i6o LEPIDOPTERA. 



segment, brownisli-orange ; similar plates on the third and 

 fourth segments, and on the legs ; spiracles dark brown ; body- 

 otherwise spotless ; hairs very fine, few and scattered. When 

 young whitish-flesh-colour, with the thoracic segments tinged 

 with brown and a dark brown dorsal vessel, (Buckler.) 



Feeding underground, usually in the rhizomes of Pteris 

 aquilina (Brake-fern), but also in fleshy-rooted plants, such 

 as dock. Mr. W. Purdey of Folkestone, records that on one 

 occasion, finding a sickly-looking plant of Echium vulgare^ he 

 pulled it up and observed a small hole in the soil close to the 

 partially devoured root ; digging, and following the hole for 

 nearly a foot, he found the larva. Following up this clue he 

 found similar holes close to roots, and so obtained other larvaa 

 of this species, some of which he reared. Mr. Buckler says 

 that each larvfe excavated a mine or trench from the outside 

 of the root and in a spiral direction, closing it with gnawings 

 spun together with silk, September to July, but it is not yet 

 ascertained whether full growth is attained in that period or 

 whether the larva lives through two winters. 



Pupa shaped as in the preceding species and with similar ab- 

 dominal hooks ; bright chestnut brown or darker brown. In a 

 cocoon in a tunnel similar to the larval habitation. Before 

 producing the moth it forces itself out of the cocoon, and 

 projects above the surface of the ground. 



The moth flies swiftly at early dusk, especially among the 

 common Brake-fern {Pteris aquilina), on open commons 

 and rough places, but also along road sides and in waste 

 places generally. Its flight is short, and at other times, like 

 its congeners, it is extremely sluggish — indeed, it is scarcely 

 possible to induce any member of this genus to use its wings 

 except at its own favoured time. At night, after the flight 

 is over, it may sometimes be found, more especially when 

 paired, hanging to a frond of fern, or to a leaf or twig. In 

 the daytime it is eff*ectually concealed among the herbage. 



Very widely distributed, and, in the South and East of 



