240 [March, 1884. 



bottom, most commonly at top. It is very active, and o£ a dark sooty 

 or almost black colour, not so stumpy as ictericana, in fact, rather long 

 and thin, and wriggles out at the top of the tube when disturbed, so that 

 you require to be active to take it. The young leaves of the knap- 

 weed seem to be the most acceptable food." The larvae sent were 

 thickest in the middle, and when young, in the beginning of June, 

 of a pale silvery-grey, slightly darker on the back, pale yellowish 

 beneath, spots distinct, black, head and plates black. A fortnight 

 later smoky-black, more bluish-grey on the back, paler between the 

 segments, spots large, raised, shining black, head pale brown, blackish 

 at the hinder margin, plates black ; curls up when disturbed. On 

 Centaurea nigra and Flantago laoiceolata. Pupa blackish. 



I have not met with any record of the occurrence of this very 

 distinct species on the continent. Its nearest ally seems to be 

 styriacana, H.-S., a very pretty species, with white hind-wings, found 

 in Austria and Switzerland, but confounded by Wocke with the more 

 narrow- winged conspersana, Dg\., =^perter ana, Grn. My Grerman ex- 

 ample of Penziana, Hiib., also appears to represent a species of this 

 group — a very beautiful species, resembling our so-called Penziana in 

 colour and markings, but with broader wings. 



sinuana, Steph. — Fore-wing 5 lines by 2, Costa strongly arched 

 before the middle, then nearly straight to the apex, thus having a 

 remarkable resemblance in shape to a Peronea. It is also more silky 

 in its appearance, and more regularly and delicately reticulated with 

 grey scales than any other species. It varies very little in markings, 

 and the peculiar form of the abbreviated, pointed, curved, basal fascia 

 is extremely reliable. 



It is still a rare species, though widely distributed. The Rev. E. 

 N. Bloomfield has taken one near Hastings, and Mr. Grigg several 

 near Bristol, but it seems to occur more frequently in the Perthshire 

 highlands ; I have a record of one at Lochgoilhead, and it has been 

 taken by Mr. P. D. Wheeler and Mr. T. W. Salvage in the Blackwood 

 and on the mountains at Eannoch. The only record that I have of 

 its larva is from Mr. Sang, who took several of the moths near Burton- 

 on-Trent, and reared one from a larva found feeding in a web on 

 flowers of wild hyacinth. 



Por some reason which does not seem clear, this species is sunk 

 by AVocke as a synonym of pasivana, Iliib., which figure it does not 

 resemble at all. There is certainly no more reliable and cleaxdy 

 defined species in the genus. 



