ISO r August, 



enialler, ones ventrallj, besides a few stiff ochreous bristles. The free abdominal 

 segments in the pupa described, which was doubtless a male, were the 4th, 5th, 

 and 6tli. 



The cocoon, which is of remarkable length as compared with the 

 size of the pupa, measures about 9 — 10 mm. long, by 2 mm. wide, and 

 about 2 mm. high : it is narrowly elliptical in shape, rounded above, 

 highest in the middle, and gradually sloping down at each end. 

 Externally the surface is rough, dirty buff in colour, but if the cocoon 

 is cut open, it is seen to be smooth, polished, and whitish, internally. 

 The cocoon is extremely tough, and probably water-tight, so as to 

 protect the larva and pupa from any risk of being drowned by high 

 tides. 



The moths, ten in number, emerged June llth to 17th, between 

 9 and 11 a.m. as a rule, and showed great variation from the nearly 

 unicolorous non-silvery form to the form with a bright silvery ground 

 and very strongly defined dark fascia and markings, which has been 

 erroneously supposed to be confined, in Britain, to the " Fen " districts. 

 There must, I think, be at least two broods during the season, for the 

 moths abound in our south-coast saltmarshes in May, June, July, and 

 August. 



Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, who bred a few imagines in 1S86 from 

 larvae found at Shoreham, Sussex, was, to the best of my belief, the 

 first to discover the food-plant and larva of this species, but the 

 suggestion that TrigJoclun maritimum might be the food-plant was 

 made to him by Mr. AV^. VV^arren, who was aware that, as stated by 

 Mr. C. G. Barrett in Ent. Mo. Mag., xi, 193 (1875), the insect in 

 Germany occurred in marshy meadows among Triglochin palustre. 

 Vectisana, though so abundant in many of our saltmarshes, has been 

 found in very few inland localities in this country : I have specimens 

 taken by Mr. W. Farren in Wicken Fen, and by Dr. H. H. Corbett 

 in a marsh at Doncaster, and have no doubt that in its inland haunts 

 the larva feeds on Triglochin palustre, which I believe occurs in 

 Wicken Fen, and certainly grows in plenty in the Doncaster locality 

 for the moth. 



Meyrick, HB. Br. Lep., 549 (1895), says of vectisana — " Larva 

 in flower-heads of Plantago marifitna,'" but I do not think that any 

 particle of evidence can be produced in support of this statement, 

 which perhaps embodies some old entomological myth, and is, we 

 believe, certainly erroneous. 



The Close, Salisbury : 



Jii/i/ 12/'/*, 1899. 



