no LEPIDOPTERA. 



and shining ; a rough horny plate on the anal flap. Head 

 lilac, delicately reticulated with black ; back olive or 

 purplish -brown shading into lilac on the sides ; a broad and 

 very conspicuous yellow spiracular stripe ; spiracles prominent, 

 black, edged with white ; second and third segments trans- 

 versely and indistinctly shaded with grey, twelfth segment 

 transversely shaded with dark grey, the hump blackish; 

 anal plate purplish-brown ; legs reddish-brown ; prolegs ex- 

 ternally reddish-brown or purplish-brown, inside greenish. 

 When young the spiracular stripe is often white, and the 

 hump large, conical and prominent. (C. Fenn.) 



In June and July, and, in a partial second generation, in 

 September and October. On birch, feeding upon the leaves, 

 but when not feeding fond of resting upon the underside of 

 a leaf stalk; somewhat addicted, in captivity, to devouring 

 its kindred, probably from want of water. Rather difficult 

 to obtain by beating the trees, from the tenacity with which 

 it clings to its resting-place. 



Pupa elongate, rounded ; anal extremity round, with two 

 very minute and widely separated bristles ; dark purple or 

 blackish. Underground in a compact tough cocoon of silk 

 and sand. (0. Fenn.) 



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

 strong light, though otherwise scarcely ever taken on the 

 wing. In the daytime it sits upon a birch trunk or branch, 

 or on one of the side twigs, or even on a spreading root, with 

 its long tufted anterior legs stretched forward, and in the 

 latter situation the resemblance of the inoth, or more still of a 

 pair of moths to the smooth dropping of a large bird is most 

 startling and unexpected, far closer even than that to a 

 swollen knot of birch bark. Dr. R. Freer of Rugeley points 

 out another curious mimetic resemblance in this species. He 

 says, " In the moth state it affects the edges of palings, and 

 after pairing the female usually rests head downwards, and 

 the male the other way up, the two heads being approxi- 



