PHYCITID.^—G YMNANCVLA. 



August or September till May ; on wormwood (Artemisia 

 ahsynthium), also sometimes on A. campcstris and A. viari- 

 tima ; feeding in the old tough root-stocks, burrowing under 

 the bark and piercing the solid stems with passages, when 

 approaching full growth eating into the pith of old stems. 

 Very much infested with parasitic Ii-hiirumons,hy which the 

 vast majority are destroyed. 



Pita slender, abdomen tapering but little, wing covers 

 long, smooth ; eye and antenna cases distinctly raised and 

 prominent, smooth and shining; anal segment blunt, 

 furnished with several lateral points, but the cremaster 

 hardly protruded, and armed with most minute bristles. 

 In a cocoon of white silk in the larval burrow, which has 

 been extended into the middle of an old stem. 



The moth doubtless hides among wormwood in the day- 

 time, but is rarely or never seen at that time, and certainly 

 does not respond to the beating-stick, except perhaps bj' 

 falling to the gi'ound. It flies at late dusk and will come 

 at night to a strong light ; but almost all the specimens in 

 collections have been reared from the larva or pupa state. 

 Probably overlooked in some districts, but known to occur in 

 the Isle of Wight, and in Devon, Dorset, Norfolk, Cambridge- 

 shire, Gloucestershire, and even Derbyshire ; and in South 

 Wales in Pembrokeshire ; but so far as is yet known, not 

 elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Abroad it is found 

 in Moravia, and other parts of Germany, Dalmatia, and 

 Russia. 



Genus 15. GYMNANCYLA. 



AntenniB simple, in the male the basal joint barrel- 

 shaped, thickened and strongly bent ; palpi blunt, rather 

 short but porrected, provided at the base with a tuft of 

 erectible hairs ; fore wings elongated, rather dilated behind ; 

 hind wings ample, vein 5 absent. 



We have only a single species. 



