DESCRIPTIVE NOTICES OF CONSPICUOUS SPECIES 259 



of June between folded leaves of the common maple 

 (Acer campestre). The perfect insect appears at the 

 end of June and July, and may be freely beaten from 

 the maple bushes on which the larva has fed. 



FAMILY IV. PERONEID.E. 

 PERONEA CRISTANA. 



This very variable species occurs in various woods in 

 the south of England, where Epping Forest and the 

 New Forest may be looked upon as its headquarters ; 

 it has also occurred* at Whittlebury Forest, near Wol- 

 verton ; in Ireland, it has occurred near Belfast. 



The expansion of the wings is about f inch. The 

 fore-wings are extremely variable in colour and mark- 

 ings, but have always a very conspicuous large central 

 tuft of raised scales ; sometimes the inner margin is 

 decidedly paler that the rest of the wing, either white, 

 whitish, or ochreous ; sometimes there is a ferruginous 

 streak from the centre of the base of the wing ; some- 

 times there is a white oblique streak from the costa 

 near the base, which, when it meets the subcostal ner- 

 vure, turns up again towards the costa, its two arms 

 enclosing a small dark-coloured blotch on the costa ; 

 the ground-colour of the wings is generally some shade 

 of brown ; the colour of the tuft varies just as much 

 as anything else : it may be either dark brown, or 

 ferruginous, or white. 



The larva is unknown to us. 



The perfect insect appears in August, September, and 

 October, and is most frequently obtained by beating 

 old whitethorn and sloe bushes, the stems of which 

 are covered with lichen. 



