ISO LEPIDOPTERA. 



mixed with earth at the surface of the ground close to the 

 roots of a tuft of grass or some other shelter. 



The moth hides in the daytime on, or close to, the ground 

 among grass on chalk hills and downs. On the Continent it 

 is said also to inhabit woods. Harely a specimen may be 

 found sitting on the trunk of a tree, and two have been taken 

 in such situations near Ashford, Kent, by ]\Ir. W. R. Jeffrey, 

 from the latter of which the eggs were obtained which 

 furnished the larvic described above. It flies at night, and 

 may be taken at sugar and at the blossoms of privet. 



Until quite recently an excessively rare species iji this 

 country. The earliest recorded specimens were said to have 

 been taken near Bristol in the year 181G. One of these is 

 now in the collection of Dr. P. B. Mason at Burtou-on-Trent. 

 Further specimens do not seem to have been found in that 

 locality, and so far as any records show the species must have 

 disappeared for forty years, at which time it was rediscovered 

 by Mr. Samuel Stevens at Mickleham Downs, Surrey, and 

 here it continued to be taken by him, rarely, for seven or 

 eight years. Of these specimens he still possesses a fine 

 series, and others are scattered through the older collections 

 in this country. In 1868 a single specimen was secured at 

 liedhill, Surrey; in 1876 one by Mr. W. R. Jeffrey, as 

 already mentioned, in Kent, and in 1890 a second. From 

 that time onwards the district beyond Ashford, on the slopes 

 of the chalk downs toward Wye, Kent, has been the source 

 from which some numbers have been obtained by Messrs. 

 Jeffreys, A'iggers, Hanbury and others, so that it has found 

 its way into most of the larger collections, and shows no sign 

 at present of becoming rare again. h\ the meantime a pair 

 Avas secured at Boxhill, Surrey, by Mr. G. Flisha in 1879, 

 another by Mr. B. A. Bower at the same place in 1882, Mr. 

 R. Adkin disturbed one from among grass near Reigate in 

 the same county iu 1 894, and others are recorded from 

 Folkestone and Tunbridge, Kent. So far as is at i)reseut 

 known, these are the only localities within the British isles. 



