144 LEPIDOPTERA. 



palustre and Soiecio Jacohecc." Mr. Thurnall confirms this, 

 but Mr. N. M. Eichardson has reared it from the stems of 

 Inula d/jsr liter tea, " feeding quite at the bottom of the old 

 flower-stalk, and into the root of the plant." Others men- 

 tion Centaurea nigra, and I have myself reared from this 

 plant the narrow-winged, small form, already mentioned. It 

 hybernates in the stem, where it has fed, and there assumes 

 the pupa state. 



The habits of the moth point strongly to Ccntaurea nigra 

 as the favourite food-plant, since it is especially fond of 

 sitting upon, and hiding among, this plant in the daytime. 

 It is easily disturbed and very swift in its movements when 

 so disturbed, and almost seems to be disposed to enjoy the 

 sunshine, yet its principal time of flight is after sunset. Verj'- 

 common in all soi'ts of rough stony ground, hill-sides, quarries, 

 and rocky places generally, and to be found apparently 

 throughout England and Wales, and Scotland to the Orkneys; 

 and in Ireland in the Dublin district, Galway, Sligo, Armagh 

 and Antrim. Abroad its range seems to extend through 

 Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Jutland, and Western 

 Russia, but probably it is still more extended, seeing that 

 some entomologists regard this species as a form of the last 

 {H. fflvgiaiuC)^ a conclusion which seems to be contradicted 

 by the opposite proportions of the sexes, as well as the con- 

 trasts in size and shape. 



4. H. brunnichiana, Schif. — Expanse | to f inch 

 (15-18 mm.). Fore wings umber-brown with lustrous 

 leaden lines in the apical area, and a large creamy-white 

 mid-dorsal spot. 



Antennae, palpi, head, and thorax dull olive-brown ; 



abdomen dull brown. Fore wings moderately broad ; costa 



folded at the base, flatly arched, apex bluntly angulated, 



. hind margin a little oblique ; umbreous or olive-brown with 



the hinder area rather paler ; basal blotch faintly darker. 



