MO LEPIDOPTERA. 



strida to be very greatly preferred. Hiding in the day at 

 the roots of the grasses, feeding at night on the grass leaves 

 and sterns^ where it may readily be collected by means of a 

 light as it rests on the grass stems, I have rather empha- 

 sized the food since there is a common belief that the present 

 and the allied species feed on the roots of grass. Of this I 

 find no proof, though they are most certainly to be found 

 among the roots in the daytime. The winter is passed in the 

 egg state. 



Pupa rounded, stoutest below the wing cases, tapering to 

 the anal extremity, which is terminated by a stout projection 

 armed with two short bristles ; colour shining dark maho- 

 gany. (C Fenn.) Underground, about half an inch from 

 the surface, in a neat, smooth, oval chamber, sometimes 

 placed obliquely at various angles, sometimes even perpen- 

 dicularly, so that the pupa in such a case is upright. 



The moth hides in the daytime squeezed closely into the 

 tufts of grass near to the roots, but the male flies vigorously 

 from, in some nights r.M., in others 11 r.iM., till about two 

 o'clock in the morning, and comes very eagerly to a strong 

 light. The female also may in rare instances be taken at 

 the same attraction, but usually she sits at night on or in 

 the tufts of the harder grasses, such as Nardas strida, and is 

 seldom taken Hying. Her eggs, and those of the last two 

 species, are dropped loosely among the grass and are not 

 adhesive. So far as I know neither sex is ever obtained by 

 any food attraction, such as sugar, flowers, or honeydew, and 

 there is no i*eason to suppose that it partakes at all of food 

 of any kind. 



A widely distributed species, though not usually common. 

 It has been taken in some plenty in certain seasons in 

 Devon, Berkshire, near Kingston, Surrey, at SherAvood 

 Forest, Notts, and in a few other localities ; in smaller 

 numbers throughout the Southern Counties, though rare in 

 Kent and Dorset ; apparently scarce in the Eastern Counties, 



