3o6 LEPID OP TERA . 



figures is remarkably bent and humped. Colour dull slate- 

 grey, without markings, the head and feet being of the same 

 colour ; the bristles of the body are very distinct though short, 

 and on some of the hinder segments are placed in pairs. It 

 is reasonable to suppose that more fully grown larvae would 

 have exhibited some markings. 



August and September, probably till May ; but it appears 

 likely that some larvae feed up rapidly in August, and 

 produce the partial second generation of moths in September. 

 Whether these have offspring is unknown, but if so they 

 must doubtless hybernate in either the egg or very young- 

 larva state. The larvae noted above fed upon blossoms of 

 heather and of thyme, apparently preferring the dead flowers. 

 Probably dead leaves and flowers form the natural diet. 



Pupa apparently unknown. 



The moth loves to hide during the day in thick bushes, 

 especially those close down among herbage, and prefers the 

 shelter of a wood, or a high hedgebank in a lane, or the slope 

 of a hill. From such a hiding place it may be easily dis- 

 lodged by the beating stick, but very hurriedly hides itself in 

 another similar covert. Its natural flight is at dusk, when it 

 is strongly attracted by honeydew, the sugar placed on a 

 tree trunk to attract larger moths, and in its autumn emer- 

 gence, by ivybloom. Apparently to be found in suitable spots 

 throughout the Southern and South-Western Counties of 

 England, to Bucks, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire, and the 

 Eastern Counties to Norfolk, also in Herefordshire, and very 

 rarely in Cheshire and Yorkshire. In South Wales I found 

 it, not rarely, in deep hollow lanes in Pembrokeshire. 

 Abroad its range as recorded does not seem to be wide — 

 Southern France, Holland and Germany. 



2. H. costsestrigalis, Stcph.— Expanse f inch. Small, 

 weal: and slender ; fore wings narrowly oblong, truncate, 



