DREPANULIDAL. 73 



throwing sticks into the trees, and males, when so disturbed, 

 will pugnaciously follow an object thrown into the air, and 

 so descend within reach. Occasionally it may even be seen 

 flying about the upper branches of oak-trees in the afternoon, 

 but its proper time of flight is at night, and both sexes are 

 readily attracted by a strong light ; indeed, it was formerly, 

 by no means a rare circumstance, even in the outskirts of 

 London, to find them sitting quite flat, with wings outspread, 

 the fore wings only partially covering the hind, upon a gas 

 lamp. Usually a wood-frequenting species, or else widely 

 spread over well-wooded districts, always among oak ; never 

 plentiful, but widely distributed in nearly all the southern 

 and eastern counties, though rare in Devon, and apparently 

 not recorded from Cornwall, I find no record of its occur- 

 rence in Wales, though it can hardly be absent from the 

 eastern portions ; especially as it is moderately frequent in 

 Gloucestershire, preferring the long narrow strips of wood- 

 land among the hills, and is also recorded from Worcester- 

 shire and Herefordshire. Records from the Midland counties 

 north of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire appear to be 

 very rare, though it has been found at Knowle in Warwick- 

 shire, and its most northern known locality with us seems to 

 be Lincolnshire. It is not known to occur in either Scotland 

 or Ireland. 



Abroad it is found over the greater portion of Central and 

 Southern Europe and in Asia Minor. 



4. D. unguicula, Hub. ; cultraria, Stand. Cat. — 

 Expanse 1 to If inch. 



Apex pointed, hardly hooked ; wings yellowish, with a 

 broad brown central band. 



Antennae of the male strongly pectinated four-fifths of 

 their length, tip filiform ; shaft light brown, teeth black. 

 Head yellow-brown, small ; thorax ovate, smooth, light brown ; 

 abdomen short, slender, pale yellow-brown. Fore wings with 

 the costa regularly rounded to near the apex, where it is 



