174 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



very long, but change to a purplish grey before they are hatched, 

 which occurs in about a month or sis weeks ; and when the 

 larvae just emerge they are very small, black, and hairy ; they 

 then feed, but do not increase in size so rapidly hs some other 

 larvae, and require to be safely secured or they will make their 

 escape. . . . When more than half-grown they hybernate for 

 the winter amongst their food, feeding again and completing 

 their metamorphosis in the following spring. . . . The larvae 

 which I found in the spring were black, studded with tubercles, 

 bearing short tufts of black bristly hairs, and a dirty white stripe 

 down the back. Other specimens have been reared in which the 

 colour of the body has been blackish red, and a dingy pink, and 

 one of which had the pale stripe down the back of a slight 

 greenish tint. . . . The larvae, when full-grown, change to pupae 

 in an upright position in the midst of a tuft of their food (Aira 

 ccespitosa). . . . The moth emerges in June and July, but Mr. 

 Dale writes me, ' I have taken the female of cribrum as late as 

 August.'. . . . As regards the insects themselves, they usually fly 

 in the evening, but may sometimes be ' put up ' in the day. 

 When settled they are scarcely visible at a little distance, from 

 their slender form when at rest, as the wings are wrapped more 

 closely around the body than any other Lithosiid with which I 

 am acquainted ; also, when taken in the net, they fall to the 

 bottom, feigning death. They never fly very high — usually 

 about two or three feet from the ground — and their flight is 

 generally very easy, rising and falling in undulations very 

 similar to the Phryganidae. This peculiarity of the insect while 

 on the wing renders it well known to those who have had the 

 pleasure of taking it. . . . When struck at with the net, and 

 missed, they either fly off at increased speed, or else fall down 

 amongst the tangled heather-stems, being then most difficult to 

 find, as they contract their legs, fold their wings closely, wrap 

 their antennae beneath them, and slide about in such a manner 

 that to capture them is almost an impossibility ; but should 

 success attend the efforts made in such a case, the insect is 

 found scarcely worth the trouble of setting, from the mutilation 

 its wings have sustained." 



It has been supposed that E. cribrum is double-brooded, but 

 all my experience points in the opposite direction. I have taken 

 it as early as May 23rd, and an occasional female as late as the 

 first week in August ; but its time of appearance in any given 

 year depends upon whether the season is forward or backward. 

 I believe there is a development of a succession of broods, and 

 that members of the same family are developed all about the 

 same time. Sometimes of an evening you find the insect com- 

 monly over a particular area, and the next time you visit the 

 spot it is scarcely to be seen, but you get it at some distance 

 equally abundant ; whereas in a week hence the first locality is 



