1 70 LEPIDOP TERA . 



the body much more richly and deeply coloured than before, 

 greenish-grey or pinkish-grey ; dorsal line slate-green, in the 

 middle of a broad softened stripe of paler ground colour ; the 

 subdorsal line and spiracular stripe conspicuously white. 

 After another moult the adult colour is assumed. (Adapted 

 from Buckler.) 



June and July on Cerastium valgatum, C. arvcnsc, C. triviale 

 and C. glomeratum; feeding for the first fortnight inside the 

 green capsule upon the unripe seeds, afterwards exposed, but 

 still upon the seeds and flowers. 



Pupa short and thick with a bluntly tapering abdomen 

 having at the tip two fine thorny points of great minuteness ; 

 colour shining reddish-brown. In a rather solid cocoon of 

 earth kneaded well together with silk, of close texture and 

 not very brittle, at the depth of an inch or two beneath the 

 surface of the ground. (W. Buckler.) 



The moth flies in the sunshine in meadows and sheltered 

 fields, often being found only in the more sheltered sunny 

 corners ; here it buzzes and flits about, settling often on the 

 blossoms of the common daisy, or dandelion, or any other 

 flower that may be in bloom, including of course the mouse- 

 ear chickweeds. So far as is known it does not move at 

 night nor in very dull weather. Though rather local it is 

 common in suitable spots in most parts of the Southern, 

 Eastern, and Western Counties ; less so in the Midlands, but 

 extending to Lancashire, Yorkshire, and even Durham, where 

 it is rare. There is a single record, not contradicted, in 

 Scotland — near Glasgow. Probably it would be found if 

 looked for in many parts of Wales, but records are very few. 

 There is one such in North Wales ; and I found it quite com- 

 monly in two small fields in almost the extreme corner of 

 Pembrokeshire, near the little fishing village of Angle. In 

 Ireland it seems only to have been noticed in the counties of 

 Kerry and Sligo. Its range abroad is tolerably wide, the 

 whole of Central and Northern Europe except the most frigid 



