OXIGRAPHA LITERANA, L. laa 
any other that is feeding upon oak at the same period by the 
prothoracic markings, the greyish-green colour, and the gradual 
tapering to the anal extremity. In an average season it is 
probably full grown towards the end of June after the great 
crowd of larve, such as Vortrix virdana, I’. xylosteana, ete., 
have pupated ; there are very few larve feeding then. 
I did not find it common in the New Forest in a locality 
where the imago is usually frequent, but I got four larve as the 
result of about two hours’ beating. 
O. literana has been found abroad in Central Europe, Italy, 
Sardinia, Scandinavia, Russia, Northern Asia and Asia Minor ; 
probably it occurs over practically the whole of the Palearctic 
area. 
In Britain its chief habitat is in the New Forest, where in 
some seasons it is locally common; in one or two woods there, 
known to me, it is to be obtained every year in some numbers. 
According to Barrett it is also found in many other woods in the 
south of England and in Wales; it appears, however, to be non- 
existent in some of the midland counties, is rare in the north of 
England, it is found in Scotland occasionally in the Edinburgh 
district, Perthshire, Roxburghshire, and the Clyde Valley, but 
in Tveland is confined to the counties of Cork and Kerry. 
I have usually obtained it by beating low overhanging 
branches of oak trees in the morning; it then usually flutters 
down slowly to the ground and one can intercept it with the net. 
In the afternoon, however, it is more lively and generally darts at 
once to the ground, where its colour makes it hard to see, or it 
flies swiftly away, in either case escaping capture in too many 
instances. Of course if the weather is cold it is better to wait 
until the afternoon makes it a little lively. It is fully out by 
the middle of August, and the best time to obtain it is from 
then until the end of September, after which it often goes into 
hibernation ; the hibernated moths are rarely seen in the spring. 
Barrett says: ‘‘ The moth sits by day on the trunks of trees ; 
in the summer and autumn it loves to squeeze itself closely to 
the surface of an oak or apple-trunk among the lichens, when it 
is so closely concealed by its resemblance to them that it can 
only be discovered by blowing strongly with the breath upon the 
trunk.” I have vigorously thrashed hundreds of oak trunks when 
working for this species, but have never been conscious that | 
have put up a specimen from one (though I have seen it occa- 
sionally rest upon them after being disturbed). So far as my 
experience goes the usual resort of the species is the overhanging 
branches, and if one is put up it will almost invariably settle 
again on a branch. Bearing in mind that even in the New 
Forest a dozen specimens in a morning is a more than average 
bag, it must take a power of breath to shift a series from the 
trunks by blowing! 
