TRIFIDM. 285 



sometimes faintly clouded with the same ; nervures sharply 

 brown ; cilia white. 



Female larger, usually having the entire space between 

 the first and second lines clouded with smoky-brown or 

 dull blackish, and the markings — except the black wedges — 

 less distinct ; hind wings usually much more clouded with 

 brown. 



Underside of the fore wings shining smoky-grey ; costa 

 paler, but with two dark indistinct lines near the apex • 

 middle area abundantly covered with long raised downy 

 scales ; a row of blackish lunules along the hind margin ; 

 cilia brownish. Hind wings pearly white, thickly dusted 

 with grey along the costal region ; hind margin edged with 

 dark brown. Body, and leg tufts, mottled with brownish and 

 whitish; legs long, plentifully furnished with spur-like 

 bristles, legs and bristles dark brown barred with white. 



Very constant in colour and markings, but in the female 

 the dark colouring of the middle of the fore wings is in some 

 cases extended to the base, so that two-thirds of the length 

 of the wing is black-brown. On the other hand the male is 

 occasionally of a pale brownish-drab, with only the costal 

 region and stigmata dark. Specimens from Ireland appear 

 to show a tendency to pale variation. Dr. P. B. Mason 

 possesses a specimen of less than one-half the ordinary size, 

 and very pale in colour. 



On the wing from the end of July till September, and 

 probably after hybernation, and not as another generation, 

 in April and May. It has been found on the wing as early 

 as February, and eggs have been obtained from a captured 

 specimen in March. 



Larva more than two inches long, stout, smooth and 

 shining, very pale purplish-brown, paler beneath, sometimes 

 with the under-surface and legs pale grey, usual spots 

 blackish, shining, sometimes grey, each furnished with 

 a short bristle. Dorsal line double, slender, greyish, on each 



