/, OZOPERID.'E— CONCH \ 'LIS. 279 



with black-browu. Hind wings Smoky white with white 

 cilia, or else partially white. Female similar but without 

 the costal fold and having the hind wings wholly smoky 

 black. 



Underside of the fore wings smokj' black with a whitish 

 dash in the discal cell, and another at the anal angle ; costa 

 dotted with white. Hind wings smoky white. Usually not 

 variable but iu certain districts, as, on the coast of Sussex, 

 the I'emales have the thorax and fore wings tinged with 

 rusty red. 



On the wing in May and early iu -June in the south, in 

 June iu the north, in one generation ouly. 



Larva white; head pale brown; dorsal and anal plates 

 black ; doi'sal and spiracular lines pale rust-colour and well 

 marked ; below the spiracular are two other rust-coloured 

 lines, the lower one running along the base of the legs and 

 prolegs ; raised dots pale rust-colour. 



July and the beginning of August; on bluebell {^Agvophis 

 nutans), feeding within a seed-vessel ; usually finding 

 sufficient food in a single capsule, but, if not, removing 

 to another, and concealing the hole of entrance with silk. 

 It leaves the seed-head when full grown, and goes to a piece 

 of rotten or soft wood or a dead oak-gall or dry umbelliferous 

 stem, bores its way in, swallowing the gnawings, and there 

 assumes the pujia state. 



The moth frequents open vvoodlands where the common 

 bluebell is plentiful, and the male flies swiftly iu the sun- 

 shine, in the morning as well as in the afternoon ; at this time 

 the whiteness of its hind wings and underside gives it a 

 conspicuously white appearance. Often abundant in suit- 

 able places throughout the southern and eastern counties of 

 England, also in Herefordshire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lanca- 

 shire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Oumberlaud. In Wales my 

 onh' record is in Pembrokeshire ; in Scotland in the Edin- 

 burgh and Clyde districts, and Aberdeenshire ; and in 



