476 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



were scarce ; he further observes that the males are very common at 

 light at Oxton, the females only occasionally so taken. Burrows notes 

 it as especially abundant at light in foggy weather. Female at light on 

 October 27th, 1897, at Boxworth (Thornhill), a female with several 

 males taken at light December 17th, 1898, at Gloucester (Clutter buck), 

 females very rarely taken at light, the males abundantly at Tixall 

 (Bostock), a female at light, with several males, at Bishop's Stortford, 

 November 21st, 1897 (Bayne), a female at light November 20th, 

 1898, at Hitchin (Cottam). The males come to light at about 

 8.0 p.m. in November and early December at Kingsmill (Watkins). 

 On January 5th, 1891, several were taken from the gas lamps at 

 Clevedon, the thermometer at freezing-point, the atmosphere foggy, 

 the roads sheets of ice, with snow lying about (Mason), whilst on the 

 same date, at Chichester, one was discovered frozen tightly to a parapet, the 

 specimen afterwards being thawed and recovering its vitality (Ander- 

 son), also at Seaton on lamps when freezing hard (Still). Todd gives 

 a remarkable experience. He notes that on November 14th, 1864, he 

 accidentally broke a pupa of this species, so the imago was taken out 

 and its wings expanded after several hours. On November 16th he 

 broke another pupa, the imago perfecting itself in half-an-hour. On 

 November 9th, 1865, two pupae were broken and moths released, one, 

 a male, expanded its wings in about half-an-hour, the other, a female, 

 did so on November 18th. The following note by Studd suggests that 

 one cannot force P. iJopuli either in the direction of double-brooded- 

 ness, or even to obtain an earlier emergence of the imago : A female P. 

 popidi taken at light on December 7th, 1893, deposited ova December 

 7th-9th, the eggs hatched February 3rd-14th, 1894, between 50 and 60, 

 fed on lettuce till beginning of March, during which time they also ate 

 each other, and by March 4th only eleven were left, the largest nearly 

 £in. long ; from March 1st they had a few sycamore buds as well as 

 lettuce ; they commenced spinning up April 16th- 17th, and a $ 

 emerged on November 21st. This shows that in spite of being fed up, 

 and having pupated so early, the species will not emerge before its due 

 time, even though kept all along in a warm room. Two $ s were 

 taken wild at light the same year, on November 23rd (see Ent. 

 Bee, viii., 318). Newman states that if the weather is unfavour- 

 able at the normal time for its emergence, the insect will remain 

 in the cocoon " one, two, three, four, or even five years." 

 Sharp repeats this statement which wants substantiating for this 

 species. Its habitat is exceedingly varied. The larvae sometimes occur 

 in profusion on the oak-trunks in Chattenden Woods, and it is 

 generally a true woodland species. Christy finds it in the woods on 

 the chalk downs at Emsworth, and Clarke says that it is common in 

 the oakwoods, parks, and shrubberies around Beading, and is often 

 taken in the town itself. At Lewes it is most abundant on lamps 

 near trees of Quercus cerris (Nicholson), in a plantation of small oaks 

 at Perivale (Montgomery), by woodsides and hedgerows at Leicester 

 (Dixon). Burrows also notes it as an inhabitant of hedgerows as well 

 as of large isolated trees, whilst Robertson thinks it prefers large trees in 

 parks in South Wales. Homeyer states that he found many cocoons 

 firmly spun on stones or lying free among the same, beneath a lime 

 avenue that ran through the moorland meadows between Anclam and 

 Ziethen. Oberthur states that at Rennes the larvae are very common 



