18 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



the last, not putting in an appearance until 

 February. It appears to prefer open 

 woodland where there is little undergrowth. 

 The only locality where I know it occurs 

 in this district is the Bishop's Park, Bishop 

 Auckland ; it does not occur in any of the 

 Denes or denser woods in my more 

 immediate neighbourhood, where dense 

 undergrowth affords abundant shelter. In 

 the Bradford district the same thing obtains. 

 In the wood where Mr. Carter obtains it 

 most abundantly, there is no undergrowth, 

 while in another immediately adjacent, 

 though there are plenty of oak trees, there 

 is also an abundance of underwood, and 

 comparatively few leucqphearia are found. 

 Mr. Carter believes they emerge from 

 pupa about mid day, when they crawl up 

 the trunks of oak trees to expand their 

 wings and remain there till their evening 

 hour of flight. They generally sit within 

 easy reach, and may be boxed without 

 trouble unless the day be very bright, when 

 the collectors approach occasionally disturbs 

 them. The females are less easy to find, 

 and conceal themselves by day in the 

 crevices of the bark. 



The forewings of the male of this species 

 have a whitish ground colour, the lines 

 tolerably distinct, and the whole mottled 

 and marbled with grey brown. It has a 

 strong tendency to vary so as to leave the 

 central portion of the wings white, and 

 examples are quite common which might be 

 described as having a dark basal patch, 

 being white between the lines, and dark 

 beyond. This extreme form has a very 

 different appearance to the mottled speci- 

 mens. It also appears as though the dark 

 scales, wanting in the central portion of the 

 wing in these forms were all condensed in 

 the other parts, which are also generally 

 darker in these examples. I have one with 

 the basal patch and hind margin nearly black, 

 Mr. Carter has one quite so, and doubtless 

 similar specimens exist in other collections. 



I speak of the insect having a tendency to 

 vary in this direction, because I have never 

 seen or heard of other varieties. It might 

 be expected that examples would occur 

 with the wings all dark or all light, and I 

 should be glad to know if any such exist. I 

 expect those named above are the form 

 called marmorinaria by Esper. 



The larva is green, the usual lines white 

 or yellow. It varies considerably in colour, 

 and is sometimes marbled with whitish 

 spots with darker edges, or marked with 

 dark brown spots on the back, &c, &c. It 

 feeds on oak principally, Merrin adds 

 Maple, and Owen Wilson, Elm. It changes 

 on the surface of the ground. 



AURANTIARIA. 

 The Scarce Umber. 

 This is an Autumn species, beginning to 

 emerge about the end of October, and in an 

 open season may be found till near 

 Christmas. Like Leucqphearia they emerge 

 during the day, and the males may be taken 

 at night resting on tree trunks, grass, &c, 

 &c. It does not fly much, unless the night 

 be very mild. Sometimes they may be 

 found on lamps near trees ; so far as my 

 experience goes, they only go to light on 

 calm dark mild nights. During the day 

 they conceal themselves more than the last 

 species, but bestir themselves almost dusk, 

 but I have seen it flying in the sun at mid- 

 day. The females are more active later 

 on, and at 9 or 10 o'clock may be found 

 crawling about the branches and twigs. 

 During the day the female must be sought 

 in the crevices of the bark. They cannot be 

 mistaken for those of defoliaria, as the 

 latter are quite apterous, while the females 

 of aurantiaria have narrow orange coloured 

 wings. 



The male expands over an inch and a 

 half. The forewings are yellowish ochreous 

 dusted with darker specks, the lines are 

 generally distinct, and the space between 



