DELTOIDES. 311 



obscure, oblique, straight, forming the margin of the darker 

 area, often edged with white and containing two or three 

 black streaks or elongated dots ; beyond this in the paler 

 area is a faint parallel partial blackish line followed by a 

 more complete and distinct oblique umbreous cloud, or 

 straight cloudy line, running into the apex of the wing ; 

 reniform stigma indicated by a black dot or streak touching 

 the second line ; all these markings very obscure ; cilia pale 

 umbreous. Hind wings long towards the apex, shorter 

 towards the anal angle ; hind margin sinuous ; colour smoky- 

 white dusted with smoky-brown. Female quite similar. 



Underside of the fore wings dull blackish-brown ; the 

 nervures swollen and conspicuous ; hind wings white, with a 

 shade of black-brown along the costa. Body and legs dull 

 brown, the latter long but normal. 



Only very slightly variable in depth of colour and in dis- 

 tinctness of the markings. 



On the wing at the end of June and in July. 



Larva and pupa unknown. 



This species seems, so far as these Islands are concerned, 

 to have been first observed in Ireland, where Richard Weaver 

 found it plentifully in bogs in the year 1848; but it does 

 not appear to have been recorded till 1850, immediately upon 

 which it was found to be abundant in a moss in Cheshire. It 

 hides during the day among heather in mosses and boggy 

 heaths, or in the tussocks of grass, rush, or sedge, common in 

 such wet localities ; and although casual specimens may be 

 trodden out and induced to fly, or even beaten from tussocks 



grass, very few specimens are obtainable in this manner, 

 the vast majority tumbling clown to the ground or hiding in 

 the thickest of the wet herbage. But from 6.30 to 8 p.m. a 

 very different scene will present itself. The creatures then 

 creep up and fly voluntarily, and in numbers which are an 

 actual revelation to the collector who has previously been, 

 with trouble and disappointment, beating or trampling out 



