TRIFID^. 331 



Isles. Widely distributed on the Irish coast — Dublin, Louth, 

 Down, Antrim, Derry — to Portrush in the extreme north — 

 Donegal, Sligo, Kerry, and Wicklow. Abroad it does not 

 appear to be quite so exclusively confined to the coast. 

 It is found in France, Belgium, Holland, North Germany, 

 Denmark, Finland, Livonia, ]^omerania and Central Russia. 



n. A. nigricans, L. — Expanse 1:^ to H inch. Fore 

 wings narrow, blunt, dull brown or blackish-brown ; mark- 

 ings very obscure ; stigmata often tinged with yellowish ; 

 hind wings pale brownish-grey or greyish-white. 



Antennge of the male sharply and regularly notched, each 

 notch surmounted by a small tuft of fine bristles, to beyond 

 the middle ; apical third part simple but ciliated ; colour 

 dark brown. Palpi short, thickly tufted, blackish-brown ; 

 head dark smoky-brown ; collar large, black -brown, dusted 

 with paler ; rest of thorax similar, with a long divided crest 

 from collar to back, where it is tipped with pale grey ; 

 fascicles short, expanded, rather scanty, brownish-white ; 

 abdomen dull pale reddish-brown or purplish-brown, with 

 spreading lateral and anal tufts, the latter barred above 

 with smoky blackish. Fore wings rather narrow, specially 

 so at the base ; costal and dorsal margins straight ; apex 

 almost rounded or very bluntly angulated ; hind margin 

 rounded and very full ; colour dark purple-brown, dark 

 umbreous, or black-brown, with the markings very obscure ; 

 basal line suggested by a double blackish streak on the 

 subcostal and median nervures close to the base ; first line 

 only faintly perceptible, smoky-black, often edged with dull 

 whitish, perpendicular but angulated and curved ; second 

 line curved but not very oblique, formed into a series of 

 faint black crescents edged outside with yellowish dots, 

 or with a yellowish- white line; subterminal line a row of 

 barely perceptible yellowish dots; orbicular stigma rather 

 paler, reniform tinged with yellow, claviform just visible, 



