TRIFID^E. ??9 



Pupa long and slender, a beaklike projection in front of 

 the head ; wing cases rather short, the wing nervures all 

 visible, and the surface between them quite dull from abun- 

 dant minute sculpturing of excessively fine and irregular 

 striaa ; limb covers smooth and shining, dorsal and abdominal 

 segments also glossy, but having each a rather broad anterior 

 band of scattered punctures; anal segment very bluntly 

 rounded olf, without a cremaster, but with two small spikes 

 a short distance apart, and very minute hairs round them ; 

 below them the anal scar is rather distinct ; colour bright 

 red-brown. In the larval tunnel in the hard lower portion 

 of the reed-stem, without a cocoon but with a diaphragm of 

 silk and pith at each end of the space, the hole for exit being 

 similarly closed. Sometimes several pupae are domiciled in 

 the stem of one large reed, and occasionally three or four may 

 even be found in the space between two knots. 



The moth doubtless hides by day among the reed-leaves, 

 but is rarely if ever seen at that time ; at late dusk it flies 

 about the reed-beds, but is sluggish, and from its dark colour 

 difficult to see in flight. There is a statement that it was 

 formerly taken at sugar, and this has quite recently been 

 confirmed, but, so far as I am aware, it is but little attracted 

 by any kind of food, or even by light. It has been said to be 

 a fen insect, but so far as I can ascertain does not frequent 

 the Norfolk fens, notwithstanding that its food plant is, in 

 them, so very abundant. Its favourite haunts are dense reed- 

 beds on river banks, in marshes, or at the back of salt 

 marshes, and it especially frequents reeds which grow in 

 ditches and watercourses. Formerly it was common in the 

 Hammersmith marshes, and until these were destroyed the 

 greater number of specimens obtained were from them. 

 Apparently it still occurs in suitable places in the Thames 

 Valley, especially in Berks and Middlesex , also in the 

 marshes near Brighton, Lewes, Hastings and elsewhere in 

 Sussex, at Clevedon, and plentifully near Weston-super- 



