2g6 L EPID OP PER A . 



little flattened ; eye-, limb- aud antenna-cases strongly marked, 

 the latter sculptured with the forms of the pectinations ; 

 wing-covers depressed in the middle, all the nervures much 

 thickened into ridges and darkened in colour ; abdomen 

 regularly tapering ; cremaster flattened beneath, triangular, 

 the apex furnished with a tuft of hooked bristles ; general 

 colour pale drab or pale yellowish-brown, with a dorsal row 

 of rather squared darker brown spots ; spiracles placed each 

 in a black spot at the edges of the wing-covers ; dorsal region 

 also ridgsd and wrinkled, and all the surface dull and rough- 

 ened. In the loose cocoon of silk and larval clothing already 

 referred to. 



The moth hides durino- the dav among- o-rass and low- 



growing herbage just above high-water mark, and at the 



edges of salt marshes, on the coast, but is rarely captured in 



the imago-state. The flrst specimen noticed in this country 



seems to have been recorded by Curtis ("British Entomology ""), 



who states that one specimen " was reared from a larva, found 



by Mr. Parsons at Southchurch, Essex, in the year 182G."' 



Nearly twenty years later (lb 15) five s])eciniens were captured 



by my (now) veteran colleague. Mr. J. W. Douglas, among 



grass on the sea-wall at St. Osyth, Essex ; these specimens 



are still in evidence in the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason at 



Burton-on-Trent. It was not till about 1880 that Messrs. 



Machin, Elisha. and other hard-wurking London collectors 



succeeded in discovering its larva on the Essex coast, and 



made it comparatively a common insect in our collections. 



The moth is still nrji rarely captured, but a single wing, 



doubtless dropped by a bat, was picked ujt by Mr. J. J. 



Walker, R.N., at Sheeruess, Kent, in 1 870, and a single 



example was captured in the same locality by Mr. Hodgson 



in 1872. But eveiy year the curious larva is found upon the 



Essex coast, sometimes in considerable numbers, and from 



these, and specimens reared in confinement from the egg, 



our cabinets are supplied. 



