LARENTIU.-E—PHIBAI. AFTER \ 'X. 337 



at Burwell Fen. Cambridgeshire. Dr. F. D. Wheeler says, 

 " Mr. Brown, of Oanibridtje (now deceased), informed me that 

 he used to take it abundantly, Hying in the afternoon, at 

 Burwell Fen, and in a spot between it and Wicken, but not 

 in the latter fen." Mr. Alfred Balding writes : "The late 

 Mr. F. Bond found it in the greatest profusion at Burwell : 

 he frequently had five or six specimens in his net at one 

 time. He used at that time to take it at Wicken Fen 

 occasionally, but since its habitat at Burwell has been 

 destroyed he has not seen it at Wicken." Burwell Feu was 

 drained and ploughed up about forty years ago. Since that 

 date, so far as I know, this insect has not been seen in these 

 Islands. There is a very curious account in the .En/omuloijist's 

 Weekly Intelligencer for May 19, 1860, of the capture of 

 specimens of this insect at sallow-bloom on the Fells of 

 Westmoreland ; but there can be little or no doubt that the 

 writer was mistaken as to the species. No contradiction, 

 however, I think, ever appeared, nor any confirmation. 

 Bristol has been recorded as a locality by all recent writers, 

 but the single specimen recorded from that district, on which 

 this was based, turns out to be P. fluviata. An unfortunate 

 error in Nevvman's " British Moths," whereby the figures of 

 this and the following species were transposed, has caused 

 the present species to be reported from various other districts, 

 but in each case the insects captured have proved, on exami- 

 nation, to be P. lirjnnta ; and I am firmly persuaded that the 

 only known locality for this pretty species in these islands 

 has been the Fens of Cambridgeshire, and that it has long 

 been there extinct. 



Abroad it is found over the greater part of Central 

 Europe, though, I think, not commonly ; in middle and 

 Northern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, South-eastern Russia, Tar- 

 tary, and Japan. 



3. P. lignata, Ifiih. ■. vittata, Slmul. Cat. — Expanse 

 1 to 1^ inch. Fore wings whitish-brown with two oblique 



VUL. VIII. Y 



