TRIFID^. 249 



be spared in a work of the present nature, yet I am unwilling 

 to forego the advantage of them. 



August, September, October, on hawthorn, apple, pear, 

 plum, oak, birch, sallow, but especially on fruit-trees and 

 rosaceous plants. 



Pupa of the usual form, of a polished brown horny texture 

 and rather semi-transparent, so that a darker dorsal internal 

 line and a paler lateral line are perceptible, the ventral 

 surface being also paler ; anal point with a series of fine 

 bristles very slightly curved. In a cocoon behind a piece of 

 loose bark, or in a chink of rotten wood, where a suitable 

 cavity is hollowed out and finished off with a little white 

 silk. The larva will, however, use a hollow stick, or hollow 

 out the pith from a stick of bramble, raspberry, or elder, in 

 which case the hole is closed by the toj) of the cocoon. If 

 nothing suitable is provided, the accommodating creature will 

 content itself with sawdust or even earth, forming an ordinary 

 cocoon of silk and the surrounding materials. In this 

 condition through the winter, and occasionally until a second 

 year. 



Not a common species, but probably sometimes overlooked 

 from its close resemblance to the next. In the moth state it is 

 very rarely captured at all, either at rest, or flying, or at 

 sugar. Very possibly it prefers concealed situations, such as 

 the higher branches of trees, since the vast majority of speci- 

 mens in collections are reared. Hence its range is ascertained 

 from recurrences of the larva rather than of the perfect insect, 

 but, so far as is known, its habits are similar to those of its 

 allies. Formerly it was not scarce in the London district, but 

 seems now to have disappeared. Probably still to be found 

 over the greater part of England, since it is recorded, in the 

 Southern counties, from Kent to Cornwall, and in the former 

 county and Sussex not uncommonly, also in Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 the Cambridge Fen district, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, 



