2i6 LEPIDOPTERA. 



wings sometimes assumes the character of a broad grey 

 marginal band. Specimens taken in the New Forest, Hants, 

 are rather large and handsome ; and those formerly obtained 

 near York were unusually yellow, especially the females, some 

 of which attained a rich ochreous-yellow. This sex, which at 

 first sight differs much from the male, was formerly described 

 as a distinct species under the name of L. dcpressa. 

 On the wing in July. 



Larva f inch long ; cylindrical, tapering a little at each 

 end ; head rather small, brown or whitish ; dorsal half of the 

 body pale grey, whitish-grey, or white, edged by a broad 

 subdorsal row of black elongated, or lunate, spots ; the 

 enclosed dorsal surface crossed by a black bar on the fourth 

 segment, having a large triangular black spot on the eighth, 

 and another on the twelfth ; between these the dorsal line 

 is indicated by a pair of slender, interrupted black lines. 

 Sides below the subdorsal spots and undersurface grey, 

 brownish-grey, or greenish-grey ; hairs grey. (Hellins.) 



August to June, on coarse lichens growing upon trees, 

 especially yew, beech, and oak. 



Pupa in a cocoon under the bark of trees. 



The moth hides in the daytime in large yew bushes or 

 trees, and in the branches of oaks and beeches, and may 

 readily be beaten out from these shelters, when it flutters or 

 tumbles towards the ground. At dusk and at night it flies 

 freely. Found most plentifully among yew trees and bushes 

 upon chalk hills in Surrey, such as Norbury Park and Box 

 Hill ; also not uncommonly in the New Forest, Hants, but 

 exceedingly local. It is said to have been taken near Almonds- 

 bury, Gloucestershire, and once at Stowmarket, Suffolk. Four 

 specimens were secured, in the year 187G, at a lighthouse 

 on the coast of Norfolk, but these may have been migrating. 

 Formerly it certainly occurred in the neighbourhood of York, 

 and Mr. N. Young has a specimen taken by himself at 

 Rotherham. Abroad it is found in France, Switzerland. 



