3l6 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The moth is out in May and June, earlier in some districts. 

 In the daytime it may be seen on the trunks or boughs of trees, 

 most frequently at too great a height to be easily secured ; but 

 still a few sit low enough for capture, especially on the trunks of 

 fir trees. The species is a decidedly local one, and seems to be 

 largely confined, in Britain, to the southern parts of England, 

 Wales, and Ireland. It occurs in some of the woods of Kent, 

 Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, 

 Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, 

 Essex, and Suffolk. Edwards notes the species as rare at 

 Malvern, Worcestershire. Forsythe, in "A List of the Macro- 

 Lepidoptera of Lancaster and District" {EvJom. 1905, p. 182), 

 states that the moth may be found sitting on the fir-tree trunks 

 at the end of May, at Witherslack and Quernmore ; and a 

 single specimen has been recorded from Upton, near Birken- 

 head, Cheshire. The occurrence of T. consonaria in the north 

 of England seems open to question. The only county in Wales 

 appears to be Glamorganshire, as mentioned by Barrett. Kane 

 {Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland) noted the species 

 from Derrycunihy, and Mucross, Killarney, where he has taken 

 it in moderate abundance ; he also gives Clonbullogue, in 

 King's County. 



The range abroad extends to Amurland and Japan. 



Grey Birch {Tephrosia punctularia). 



Three examples of this greyish species are shown on Plate 137. 

 The wings are usually whitish grey in the ground colour, and 

 sprinkled or dusted with darker grey; there are three blackish, 

 or black dotted, cross lines on the fore wings, often indistinct, 

 but rarely entirely absent, and even then represented by black 

 marks on the front margin. Sometimes the first and third lines 

 may be well in evidence and the central one absent ; occa- 

 sionally the second line is placed quite close to the first ; the 



