154 LEPIDOPTERA. 



stripe of oclii'eoas ground colour edged below with reddish- 

 brown, and again with pale ochreous in fine threadlike 

 stripes ; below this is a broad brown lateral stripe, at the 

 lower edge of which are the black spiracles, and below them 

 a broad pale ochreous sti-ipe ; undersurface and legs ochreous- 

 grey ; head brown streaked and mottled with blackish ; 

 ordinary raised dots, where visible, black. The chief dis- 

 tinguishing character by which this larva can be separated 

 from those of L. liiliargi/ria and L. imjmra is the additional 

 line between the dorsal and subdorsal. (W. Buckler.) 



June to August on Dad //I is r/lomcrata and other grasses, 

 feeding at night and hiding itself at the base of the stem of 

 the grass in the daytime. 



The young larva is active and ]-estless, crawling about and 

 suspending itself by a thread from the grass tips, but soon 

 settles down, and eating from the very top of the blade, 

 quickly makes a very distinct impression on a tuft of its food 

 plant. 



Pupa smooth, brown. Not further described. In a brittle 

 cocoon beneath the surface of the ground ; but whether the 

 winter is passed by the larva within this cocoon, or by the 

 pupa, is not yet ascertained. 



The moth hides in the daytime among grass and herbage 

 close to the ground. At dusk it flies, and is strongly attracted 

 by sugar, honeydew, the blossoms of rhododendron, red 

 valerian, thistle and other flowers ; it also loves to fly over 

 long grass in the neighbourhood of woods, and in meadows 

 and waysides. Later at night it will come readily to light. 

 It seems to be rather scarce in Cornwall, but otherwise is 

 generally distributed, and often abundant, over the Southern 

 half of England, and in suitable places in Wales to Pem- 

 brokeshire. Further north it is more local, and in some 

 degree more attached to the coast ; this is particularly the 

 case in Lancashire and Cheshire, where it is rare inland, 

 but in Derbyshire and other parts of the Keith Midlands it 



