Hep/ ALUS. ' 115 



tlie tibiiu arc witliout spurs. All the wings urc rather long, with the hinder angle rounded ; the 

 fore -wings are rather broader behind, and tlie hind-wings form a long oval. The neuration is very 

 peculiar. Ail the wings have an intrusive cell extending to the base, and the fore-wings have also 

 an appendicular cell, and small accessory cells at the base. In the hind-wings, the subcostal 

 nervure throws off two or three branches to the costa. The fore-wings are generally marked with 

 rows of pale spots, which converge towards the inner margin. The larvas are slender, with sixteen 

 legs, warts on which a few hairs are placed, and a shining head and thoracic shield. They live on 

 the roots of low plants, form a cocoon, and change into a long pupa, with spines on the segments of 

 the abdomen. The moths fly at twilight in woods and meadows, and rest with their Aviiigs 

 sloping. The only European genus is 



IIEPIALUS (FABR.). 



* I. //. Huiiuili (Linn.), {G/wst Moth). — Wings of the male white above, unspotted ; borders 

 and under side brown ; female with the fore-wings dull yellow, witli two oblique brick-red stripes, 

 more or less broken into spots, before the hind margin ; hind-wings dull reddish. E.xpands from 

 2 to 2)i inches. Common in meadows throughout Central Europe in June and Jul}' ; the male has 

 a peculiar hovering flight. The variety Hethlaiidica (Staud.), in which the hind-wings are very dark, 

 and the colour and markings of the fore-wings are very variable, and interchangeable in both sexes, 

 has only hitherto been found in the Shetlands, and in Holland. The larva is pale yellow, with a 

 brown head and thoracic shield, and feeds on the roots of grass, hops, &c., from autumn to spring. 

 The se.xcs are figured at PI. 26, Fig. 4, a, b. 



* 2. H. VcUeda (Esp.), {Beautiful Sivi/t). — Fore-wings yellowish-brown, with a row of silvery- 

 grey spots bordered by a dark double line filled up with brownish-yellow running from the tip to 

 the inner margin, where it turns off at an obtuse angle to the base ; hind-wings grey. In the 

 variety Gallicns (Led.) the fore-wings are dull reddish. Expands from i\ to nearly 2 inches. It 

 is widely distributed in Northern and Central Europe as far as the Pyrenees, and in the Altai, but 

 is local, and in many places scarce. It is found in June and July, and is a mountain insect in the 

 south. The larva is white, spotted with yellowish on the front segments ; and the head is 

 brownish-red. It feeds on the roots of the fern {Ptcris aqnilina). 



3. //. Cceniiis (Esp.). — Wings dark brown in the male, with two transverse bands of round 

 brownish-black spots, bordered with yellow. There are also two similar spots on the middle 

 of the costa, two at the tip, and one near the base, standing on a large white spot. The 

 female has whitish fore-wings with brownish-red spots, bordered with yellow. E.xpands about 

 1 1 inches. A scarce Alpine species, found in July and August. 



4. H. Pyrcnaiais (Donz.) is dark brown ; fore-wings w ith many irregular whitish spots ; 

 fringe brown, preceded by a row of small whitish dots. Hind-wings brown ; fringe white. The 

 male expands \\ inches; the wings of the female are rudimentary. It is found in the Pyrenees 

 in July. 



* 5. H. Sylvinus (Linn.). — Fore-wings of the male reddish-yellow or cinnamon-brown (those 

 of the female brownish-grey), with two white oblique lines bordered behind with dusky, which 

 converge towards the inner margin at a right angle ; hind-wings dark brown, the hind margin 

 reddish in the male. E.xpands from 1} to if inches. Not uncommon in Central Europe from 

 July to September. The larva is greyish-white, with a dark line on the back, and a reddish- 

 yellow head. It lives till June in the roots of dock and sorrel. (H. Ainasiuns, Herr.-Schaff., 

 from Corfu and Asia Minor, resembles a small Sylvinus, with very long fringes divided by 

 two dark lines. Hind margin with light oval marks, filled up with dusky in cells 3 to 6. The 



