SERICORW.-E— OR THO 7\-ENIA . 2 5 



3. O. striana, Schiff. — Expanse — male, f to | inch (18- 

 22 ram.), female | inch (15 mm.). Fore wings rather elon- 

 gated, pale brown with a reddish flush, and a narrow erect 

 dark brown central band. 



Antenna ciliated, dark brown ; palpi, head, and thorax 

 dull umbreous ; abdomen black-brown, barred with pale 

 grey ; anal tuft pale yellow. Fore wings elongated, costa 

 flatly arched, apex bluntly angulated ; pale brown or pale 

 reddish-brown, stippled all over with fine irregular brown 

 lines ; central band umbreous, narrow and irregular but 

 nearly upright, most narrow at the wing margins ; at the 

 apex of the wing a small umbreous oblique line, pointing 

 inwards, meets another a little below so as to form an elbow 

 not far from the hind margin; costa dotted with brown ; cilia 

 pale brown. Hind wings and their cilia smoky brown. 

 Female much smaller, but stouter ; the markings often more 

 sharply defined. 



Underside of the fore wings dark leaden-brown ; costa 

 dotted, and hind margin shaded, with white. Hind wings 

 leaden-white. 



Usually very constant in colour and markings, but when 

 reared some, females especially, show very pretty pink and 

 reddish variations in the ground colour. 



On the wing from May till August, but whether in one or 

 two generations is not clearly ascertained. 



Larva when youcg dirty white, with a large dark grey 

 dorsal vessel ; head light brown ; dorsal and anal plates pale 

 brown. At full growth whiter but very little changed except 

 in size. 



March till June — but probably from the previous autumn 

 — on common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), feeding when 

 young on the skin of the tap-root, but when older eating out 

 its entire substance. Probably on other tap-rooted Composite. 



Pupa light brown, in a cocoon in the hollow space eaten out 

 of the root-stock of dandelion. 



