276 [May, 



In habit o£ flight, N. hrevilinea is intermediate between the wild 

 dash of L. impura and the steadier motion of the true Nonagricd. 

 Before dark it begins to be on the move, and I have found 8.30 to 



9 p.m. the most " lively " time for it. During this half hour and the 

 next, on a favourable night, it affords much exercise to its would-be 

 captor. Early in the evening moths are never much attracted by light, 

 but the lamp serves to show everything that passes, and the Noctuce 

 generally diverge from their course enough to come within a long 

 reach as they dash by. During a trip last season, one of Mr. Barrett's 

 sons, who accompanied me, gifted with active legs and wielding a 

 mighty net, was particularly successful in this way. Making charges 

 out into the darkness beyond the circle of the lamp, and frantically 

 striking with the big net, he generally brought back his spoil. Before 



10 p.m. the first flight is over, and thenceforward during the night an 

 odd specimen may be taken now and then, usually coming straight to 

 the lamp, and secured with comparative ease ; when the morning is 

 beginning to dawn it flies again more freely, but the morning flight is 

 but a feeble imitation of that of the evening. Of course, these details 

 refer to a good night ; if the weather be unfavourable, scarcely a 

 specimen will be seen. 



Perhaps the insect most nearly resembling N. hrevilinea when on 

 the wing is L. impura (by no means so great a pest, by the way, in 

 the deep fens as might be imagined, while pallens is almost absent), 

 but a very little practice suffices to distinguish them, and the commoner 

 species is but little attracted to light. 



I have occasionally taken N. hrevilinea at rest, in cop., and also 

 flying in the open fen, but if one's captures depended on these 

 methods alone, it would still be a rarity in collections. 



In conclusion, I may say that, in common with almost all who are 

 acquainted with the species, I believe it should be transferred to the 

 genus Leucania, which in habits and form it far more closely re- 

 sembles ; and the discovery of the larva has made this belief as to the 

 propriety of its removal from the Nonagrice a certainty. The genus 

 Leucania itself, however, is a very heterogeneous one as to the larval 

 habit of the species it embraces. 



Paragon House, Norwich : 

 Afril, 1886. 



Nyssia hispidaria near Horsham. — When shooting near Horsham, March 20th, 

 I took a beautiful specimen of N. hispidaria ^ , at rest on an oak tree. — W. C. Boyd, 

 College Eoad, Cheehunt : April I5th, 1886. 



