CRAM B JD.E— CHAM HL 'S. 75 



by sharply angiilated brown streaks forming portions of two 

 very oblique brown zigzag lines or stripes, bent back and 

 edged with white to the costa, and more faintly to the dorsal 

 margin ; beyond these the longitudinal white stripe is ex- 

 panded, and it reaches the hind margin, which otherwise is 

 edged with minute black dots ; cilia shining brown. Hind 

 wings ample, rounded behind ; pale smoky brown ; cilia 

 concolorous. Female similar. 



Underside of the fore wings smoky grey, with a white 

 streak along the costa before the apex ; hind wings smoky 

 white. Body and legs greyish-brown. 



On the wing in July and August. 



Larva and Pupa unknown. 



The moth hides during the day among Amiiuiphila and 

 other grasses on the sea-sandhills, which here are its only 

 resorts, and is usually unwilling to move, though shai-p and 

 swift in its zigzag flight when actually aroused. My most 

 instructive experience of it was on the coast at Hunstanton, 

 Norfolk, in August, 1888 ; I had captured, with much 

 trampling and beating of the grass-tufts, during some hours, 

 three specimens, when a sudden and sharp thunder-shower 

 came on. Immediately upon the cessation of the rain, one 

 of these little moths started up close to me, and in the course 

 of an hour or two 1 had secured a score of specimens. Excejifc 

 on this occasion it hardly ever occurred more than singly. 

 At dusk it flies of its own accord, but is not easily seen in 

 flight, though it may be taken at the flowers of ragwort. 



It was first noticed in these Islands in 1871, when Mr. 

 Moncreaff took several specimens on the sandy coast near 

 Portsmouth, and in subsequent years it was found to Ije 

 fairly common in that district. In recording it Dr. H. G. 

 Ivnaggs naively remai'ks : " It is never found in Alpine dis- 

 tricts — hence, I presume, its name." Still a very local species 

 with us, found at Portsea, Southsea and Hayling Island, 

 Hants; the Isle of iPurbeck, Dorset; Deal, Kent; antl 



