104 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



only two or three South European species, one of which is 

 found in many localities in Central Europe. It is absent in 

 Northern and North- Western Europe, and its reputed occur- 

 rence in the British Islands is still considered to require con- 

 firmation. It is found by day in sunny bushy places, such as 

 openings in woods, but is not gregarious like Zygana phegea^ 

 and has a lower and weaker flight. The larvae feed on 

 lichens. 



THE HAND-MAID. DYSAUXES ANCILLA. 



(Plate LXXX. Fig. 3.) 



Noctua and/la, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. (ed. xii.) i. (2) p. 835, no. 93 

 (1767) ; Esper, Schmett. iv. p. 51, taf. 85, figs. i. 2 (1786) ; 

 id. Naturf. iii. p. 8, taf. i, fig. 9 (1774). 

 Bombyx ancilla^ Hiibner, Eur. Schmett. iii. figs. 114, 245 



(1804?). 

 Lithosia andlla, Ochsenheimer, Schmett. Eur. iii. p. 157 



(1810). 

 Naclia ancilla, Kirby, Eur. Butterflies & Moths, p. 94, pi. 53, 



fig- 7 8 79); Barrett, Lepid. of Brit. Isl. p. 138 (1894). 

 Ochreous brown, with three white spots, or sometimes four 

 or five, on the fore-wings. The hind-wings are ochreous-brown 

 in the male, with a yellow inner margin ; ochre-yellow with a 

 brown marginal band in the female. The head, collar, pectus, 

 and legs are yellow. 



The larva is black, with a broad yellow dorsal stripe, and 

 two lines of the same colour on the sides. It weaves a thin 

 web in which it forms a reddish-brown pupa. 



It feeds on lichens and moss (Jungermannia complanata). 



SUB-FAMILY IV. THYRETIN^E. 



This Sub-family much resembles the last, but differs in 

 having the antennae more or less strongly pectinated, especially 



