68 LEPIDOPTERA. 



broad, purplish-red ; spiracular line indistinct, greenish 

 yellow ; ventral segmental divisions yellow ; down the 

 middle of the undersurface is a whitish line ; skin wrinkled ; 

 back studded with numerous very short, stiff, bristly hairs. 

 (Rev. H. H. Crewe.) 



August and September : on the flowers of the wild thyme 

 {Thymus serpyllum), feeding at night. 



Pupa yellowish-green and olive ; enclosed in a slight earthea 

 cocoon. (Rev. H. H. C.) Not more fully described. 

 The winter is passed in this condition. 



The moth loves the firm settled portions of sea-sand- 

 hills where wild thjane grows in masses, and similar spots on 

 limestone or chalk hills and downs, any rough dry ground 

 indeed in which thyme is plentiful. Here it hides in the 

 cover of dwarf sallow, or any rough plants which afford 

 shelter, as well as in the thyme beds, and is easily disturbed, 

 in hot sunshine, by the footstep or the beating stick, flying 

 instantly away with swiftness, close to the ground, so that a 

 quick eye as well as hand is required for its capture. Its 

 natural flight at dusk is not so frequentlj- noticed. Locally 

 common in the Isle of Wight, and in Sussex, Dorset, Corn- 

 wall, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bucks, the Isle of Man,- 

 Derbyshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Westmore- 

 land, and once taken in Northumberland. In Wales Mr. 

 Vivian records in the peninsula of Gower, and Mr. Walker at 

 Colwyn Bay. In Scotland it occurs on the coast of Wig- 

 townshire, on trap rocks in Ayrshire, and elsewhere in the 

 Clyde district, in those of the Forth, Tay, and West Ross, 

 and has been taken b}^ Mr. A. F. Griffiths in the Hebrides. 

 In Ireland it has a very considerable distribution, particu- 

 larly on the coast, and is recorded from near Dublin in plenty, 

 also from Wicklow, Cork, Kerry, Galway, Sligo, Louth. Down, 

 Tyrone, Armagh and Derry. 



Abroad it seems to be little known or not generally recog- 

 nised ; it is reported from Central Germany and Bavaria,. 



