The caterpillar, which feeds on birch and sallow in April and May, is purplish brown above, and obscure greenish beneath; there are three lines along the back, the central one white and distinct, the others less defined but noticeable on the black plate on ring nearest the head; on each side of the central line are blackish marks; head, ochreous brown, streaked with black. The moth flies in July and August, and is partial to sugar and to the flowers of heather and ragwort. Its chief British quarters appear to be in Yorkshire, in which county it was first noted in 1841; thence it extends into Lancashire, Cumberland, and Durham, but is local and scarce in the latter county. Southwards it is found in the counties of Cheshire (locally not uncommon on moors and mosses), Derby, Nottingham, Stafford, Shropshire, Warwick, Gloucester (rarely); more locally in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent (once at West Wickham). In 1896 it occurred in numbers in the New Forest, Hants, and I believe that a solitary specimen was secured in Hayling Island in 1901. In Scotland it occurs up to Inverness and Aberdeen; and Kane states that in Ireland it is doubtfully recorded from Londonderry, but that he has seen lovely forms of the species from Killarney. It also occurs in Co. Wicklow. The range abroad extends to Siberia, Amurland, and Mongolia. {8} THE DINGY SHEARS (_Dyschorista fissipuncta_). In its typical form this species (Plate 4, Fig. 4) has the fore wings pale greyish brown, but occasionally they assume a reddish tinge. Var. _corticea_, Esp., is of the latter colour, and has the black edges of the claviform extended to beyond the middle of the wing. In another form the fore wings are dark grey brown (Fig. 5), leading up to var. _nigrescens_, Tutt, with blackish fore wings and the hind wings darker than usual. Besides the forms just mentioned, I have a bred specimen from Canterbury in which the fore wings are of a pale whity brown, with very faint markings, and the hind wings are almost white; it is rather below the average size, and possibly is an abnormal aberration. This species is the _ypsilon_ of Borkhausen, and the _upsilon_ of other authors. The caterpillar is brown, sometimes inclining to reddish marked with black above, and the under surface is paler; there are three pale lines along the back, and one low down along each side; head, pale brown freckled with darker brown. It feeds in April and May on willows, chiefly the narrow-leaved kind, and also, although less frequently perhaps, on poplar. These caterpillars may often be found in the daytime under loose bark of the willow, or lurking among grass roots or _debris_ around the trunk. (Fig. 1 on Plate 3 is from a coloured drawing by Mr. A. Sich.)