NOTODONTID.i:. 157 



subdorsal or spiraciilar lines slender and threadlike, white or 

 greenish-white; the latter double, or edged above with a 

 dark brown line ; second segment with a yellowish-white 

 collar; spiracles whitish in black rings; legs pink; prolegs 

 pale green tipped or spotted with pink. 



May and June on oak, hazel, sallow, ash, elm, lime, beech, 

 poplar, and aspen. Probably the eggs, which are curiously 

 shaped and have been compared to a butter-boat, and which 

 have been laid through the winter, hatch by the end of April. 

 The larvae, when young especially, bear a shocking character 

 as cannibals, and being, moreover, extremely delicate in con- 

 stitution, are very difficult to rear ; any degree of close con- 

 finement is fatal ; they should have plenty of fresh air and be 

 fed up singly. When, according to their strange habit, their 

 extremities are thrown up, and all the legs extended, they are 

 curious-looking creatures. 



Pupa stout, dark brown, in a cocoon of earth and silk, 

 usually deep in the ground, rarely at the roots of trees. 



The moth flies only late at night, and the male may often 

 be attracted by a strong light at about 11 p.m. It has been 

 taken even at a carriage lamp. In the daytime it is said to 

 sit upon old posts or railings, and is very hard to see, from 

 its close resemblance to a bit of decayed wood, or to the grey- 

 ish-brown lichens. Its extended and tufted feet, and rough 

 scales at the edge of the fore wings, all help to complete the 

 deception. 



Formerly found in the London suburbs — as at Clapham 

 Common ; still to be found as near as Twickenham ; also more 

 or less frequently in Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Berks, Bucks 

 (rather commonly), Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, 

 Oxfordshire, Hereford, Essex, and Suffolk, and widely dis- 

 tributed in Norfolk, Cambs, and Hunts ; rare and local in 

 Yorkshire and Cumberland, and recorded in single instances 

 from Cheshire and Lancashire. I know of no other localities 

 in these islands. Abroad it is not very widely distributed, 



