ANERASTHD^E-ANERASTrA 67 



all the legs rather small in proportion, thou<?h perfecth- 

 developed. {\\ . Buckler.) 



May and June— but probably from the previous autumn— 

 on the roots of AmmopMla arundinnmt. Aim arncscens 

 Fe^Wra orl,,,, S.rah cerealr (rye) and probably other grasses] 

 eating out the subterranean stems, residino- in a firm'strong 

 tube of silk and sand, affixed to the crown of the root, and 

 having similar, appended, short tubes tightly filled with frass. 

 These are sometimes exposed to view by the blowing away 

 of the sand, but usually are quite beneath its surface.^ 



Pl-pa slender, very smooth-skinned, i^iale yellow. In a 

 stout cocoon, shaped like a skittle-pin, of silk and sand, 

 l.vmg in the sand, near to, but not connected with, the 

 larval tube. 



The moth sits during the day on the lower portions of 

 stems, or in the tufts, of its favourite grasses ; but is readily 

 disturbed, flying a short distance to a similar hiding place. 

 At dusk- it flies freely of its own accord. Usuallv restricted 

 to the sandhills of the sea-coast, where it is common, but 

 also found on the ancient coast district of the Itreck-sands 

 —now far removed from the sea— in Norfolk, Suffolk and 

 Cambridgeshire. Here it may probablv attack the rye, 

 winch is grown largely on this loose sandy soil, but there is 

 110 indication that it seriously damages the crop, though 

 this is well known to be the case on the Continent. It 

 IS worthy of notice that when at rest on the grass or corn 

 stem with wings closely wrapped round it, it not only bears 

 a close resemblance to some of the abundant species of 

 Crambus which attect similar situations, but is even more 

 accurately like the yellow-brown sheath of the grass, and is 

 doubtless thereby greatly protected. Besides the peculiar 

 inland locality mentioned above, it is found on sandhills, 

 wherever they exist, on the coasts of England and Wales! 

 possibly with the exception of Northumberland; and iu 

 Scotland on those of Wigtownshire and Ayrshire. In Ireland 



