rS? LKPrnOPTERA. 



This species is always to be found amoug ragwort ; and in 

 the corners of commons where large patches of this plant 

 grow, and on railway embankments, is common ; also in the 

 open parts of the borders of woods and on sand-hills and 

 rough open land generally. It sits upon the plants during 

 the day, and often is to be seen on the upper side of the 

 leaves ; also buzzes actively about among them in the late 

 afternoon sunshine, continuing on the wing till near dusk. 

 Not uncommon in the suburbs of London, and to be found 

 sometimes plentif uU}', in suitable places throughout England 

 and Wales ; and in Scotland in the Edinburgh district and 

 Roxburghshire, also in Perthshire, the Clyde district, and 

 Aberdeenshire. In Ireland it is recorded from the Dublin 

 district, Cork, Sligo, Tyrone, Donegal, Antrim, and Derry. 

 Though so well known, and often abundant here, it seems to 

 be but little known abroad, and reported mainly from Central 

 Europe, yet in North America it is found in California and 

 Oregon. 



0. H. tetragonana, ^tei>h. ; luctuosana, Hdn. Ex- 

 panse i to I inch (12-15 mm.). Fore wings shoi;t, broad, and 

 very blunt, black-brown marbled with lustrous leaden lines 

 and having a large creamy white central dorsal spot. 



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

 black. Fore wings rather short and broad ; costa folded 

 but hardly curved, apex very blunt, hind margin perpen- 

 dicular ; black-brown faintly rippled with brown ; on the 

 middle of the dorsal margin is a large, ovate, creamj^-white 

 blotch, slightly dusted or shaded at its base with black ; 

 beyond it are some irregular transverse steel-blue lines ; and 

 on the costa, close to the apex, three pairs of faint white 

 dots ; cilia brown-black. Hind wings and their cilia smoky 

 black. Female similar, but without the costal fold. 



Undersides of all the wings smoky-black, the pale blotch 

 of the upper side of the fore wings faintly visible through. 



