TRIFID.E. 253 



miuute bristles placed in a partial circle ; ^eep mahogany 

 red. In a compact silken cocoon in a hole or chamber in 

 rotten wood. I have known a dead bough, from the top of a 

 birch tree, when broken off by the wind, to show, at the point 

 of fracture, the chamber inhabited by a pupa of this species, 

 which ultimately produced the moth. The larva, however, is 

 not particular, but will make use of the old cocoon of a 

 GcriLra, or any suitable hole in a tree, or will spin up 

 under bark or among chips. In this condition through the 

 winter. 



The moth is a common and familiar object through the 

 summer, loving to sit on a paling, the trunk of a tree, or the 

 wall of a house. It flies at dusk, and comes readily to sugar, 

 though not in the numbers which might be expected from its 

 apparent plenty. 



Common in all parts of England and Wales, and on the 

 mainland in Scotland ; common in Ireland, and there always 

 of a pale colour. Also plentiful all over the Continent of 

 Europe, except the coldest portions, and in Siberia and 

 Northern Africa. 



(A. cuspis, Hiib. — This is a species very similar to the two 

 last, but larger and more strongly marked. Its larva has a 

 long tubercle on the fifth segment, crowned by a singular 

 tuft of long erect bristles. The species was recorded as 

 British by Stephens (Illust. 2-41), from his memory of a 

 specimen in the collection of Mr. Hatchett and taken at 

 Dulwich. This identification seems never to have been con- 

 firmed, and there is little doubt that the specimen in question 

 was a large A. psi. 



In Dr. Mason's immense collection at Burton-on-Trent are 

 two fine specimens, correctly named, which were obtained by 

 him from the collection of the late Mr. Edwin Brown. They 

 are labelled " Carter, Carrington Moss." There is, however, 

 I believe, no reason whatever to think that A. cuspis is a 

 genuine inhabitant of these Islands.) 



