346 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



This species, often referred to as Limacodes testndo, and said 

 to be the avellana of Linnseus, is an inhabitant of oak woods, 

 and occurs in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Oxford- 

 shire, Bucks, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire. A male and 

 two females have been reported from Clonbrock, Co. Galway, 

 Ireland. 



The Triangle {Heteroge7ia asella). 



The fore wings of this little species (Plate 153, Figs. 4 J and 

 5 $) are of triangular shape ; in the male, which sex is smaller 

 than the female, they are dark brown, sometimes almost 

 blackish (ab. nigra, Tutt), and those of the female yellowish 

 brown varying to ochreous yellow (ab. fiavescefts, Tutt). The 

 hind wings of the male are blackish, and of the female clouded 

 with blackish. 



The curious woodlouse-shaped caterpillar is green, sometimes 

 inclining to yellowish ; the broad reddish band on the back 

 broadens out before the middle, thus giving the idea of a rough 

 cross, or, as sometimes described, a blunt spear head. It is 

 found, by searching, in August and until October, on the foliage 

 of beech and oak. Birch has also been mentioned as a food 

 plant, and on the continent it is said to feed on poplar, lime, 

 hazel, and hornbeam. Fig. 2 on Plate 149 is from a photo by 

 Mr. H. Main. 



Although the caterpillar constructs its gall-like cocoon on a 

 leaf or in the fork of a twig in the autumn, it does not change to 

 a chrysalis until late in spring, sometimes not until June. The 

 moth is out in June and July and flies in the sunshine, chiefly 

 in the afternoon, and might easily be confused with the Lechean 

 Tortrix {^Ptycholoma lechea?id). 



The species appears to be very local in England and confined 

 to the south. Its chief haunts seem to be in Bucks, where it is 

 not uncommon in beech woods at Marlow, and in Hampshire. 



