78 LEPIDOP TERA. 



At the end o£ June and in July ; as a partial second 

 generation again in September and October. On birch. 



Pupa pale red, covered with a white bloom. In a strong 

 cocoon of whitish or yellowish silk within the hollow of a 

 living leaf, which is drawn together and carefully joined at 

 the edges, except a small open space at the footstalk. Passes 

 the winter in this state, the leaf falling to the ground. 



The moth flies voluntarily only at night. In the daytime 

 it hides in bushes, not by any means always in birch bushes, 

 or sits underneath them on a grass blade or a twig. Its wings 

 are not spread out at all, but very strongly arched when at 

 rest, the hind wings being completely covered, and the fore 

 wings so drawn together as to give it the strongest possible 

 resemblance to a curled, dead, birch-leaf. Found principally 

 in woods, and on heaths with scattered birch-trees, over the 

 greater portion of the southern counties to Devon, where it 

 becomes scarce. Also rare or absent in the Can)bridge and 

 Norfolk fen districts. Rather frequent at Cannock Chase 

 and other parts of Staffordshire, and in woods in Warwick- 

 shire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire ; scarce in Cheshire, 

 Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire, and very local in Lancashire, 

 Yorkshire and Cumberland. In Scotland it is found in 

 Clydesdale and in Argyleshire, also very locally in Ross. 

 Widely distributed and sometimes rather common in Ireland, 

 though local, occurring inWicklow, Kerry, Galway, Donegal, 

 Londonderry, Down, and elsewhere. It is common nearly 

 all over Northern and Central Europe, including Lapland, 

 Piedmont, and the Ural Mountain district. In North America 

 it is also found, but of the colour of its paler varieties 

 with us, and is known under the name of hilincata. 



This species seems to stand alone in a remarkable manner. 

 So far as I am aware, no other species of this group, having a 

 scalloped hind margin, exists in the world. 



