellow with a red bar. 



Antennae long, very stout beyond the middle ; tipped with 

 a bent-back bristle formed of several tapering joints ; black . 

 in the male with hardly perceptible pectinations, but larger 

 and thicker than in the female. Head large and thorax very 

 broad and robust, both blackish, but densely covered with dull 

 golden-yellow or greenish-yellow hairs. Abdomen broad, 

 short and rounded, dull olive-yellow, brighter at the sides, 

 crossed by a broad central transverse band of dark red, 

 beyond which the hinder segments are dull yellow, witli pale 

 yellow lateral tufts, and a broad yellow and black anal 

 uft. 



Fore wings short, blunt at the tip, with the costa nearly 

 straight, the hind margin rounded and very oblique, and the 

 dorsal margin slightly hollowed. Hind wings very short with 

 rounded apex and hind margin, but the anal angle produced 

 into a projecting point. Fore wings with the whole middle 

 area transparent and devoid of scales, except upon the 



