I30 LEPIDOPTERA. 



nished with two very minnte thorny points and curly-tipped 

 bristles: colour at first light brown, then reddish-brown, in 

 twenty-four hours dark mahogany-brown, and later brownish- 

 black ; surface rather shining. In the old reed stem in 

 which it has hidden as a larva during the day, the only 

 preparation made for pupation being by spinning a diaphragm 

 of silk across the hollow stem. Mr. Buckler shows that two 

 or more pupte in succession lie in the same stem, their heads 

 toward the open end, but he did not find that a hole was 

 made in the side for exit, and suggested that the hinder 

 occupant might be compelled to wait until the emergence of 

 the foremost. It seems improbable, however, that this would 

 occur in nature, where empty reed-stems are so abundant. 



The moth is never observed in the daytime ; probably it 

 hides among dead reed-leaves and herbage on the ground. 

 Its flight at night is gentle, yet fairly strong, not usually 

 about reed-beds but over the herbage and smaller reeds in 

 the firmer portions of the fens. Moreover, it very quickly 

 settles down to rest upon the reeds, and may be captured 

 either singly or in pairs by the aid of a lantern. Later it 

 again flies and comes readily to light, but does not seem to 

 be attracted by any kind of food. 



The first record in this country seems to be by Curtis, in 

 1829, of a specimen taken " near Lewisham, towards Lee." 

 The growth of London has now absorbed both Lee and 

 Lewisham, and closely united them by continuous building; 

 yet it hardly seems likely that there was ever a suitable spot 

 between them for this strictly fen-loving insect, and it only 

 became well known here on the discovery of its real home in 

 the fens around Whittlesea Mere. When these were drained 

 it was for a time lost, so that the capture of a specimen in 

 June 1870, at light, at Brandon on the borders of Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, came somewhat as a surprise. But in 1876 it 

 was found to be an inhabitant of Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, 

 and in that restricted locality considerable numbers have 



