THE CRIMSON SPECKLED. 169 



Aira cccspiiosa^ during March from about the loth onwards ; 

 they are then about a quarter of an inch long, and according 

 to the late Mr. Fowler, always found on the sunny side of the 

 clumps of Aira stretched out, and evidently enjoying the 

 warmth of the sun. Some collected in that month were reared 

 on groundsel, and produced moths from July 12 to August 20. 

 The chrysalis is at first reddish, afterwards shining jet black ; 

 in a slight egg-shaped white silken cocoon, spun up in tufts 

 of grass. 



In exceptional seasons the moth has emerged in late May, 

 but June and July are th« usual months, and it may occur as 

 late as August. It rests among the heather, is easily disturbed 

 on sunny days, and is very active on the wing, although it does 

 not fly far before settling again. The species is very local in 

 England, and only found on a heath near Bournemouth, in a 

 heathy district between Ringwood and Verwood in Dorset, 

 and in a not generally known part of the New Forest. 



The Crimson Speckled {Deiopeia pukhdla). 



This white moth, prettily speckled with black and red dots, is 

 a native of warmer countries than ours. However, it not only 

 visits us now and then in the course of its wanderings, but if 

 the migrants arrive in England at a suitable time of the year, 

 the females most probably deposit eggs from which caterpillars 

 may hatch, and some of them feed up and produce moths later in 

 the same year. Stephens, writing in 1829, mentions a specimen 

 taken many years previously in Yorkshire. This was no doubt 

 the earliest known British example of Haworth's Crimson 

 Speckled. A second specimen captured in a field near Christ- 

 church, Hants, in October, 18 18, was figured by Samouelle in 

 1819. Between the year last mentioned and 1827, two other 

 specimens occurred, both at Hove, Sussex. Stainton (1857) 

 adds Epping, Manchester, Stowmarket, and Worthing. In 1869 



