196 [.February, 



and my interest in it increasing, I again visited the spot in about ail 

 week when I found three rather larger examples, and again two morel 

 of them on the 20th of June while getting fresh tufts of the food-1 

 plant, and in the same way subsequently two others ; the larvae when! 

 found varied in length from a quarter of an inch to an inch, and then! 

 only when approaching their last moult could I suspect what species! 

 they were, though when they neared full growth my previous suspicion! 

 ripened into certainty of their identity, which in August following! 

 was confirmed when I bred the eight moths, comprising the usuallj 

 sexual varieties of colouring, from the 4th to 20th of the month. 



The habit of this larva is to feed on the bleached portions of the! 

 grass close to the soil, and to spin for itself there a case of whitish! 

 silk closely and firmly invested with the food-plant which forms at! 

 once a snug dwelling and protection, and in most instances the shelter! 

 afforded by a stone was utilized, even within a few inches of salt! 

 water ; it rather surprised me to find this species in such a littoral! 

 habitat, never having met with it before, though I had known the! 

 moth taken at light in a grassy place bordering a wood four miles! 

 away inland, and understood that it occurred commonly on open moors! 

 and other similar localities in many parts of the kingdom. 



The young larva, when a quarter of an inch to three-eighths inl 

 length, is of ivory-whiteness striped longitudinally with purplish-l 

 crimson, the head white with black ocelli and dark brown mouth f 

 after a moult in about five days later it assumes a little more colour,' 

 when the head is pale whity-brown as are also the neck and tail plates,: 

 each plate having two pairs of minute blackish-brown dots, the ground 

 colour -of the body is a faint greenish-drab, which shows transversely 

 at the segmental divisions and in the wrinkles, as well as in the 

 broadish dorsal stripe, the sub-dorsal and lateral stripes and the whole 

 of the belly, the alternating dark stripes are now of crimson-brown, 

 broadest along the back of which they mark the boundary, the two 

 below on the side are narrower and follow the sub-dorsal and lateral 

 ones, the spiracles occurring at the bottom of the lowest. 



On attaining nearly the length of an inch, its stoutish form is 

 noticeably stoutest at the third and fourth segments, the darker colour- 

 ing of the back and side stripes is now changed to pinkish-grey, and 

 that of the paler stripes to a light rather greenish flesh tint, the 

 shining head is of a warm flesh colour and dark brownish at the 

 mouth, the glossy neck-plate is light yellowish-brown rather inclining^ 

 to orange, thinly outlined with blackish-brown, but thicker at the front 

 margin, where it is wavy within ; the anal plate is of the same colour 



