SERICORID.-E—PENrHlNA. 375 



Antennffi black-brown ; palpi and head black-brown dusted 

 with brown ; thorax thick, black mixed with brownish white ; 

 abdomen rather stout, dark smoky brown. Fore wings some- 

 what broad ; costa arched ; apex squarely angulated ; hind 

 margin almost perpendicular; costa regularlj- spotted with 

 black-brown ; basal blotch much mottled- — blue-black and 

 tawny brown ; central band more brown ; both ragged at the 

 margins, and apparently united by a large bluish black cloud, 

 having at its base a streaked dull white spot ; hinder area 

 creamy white or reddish white, clouded toward the apex with 

 grey, and pale tawny, cloud}^ lines ; cilia creamy white 

 clouded with blue-grey. Hind wings rather glistening, 

 smoky brown with paler cilia. Female similar but larger. 



Underside of the fore wings pale leaden brown with 

 yellowish dots along the costa and hind margin. Hind 

 wings leaden-brown with a golden gloss. 



On the wing iVom June to August in a single generation. 



Larva active, plump, white ; head and dorsal plate black : 

 anal plate brown. 



September and October, and through the winter till June, 

 in the seed-heads of teazle {Dipsacus si/lvcdris) ; inhabiting 

 the middle sjjace within the seed-head which is filled with 

 pith ; apparently feeding upon this pith, and partiallj^ filling 

 the chamber with excrement ; here when becoming full fed, 

 it surrounds itself with a silken shroud, in which it ultimately 

 assumes the pupa state ; boring a round hole in the side of 

 the chamber leading to the seeds. There seems little doubt 

 that the seeds also are eaten. Said also to infest Dijjsacus 

 fidlonum. 



Pupa red-brown ; wing and limb-covers smooth and glossy ; 

 segments dull, each ringed with a close series of short stift' 

 firm bi'istles ; cremaster short, hardly projecting from the 

 rounded anal segment, but furnished with several short 

 points. In the larval habitation, in a soft white cocoon. 



