330 LEPIDOPTERA. 



o. A. tesserana, Srhiff.; aleella. Stand. Cat. — Expanse 

 ^ to g inch (12-lG mm.). Fore wings not broad, verj- 

 blunt, orange-red with four large squared pale yellow spots. 



AntenmB ciliated, simple, black-brown ; palpi, head, and 

 thorax orange-red or reddish-yellow ; abdomen dull black. 

 Fore wings not broad, very blunt, the hind margin rounded 

 and hardly oblique ; dull orange-red or terra-cotta, v/ith two 

 large yellow spots on the dorsal margin, the outer triangular, 

 and two more, rather smaller, and placed obliquely beyond, 

 on the costa, the four occupying the greater part of the 

 wing; cilia yellow, intersected by a red line. Hind wings 

 broad, smoky brown ; cilia whiter. Female similar. 



Underside of the fore wings smoky black, with yellow 

 cilia ; a white costal dot, and a white dash along the dorsal 

 margin. Hind wings leaden-white. 



Extremely variable ; the two dorsal spots are sometimes 

 obscured or even entirely absent ; often all the four spots 

 are so enlarged that the ground colour remains only as an 

 edging of lines, or there are, in addition, leaden lines ; 

 sometimes the colours are reversed, the ground becoming 

 yellow and the spots red ; or, on the other hand, the red is 

 wholly absent. 



On the wing from May till August, doubtless in two 

 generations. 



Larva perhaps not described. Mr. Thurnall lias reared a 

 good number from larva? collected the previous autumn in 

 roots of Helminth'm cchioidcs and Picris hicracioides on a rail- 

 way bank. But Gartner describes very carefully a larva 

 which he found feeding in the heads of Centanrca ochrolcuca, 

 which pupated in the ground. It seems doubtful whether this 

 can belong to the same species. 



The moth loves rough stonj- ground, railway banks, 

 quarries, hill-sides and fields of coarse vegetation, as well as 

 open parts of woods, and is widely distributed. It flies 



