72 [March, 1907. 



The typical habitat for K. hyerana is a more or less dry hill 

 slope, which is pretty well burnt up when the moth emerges in 

 August and September. The Asphodel itself, and most herbaceous 

 material, is represented by dry and dead stems and leaves, and it is 

 at once evident that the dominant influence on the colour of the 

 moth will be very similar to that exercised by dead reeds on our 

 " Wainscots " and other marsh insects ; H. hyerana, as regards colour, 

 might very well be one of these. At La Plage the habitat is not the 

 actual shore, but open spaces amongst wooded sandhills, intervening 

 between the beach and a marshy country within. This would afford 

 very fair " Wainscot " coloration. The hill country at Costebelle 

 and the Maurettes is different, the plants here also affect open spaces, 

 but the open spaces are well grown up with a shrubby undergrowth 

 of cistus, heath, lentisk, &c. I suggest, therefore, thac here the 

 moth finds a resting place on stems of various shrubs or amongst 

 their leaves, most of them being evergreens, largely to the exclusion 

 of the dead and dry grassy and herbaceous material, which it finds 

 abundantly enough at La Plage, and almost exclusively at most of 

 the habitats atTaormina, Capri, &c., where I have found it. At Capri, 

 where the palest form occurs, there are no trees or shrubs anywhere 

 near the locality in which I took the larvae, and where the moths pro- 

 bably rest on dead Asphodel leaves, grass, &c., of the palest hay- 

 colour. 



I have asked Mr. Eaine and Mr. Powell whether there is any 

 recognised difference of climate between La Plage and the Maurettes. 

 One would expect that there should be some of the nature one usually 

 finds between the actual coast and hills five miles or so inland. Mr. 

 Eaine tells me that there is no " recognised difference in the climate 

 of La Plage and Hyeres, except that the air near the sea is said to be 

 more exciting than that of Hyeres. * * I think it is always cooler 

 along the sea-shore than inland." Mr. Powell (Nov. 8th) says : " The 

 Maurettes get a little more rain than La Plage, and rather more 

 cloud ; I cannot find any weather and temperature records of La 

 Plage, but 1 have frequently known rain to fall over Hyeres and the 

 mountains behind, when none or very little has fallen at La Plage; at 

 this time of year (the rainy sen son) both places get about the same 

 amount. It is particularly in late spring and early summer that 

 there is a difference ; then the storms that form nearly every day 

 over the high mountains to the north and north-west often spread 

 down in our direction, giving cloud and sometimes rain or hail, but 

 they very rarely extend to the sea-coast, at any rate, the coast of the 



