34 LEPIDOPTERA. 



August till ^lay on Hclianthemuvi vulijare, feeding only 

 upon the withered, and sometimes decayed, leaves, never 

 upon those which are growing ; probalily upon other low- 

 growing plants, since in confinement it will feed up on 

 similarly decayed leaves oi Polygonum (triciclmr and T/ii/iii"s 

 scrpyl/um. Mr. Feun says that it is extremely sluggish, and 

 seems to pass its life in nibbling bits of dead and mouldy leaf ; 

 also that in repose it rests in the form of the figure 2. 



Pur A apparently undescribed. 



The moth hides during the day among grass, low herbage, 

 or scrubby bushes of privet, i-esting with wings ilatly pressed 

 to the underside of a leaf. If disturbed it flutters away to 

 a similar hiding place. Its natural flight at dusk is also 

 weak and very quiet. An exceedingly local species in this 

 country, principally confined to Durdham Down, near Bristol, 

 where, upon chalky and rocky ground of a hilly and broken 

 character, it has long been found to exist in tolerable numbers, 

 and desjnte incessant persecution appears still to maintain 

 itself. This locality is in Gloucestershire, and the insect has 

 been obtained, rarely, in the adjacent County of Somerset ; 

 also in Berks, near Newbury, wliere it has been taken by Miss 

 Kimber ; and at Chalfont St. Peter, Bucks, where the Rev. 

 J. S. St. John found it to be not very rare. The records at 

 Stoke Wood, Devon, and of two specimens in Dorset, have 

 not been contradicted, and may be accurate ; and I have 

 myself examined a specitnen which was taken by the Rev. 

 Henry Williams near Thetford, Norfolk. It seems, therefore, 

 allowable to suspect that this species may be more widely 

 distributed, but overlooked from its close resemblance to 

 A. dilnUiria. Abroad it is found in France, (Germany, 

 Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, the Balkan States, 

 Bithynia and Asia Minor. 



13. A. incanaria, Hii.h. ; virgularia, Stainton, Stand. 

 Cnt. — Expanse i to '^ inch. All the wings pale grey, whitish- 



