TRIFIDM. 219 



localities, sitting on the trunk or a branch of an oak in the 

 day time, though protected from a casual glance by the 

 wonderful similarity of its green and black colouring to a 

 patch of green lichen. It flies at dusk, and comes willingly 

 to sugar on the trunks of oak trees, especially on windy 

 nights ; yet is very shy and restless, and easily disturbed. 

 Its time of flight is known to last till midnight. Found only 

 in oak woods, and exceedingly local ; probably more frequent 

 in the New Forest, Hants, than in any other place in these 

 islands, and there, in some seasons, almost common. Also 

 in woods near Hailshara, Brighton, and Hastings, Sussex ; 

 Isle of Wight and Forest of Bere, Hants ; in wooded valleys 

 under Dartmoor, towards Plymouth, Devon ; formerly at 

 East Looe, Cornwall ; and in the Eastern Counties near 

 Ipswich and Colchester ; also recorded by Mr, W. M. 

 Crowfoot, of Beccles, in South Norfolk. I know of no other 

 certain localities for it in the United Kingdom ; but abroad 

 its distribution is very wide — all over Central Europe, 

 Northern Italy, Northern Europe (except the coldest por- 

 tions), India, China, Japan, Northern Asia. It is the only 

 European representative of a small group of most beautiful 

 species, most of them of a brilliant green with black mark- 

 ings, and inhabiting Asia and North America. 



Genus 2. ACRONYCTA. 



Antennae simple or nearly so, ciliated ; eyes naked, with 

 lashes at the back, but nearly prostrate among the long scales ; 

 head tufted ; thorax thickly covered with somewhat raised long 

 scales, obscurely crested at the back, and with the shoulder 

 lappets rather uplifted ; abdomen crested, sometimes ob- 

 scurely, the crests varying in number from one to five, and 

 in some species very fugitive. Fore wings elongated, in most 

 cases rather painted, usually of some shade of grey, and with 

 black transverse lines and deep black longitudinal streaks ; 

 hind wings nearly unicolorous ; vein 5 variable but usually 

 weak, always arising from the cross-bar. 



