2IO LEPIDOPTERA. 



anal segment black, much thickened, with a distinct rim cut 

 into sections along its anterior edge ; anal spike thick at the 

 base, tapering, long, and curved. In a slight cocoon under 

 moss, or at the roots of grass at the foot of a tree, or under 

 the surface of the ground. In this stage through the latter 

 part of the summer, the autumn and winter ; sometimes 

 lying over a second winter — this is said to be very frequently 

 the case in Scotland. 



The moth rests in the daytime, occasionally, on trunks, 

 more frequently on branches or even twigs of birch trees, 

 but far more usually upon stunted birch bushes, the more 

 stunted the better, and half a dozen specimens may some- 

 times be picked off a little bush not more than a foot high, 

 where they stick about anywhere on the small branches. On 

 the larger birch bushes the favourite spot is on the main 

 stem, where it throws off a branch or two, and here appears 

 a very curious instance of natural mimicry. The birch bushes 

 have upon their stems small patches of grey lichen, and to one 

 of these patches of lichen the greenish-grey moth with its 

 dark lines and its curiously crested shoulders and thorax 

 bears an extraordinary resemblance. 



It has been occasionally taken flying in bright sunshine, 

 but this is not its usual habit. It flies at dusk, and later in 

 the night, and has been taken at sugar, but is said to prefer 

 the sap exuding from a wound in a birch tree. 



Usually found on open hill sides and commons where birch 

 grows freely, but not absent from birch woods, and common 

 in such suitable places, in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hants, 

 Dorset and Berks ; rather scarce in most parts of the Eastern 

 Counties, but common near King's Lynn and in Lincolnshire ; 

 plentiful at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, and in other parts 

 of that county and Derbyshire; rare in Devon; scarce in 

 Somerset, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire ; 

 much more frequent in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, 

 Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire, indeed common on the 



