LARENTIDAL—PELURGA. 305 



except tlie abdominal divisions, wliicli are browner, and the 

 anal segment and creniaster, which are blackened. In the 

 earth in a very slight cocoon, almost always in a spot where 

 the soil is loose and dry, under some shelter. 

 The winter is passed in this condition. 



The moth sits during the day among its food-plants, espe- 

 cially in the thickest masses, and usually under a leaf ; its 

 wings widely spread and raised above the level, the hind 

 concealed and drawn away from the abdomen, which is con- 

 spicuously and curiously curled up. It may be disturbed by 

 trampling among the plants, but is sluggish and unwilling 

 to take Hight, and creeps away under the plants, or if it tlies 

 settles again quickly, sometimes on the ground among loose 

 clods of earth. At dusk it flies naturally, but not swiftly, 

 comes occasionally to flowers, and later in the night to a 

 strong light. Its favourite haunts are neglected gardens, 

 waste places by the wayside, and especially waste sandy spots 

 near salt marshes on the coast ; always among its food 

 plants. Still to be found in the southern suburbs of 

 London, and apparently in suitable places throughout 

 England, abundantly in some of the Southern, and esjiecially 

 in the Eastern Counties ; local in the Midlands, absent from 

 districts of heavy clay, and almost so from woodlands and 

 meadows. In Wales the only records that I And are in 

 Glamorganshire and Flintshire ; in Scotland it is found 

 mainly in southern districts — Wigtown, Berwickshire, and 

 Fife, also in the Clyde valley, possibly in Arran, and certainly 

 in the north, in Sutherlandshire. In Ireland generally 

 distributed on suitable soils, and abundant almost all round 

 the coast. Abroad its range is through Central Europe, the 

 greater portion of Northern Europe. Northern Italy, 

 Roumania, Southern Russia, Eastern Siberia, and the 

 mountainous regions of Central Asia. 



VOL. VIII. 



