8o LRPIDOl'TERA. 



colour is wliite and very distinct ; spiracles black ; imder- 

 surface oclireous dusted and shaded with fuscous, and having 

 a threadlike white middle line. (C. Fenn.) Variable in 

 colour; Mr. Buckler figures it pale grey, pale green, pale 

 yellow, and light red-brown ; the head agreeing in colour 

 with the body. 



August till Mayor June; or sometimes feeding up rapidly 

 in August, in which case a second generation of the larva 

 doubtless appears in October, to hyberuate and feed up in 

 the spring ; on knotgrass, groundsel, lettuce, Clemati% Galium, 

 chickweed, sorrel, violet, and the lower twigs of broom and 

 privet; feeding very slowly. Hofiuann adds Artcmisin, 

 Ruhia, Erica, and Lotu.s. A remarkably long, thin larva. 



Vvi'X yellowish-brown, not more fully described. 



The moth hides during the day in hedges and bushes, or 

 among coarse herbage and tall grasses, and is rather sluggish, 

 but if disturbed flutters away to a similar concealment ; its 

 ordinary flight is at dusk, and also later in the night, when 

 it comes readily to light. It is rather a common species in 

 lanes, waysides, and hedges, and also in rough places on hill- 

 sides ; but is most frequent upon the coast, and loves the 

 coarse gi-asses and rough herbage of the sea-sandhills. 

 Although seldom very abundant, it seems to occur throughout 

 Kngland, becoming more local or scarce in some parts of the 

 Midlands and of the Northern Counties, and hardly extending 

 north of Upper Teesdale, IJurham. In Wales it is jDrobably 

 widely distributed, since Mr. \'ivian has taken it at LlandaS" 

 and I found it on the coast of Pembrokeshire ; but I have no 

 record for Scotland. In Ireland it seems to be confined to 

 the more southern districts, Cork. Iverry, Wicklow, and 

 Dublin. Abroad it has an extensive range through Southern 

 and Eastern Europe to Gibraltar, the South and East of 

 Germany, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, and the mountain 

 regions of Central Asia. 



