trifida:. 83 



Pupa moderately stout and nearly cylindrical, though a 

 little swollen at the thorax and wing covers, which are 

 short ; in front of the head is a projection like a beak ; 

 abdomen long, anal segment sloped off so as to form an 

 obtuse dorsal ridge with granulated surface, having two 

 minute blunt projections wide apart and a few small bristles 

 between them. Colour at first pale whitish-green, changes 

 gradually to brown, so that in four days the head, thorax, 

 and wing covers are dark shining mahogany-brown and the 

 abdomen bright pale ochreous ; but four days before the 

 emergence of the moth the whole surface changes to a dark 

 purplish-red. In the stem in which the larva last fed, in a 

 perpendicular position. (Buckler.) 



The moth doubtless hides in the daytime among the dead 

 leaves at the base of its food plants. It flies in very early 

 dusk or even before, since Mr. Sydney Webb states most 

 definitely that its flight is for an hour from 6 P.m., when it 

 may be captured on the wing in its very few haunts. These 

 are, so far as I am aware, and as these Islands are concerned, 

 only in the county of Kent. The first specimens obtained 

 seem to have been reared from larvte found by Mr. Sydney 

 Webb in that county in 1879, in one or two restricted and 

 very marshy spots ; and many more were taken in several 

 subsequent years by Mr. Webb, Mr. W. E. Jeffrey and 

 others, though with extreme difficulty, since it was at times 

 necessary to wade in water more than mid-leg deep to reach 

 their haunts. Recently from some cause the insect seems to 

 have become much more scarce. A single specimen was 

 taken on the wing in a garden at Deal in 1894 by Mrs. 

 Meldola. This I have seen in the cabinet of her son, 

 Professor Raphael Meldola. 



Abroad it ranges through the greater part of Central 

 Europe, Northern Italy, and Southern and Eastern Russia. 



3. N. typhas, Esp. ; arundinis, Stand. Cat. — Expanse 

 If to 2^ inches. Fore wings elongated, rather broad behind, 



