io8 LEPIDOPTERA. 



generation from the end of August to October or even 

 November ; on poplar, aspen, and sometimes on any species 

 of sallow. Clinging so tightly to the leaves as to be very 

 difficult to beat off, and liable to be injured in the operation. 

 Not easy to rear in confinement, but fond of drinking drops 

 of water. The brown variety of this larva is frequent in this 

 country, but appears to have been unknown to Professor 

 Zeller, in Germany. 



Pupa cylindrical, blunt, rounded at both ends and tapering 

 but little toward the tail ; glossy, with roughened wing- 

 cases ; colour deep mahogany-brown with darker thorax and 

 wing-cases. In a coarse ovate cocoon of grey silk and earth, 

 buried often at the foot of a tree, sometimes at some depth 

 below the surface of the ground. In this condition through 

 the winter, Duponchel says that the larvas of the summer 

 brood spin up between leaves, the autumn brood in the 

 earth. 



The moth flies only at night, and is readily attracted by a 

 strong light. I have often found the male settled quietly 

 down on a gas-lamp in the environs of London. In the day- 

 time it is perfectly quiescent, sitting occasionally on the 

 trunk of a tree or a fence, but probably more generally on a 

 branch ; and, with extended legs, resembling an entangled 

 and rain- washed feather, or a lump of bird's excrement. Ap- 

 parently found throughout England, common in the Southern 

 and Eastern Counties, except the Fens where it is scarce ; 

 not common in the extreme west of England or in Wales. 

 Frequent in some parts of Scotland and found so far north as 

 the district of Moray. Also widely distributed in Ireland, 

 occurring even in Donegal, and commonly on the coast near 

 Londonderry, but apparently much scarcer in the Southern 

 districts. Abroad it is found throughout Central Europe, and 

 in Northern Spain, Piedmont, Sweden, and Finland. 



2, N, dictaeoides, Es'p. — Expanse If to 2 inches. Like 



