BOARMIDyE—A SPILA TES. 37 



the edge of the concave side of the grass. It would then 

 fly away and repeat the process elsewhere, but, if alarmed, 

 mount high into the air and fly to a considerable distance. 

 The grass most frequently chosen appeared to be Brachy- 

 podium sylvatiawK yet, curiously enough, the resulting young 

 larva? declined to feed on this or any other grass, and accepted 

 Polygonum avicularc and Lotus. 



Excessively local in this country, and only to be found 

 in numbers in a few localities in Kent— from some of which 

 it is rapidly disappearing— rare in Sussex and Dorset ; once 

 taken in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire by the Rev. 

 Joseph Greene, and once in Hertfordshire by the Rev. 

 G. H. Raynor. Curtis recorded it — besides Kent— near 

 Langport, Somerset, and in the Holt Woods near Stourton 

 Caundle, Dorset. A locality in Ireland, recorded by the late 

 Mr. E. Birchall, was, in all probability, given in error. I 

 know of no localities for it, other than those enumerated, in 

 the United Kingdom. Abroad, though very local, it is 

 widely distributed in Europe, and is found in Asia Minor 

 Bithynia, and Tartary. 



Genus 17. ASPILATES. 



Antennas of the male pectinated, rather short; palpi 

 prominent ; head and thorax roughened with long silky 

 scales ; abdomen long, smooth ; fore wings elongated, bluntly 

 pointed, rather narrowly trigonate ; hind wings decidedly 

 elongated, ample. 



Larvae elongate, attenuated a little in front, not distinctly 

 humped or twig-like, having a curious habit of coiling the 

 anterior segments. On herbaceous plants or shrubs. 



PuP^ in the earth. 



Our three species are readily discriminated. 



A. Wings greyish-white, with grey-brown stripes. 



A. strigiUana. 



