caterpillar of P. equestrata lives upon the Rhododendron hir- 

 sutuiriy which is not a native of our islands ; it must therefore 

 feed on more than one plant ; and it might be worth while to 

 search those Irish mountains on which the Azalea procumbens 

 grows, as it is the Jplant I should think the nearest allied to 

 Rhododendron of any that are indigenous. 



1. P. equestrata Fab. — Curt. Brit. Ent.jpl. 424. 



The two specimens I possess of this very rare and hand- 

 some moth were taken many years since by Mr. Plastead near 

 Holwood or Holywell, by Bromley in Kent ; and Mr. Dale 

 has another, which he obtained from the cabinet of the late 

 Dr. Abbot. It is very common on the Alps of Dauphiny in 

 July and August. 



2. P. trepidaria Hiib. Geo. pi. 66. / 343. ? . — Goda, v. 8. 



pars 1. pi. 208. 1. 



Blackish-brown, sprinkled with gray, superior wings 

 with a dark oblique fascia across the middle, the edges 

 crenated or sinuated, having a black dot towards the 

 costa, and an obscure sinuated pale striga near the 

 posterior margin : inferior wings with the base dark, 

 terminating in a crenated margin across the middle, 

 with a black dot towards the superior margin, and a 

 sinuated pale striga towards the posterior ; cilia gray- 

 ish black. 

 Dr. Hooker first discovered this moth "on the very summit 

 of Schecallion, one of the Breadalbane mountains, and 2564 

 feet above the level of the sea. At the time I took it (he adds) 

 the north and east sides of the neighbouring mountains, of 

 nothing like that elevation, were covered with snow : this was 

 on the 30th of June. Scarcely any other plant could vege- 

 tate but TricJiostomum lanuginosiim and a few patches of the fine 

 Splachnum fastigiatimi. The moth was rapid on wing, tole- 

 rably plentiful, and rendered doubly difficult to take from the 

 huge masses of naked rock with which the summit of Sche- 

 callion is covered, which rendered running dangerous, and 

 often impracticable." 



In our ramble through Scotland in 1825, Mr. Dale and 

 myself ascended Schecallion on the 11th July, in the hope of 

 finding this rare moth ; and my friend was so fortunate as to 

 capture a beautiful specimen which flew out from a crevice of 

 the rocks, that are so wildly piled together near the summit; 

 but we could not find another. In France it appears the end 

 of July or beginning of August. 



The Plant is Liniim catliartiaim (Purging Flax). 



