494 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



extend almost to the apex of the wings, whilst the tips of the third 

 pair project just beyond the apices of the wings. The mouth, head, 

 and dorsal head-piece are shiny ; the legs and antennae dull, rough, 

 and deeply grooved ; the antennas and apices of forewings are red- 

 brown inclining to crimson. The 5th and 6th abdominal segments 

 are depressed on either side of the median line, and suggest traces of 

 the position of the larval prolegs ; the 7th abdominal is narrow, and 

 the 8th, which is very smooth, bears at its posterior extremity the 

 genital organs ; the anal orifice is quite ventral, and some distance 

 below the cremaster, which, ventrally, bears some resemblance to a 

 projecting flap with a few black, bristly hairs extending from its outer 

 edge [Described September 29th, 1897, from pupae received from Butter- 

 field.] Fenn describes the pupa as " very stout and round, wing-cases 

 short ; incisions well defined ; anal extremity rounded with a small pro- 

 jection furnished with very minute hooked bristles ; red-brown or dull- 

 red in colour ; wing-cases and incisions darker ; spiracles black and 

 prominent." 



Food-plants. — iipple (Newnham), whitethorn, sloe, willow 

 (Stephens), sallow (Stainton), oak, birch, poplar (Thurnall), crab-apple 

 (Holland), hazel (Christy), ling (Harris), beech (Edmunds), bramble 

 (Montgomery), cherry (Esper), pear (Speyer), Cotoneaster (Standfuss), 

 JEscallonia serrata (Zach teste Staudinger), SalLv caprea, Populus tremula 

 (Hering), Alnus viridis (Frey), Populus nigra (St. John), willow, plum 

 (Barraud) . 



Habits and Habitat. — There is something peculiar in the habits of 

 all the early stages of this insect, the irregular hatching of the ova, 

 the power to hybernate as egg or larva (according to habitat), have 

 been already noted, as also the power of the insect to hybernate a 

 second winter as pupa after passing the previous one as egg or larva. 

 But the pupal stage may be prolonged and pupae may give forth their 

 imagines after existing two or three years in the pupal state. A 

 second winter is common in all English localities, and Wilson notes 

 six out of twelve going over in 1876 (a very hot season) at York, 

 whilst normally the pupal existence lasts from 8-12 weeks. The 

 imagines emerge in the early evening, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and the males 

 fly about swiftly almost as soon as the wings are dry, the female 

 remaining very quiet until fertilised, and then flying somewhat heavily 

 when searching for a place to lay its eggs. In confinement the males 

 are rarely noticed to pair when on their evening flight, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., 

 but are generally seen in copula in the morning. Barrett notes that 

 they have a second active period late at night. They are strongly 

 attracted to light, although the females appear to be immune in this 

 direction, the latter sex also being rarely captured. Jefferys notes 

 taking one flying in the evening at Chagford, near Dartmoor, when 

 about to deposit ova on blackthorn. The insect loves the outskirts of 

 woods and thickets, or the sides of open ridges in the woods of southern 

 England, and here the larvae may be found sunning themselves in 

 May and June. But its habitats are widely different. It is found in 

 the woods on the chalk hills at Emsworth (Christy), on the black- 

 thorn bushes growing on the slopes between Benfleet and Southend, 

 and on the bushes on the sea-wall at Great Wakering (Whittle), 

 prefers pruned hawthorn bushes round Cambridge (Moss), and whilst 

 in Epping the larvae are to be found on the sloe-bushes in the open parts 



