152 LEPIDOPTERA. 



question whether this insect is indigenous to the Hebrides 

 or not, and those which have been found at New Brighton, 

 Cheshire, have been originally imported thither among wool, 

 or rushes that have been used to pack up fish with. My 

 friend informs me that the larvse were in swarms npon the 

 sand-hills of Bernarah and several other islands which he 

 visited." For fifty-five years this statement remained uncon- 

 firmed, and, indeed, was discredited by the author of the 

 '- List of Lepidoptera of Scotland," and it is only now, in 1899, 

 that Mr. Wm. Evans, of Edinburgh, has received the insect 

 from another island — Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, It seems 

 possible that the creature belongs naturallj^ to this more 

 northern latitude, and that this may help to explain the 

 failure of the species to establish itself more extensively 

 upon the English coast, where suitable sand-hills are by no 

 means wanting. It is, however, interesting to find that 

 within the last few years it has reached the Lancashire coast, 

 and is now plentiful on the sand-hills of the outskirts of 

 Liverpool towards the sea, sitting on posts and on the plants 

 at the sides of the footpaths ; and has also reached Blackpool. 

 About fifteen years ago it was discovered by the Eev. John 

 Bristowe at Ballycastle. Antrim, in the north of Ireland, and 

 is now found to be an inhabitant of the west coast in Con- 

 nemara, and of Achill Island; moreover, Mr. G. H. Carpenter, 

 of the Dublin Science and Art Museum, informs me that it 

 is abundant near Roundstone, Galway. Abroad it does not 

 seem to be at all restricted to the sea coast, but is found in 

 Northern France, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Southern 

 and Western Russia, the Ural Mountain district, and 

 Armenia . 



Genus 31. DASYDIA. 



Antenna simple, thick ; palpi small ; head rough ; thorax 

 narrow, shaggy ; abdomen moderately slender, smooth ; fore 

 wings silky, long, costa unusually straight, hind margin 



