SERICORIDrE—HAL ONO TA . 143 



England, Wales, and Ireland ; througliout Scotland to the 

 Orkneys ; and abroad well known in Central Europe, the 

 northern half of Italy, Dalmatia, and Bithynia. 



3. H. cirsiana, Zdl. ; luctuosana, Dvp. ; Htand. Cat. 

 — Expanse i to § inch (12-16 mm.). Fore wings black- 

 brown tinged with blue-black behind, and having a con- 

 spicuous somewhat squared, creamy-white spot in the middle 

 of the dorsal margin. 



Antennte, palpi, head, and thorax black-brown ; abdomen 

 dull dark brown. Fore wings not very broad, costa folded 

 at the base and nearly straight, apex squarely angulated ; 

 black-brown, faintly mottled with blue and orange-brown ; 

 on the middle of the dorsal margin is a creamy white spot or 

 blotch, either squared or with its upper edge sloping back • 

 above the anal angle is a large ocellus, dull brown with a 

 whitish tinge and having dull blue-grey streaks ; costa dotted 

 with two pairs of white streaks, the outermost longer and 

 curving round the orange-brown apical spot ; cilia dark 

 brown, dusted with white. Hind wings dark smoky brown, 

 with a white cilia. Female very similar, but rather larger and 

 without costal fold, and having the white dorsal spot dotted 

 on its margin with black. 



Underside of the fore wings leaden black, with yellow 

 costal dots. Hind wings leaden brown, with dapplings of 

 white. 



Variable in size, some of the largest females approaching 

 in appearance to the smaller females of the last species ; 

 some of the smallest males, especially those found in fens, so 

 small, and having the fore wings so narrow, that it is difficult 

 to believe them the same species. In some instances, more- 

 over, the hind wings are nearly white. 



On the wing in June and July. 



Larva apparently hardly described. Herrich-Schaeffer 

 says, " the reddish larva lives in the pith of stems of Cirsium 



