TRIFID^E. 227 



Pupa very thick, whole surface extremely glossy ; eye- 

 covers prominent, limb-covers hardly noticeable, but with 

 the wing-covers very smoothly rounded and hardly sculptured, 

 except a few cross-channels down the antennae ; abdomen 

 very regularly and sharply tapering to a fine point, and 

 without perceptible sculpture ; cremaster short and closely 

 compressed, provided with minute curled-in bristles ; colour 

 of the front and thoracic portions dark olive, of the segments 

 olive-red, except the anal extremity, which is dark red-brown. 

 In a compact oval cocoon of silk thickly covered with small 

 fragments of earth or vegetable substances. On or close 

 under the surface of the ground, often attached to a root or a 

 stone. 



The moth is most lively in bright sunshine, and then flies 

 ■over heather with such swiftness as to be difficult of capture. 

 This is the case all day long if the sun continues out, but the 

 most favoured time is late in the afternoon ; at this time 

 also I have known it to hover at the blossoms of Rhodo- 

 dendron, sucking the honey which is so plentifully furnished 

 by them. In the north it has been known to frequent 

 honeydew and even sugar. When the weather is cloudy 

 it may sometimes be seen sitting on the tops of heather, 

 and this also in the evening. Rarely I have known it sit — 

 possibly just after emergence — upon a wooden fence at the 

 edge of a piece of heathery common land. 



A curious circumstance in connection with the ways of 

 this insect is recorded by the Eev. J. Bristowe, who for 

 many years studied the habits of Lepidoptera in various 

 parts of Ireland, and in whose statements full dependence 

 may be placed: "On July 7th, 1859, when walking over 

 Croaghan Mountain, County Wicklow, I saw several speci- 

 mens flying over the heath in their usual rapid manner. 

 As I had not met with the species in Ireland before I was 

 anxious to catch some specimens for my collection, but after 

 an hour spent in trying to secure them as they flew past I 



