278 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Mr. G. C. Blgnell, of Stonehouse, was kind enough to send me 

 larvaB of this species on June 17th this year. Some of them were 

 nearly full grown, others quite small. He found them in a garden 

 feeding on the small garden convolvulus {Convolvulus minor). 

 When the supply of food sent with them was exhausted, shoots 

 of the large convolvulus (Convolvulus major) were given them, 

 which they took to readily, as also they did afterwards to 

 the small bindweed {Convolvulus arvensis*). The larvse pupated 

 between June 26th and July 5th, and the moths appeared between 

 the 6th and 30th of July. 



I have frequently taken this " plume " in the autumn, and 

 also in the spring. It may frequently be observed sitting on 

 garden walls and palings. In this position its resemblance to a 

 T-shaped bit of hay or straw is very curious. When at rest the 

 hind pair of legs are laid along the body, the feet meeting at the 

 end of the abdomen and resting thereon. The hind wings are 

 folded up under the fore wings, and the inner digits of the fore 

 wings are folded or rolled up under the outer digits, so that the 

 fore wings are reduced to nearly half their width. 



In the autumn of 1876 I observed P. monodactylus flying at 

 dusk in some numbers around and about a clump of large bind- 

 weed {Convolvulus sepium). An examination of the plant next 

 day resulted in the finding of several pupse and larvse.f 



Until the present year, with the exception of hibernated 

 specimens in the spring, I had not seen this species on the wing 

 before the month of September. This year I netted one example 

 at Folkestone on August 7th, and on the 29th I boxed two others 

 from off a garden fence at Hampstead. 



Hitherto P. monodactylus has been considered single-brooded, 

 occurring in the larval stage in August and September, and in 

 the perfect state in September and October, and again after 

 hibernation in the spring. It appears, however, that there are 

 two broods of the species in the 3'ear, although there does not 

 seem to be any clear interval between the broods. Late imagines 

 of the first brood may be contemporary with early imagines, 



* In a recent note Mr. Bignell tells me that this plant also grew in the garden 

 where he found the larvip. 



t This is not peculiar to P. monodactylus. Many of the Pterophoridae are to be 

 found as larva, pupa, and imago at one and the same time, and often on the same 

 plant.— R. S. 



