222 LEPIDOPTERA. 



costa coiitiuuiug of equal width to the apex; cilia yellow. 

 Hind wings broad and ample, nearly equalling the length of 

 the fore wings, with rounded apex and hind margin; pale 

 yellow, slightly deeper yellow at the hind margin and apex, 

 and usually having the costal margin slightly clouded with 

 grey ; cilia pale yellow. Female very similar, of equal size, 

 with simple antennae and without the tuft under" the costa ; 

 the hind wings sometimes rather more tinged with grey. 

 Underside of the fore wings slate-grey with the costal margin 

 narrowly yellow, and hind margin broadly whitish-yellow ; 

 hind wings pale yellow, whitish or greyish in the middle ; 

 body grey ; legs rich yellow. 



Variable in size and in the colouring of the hind wings, and 

 the variations generally climatal. Examples from the South of 

 England are large, with the hind wings yellow ; but in Suffolk, 

 with equal size, a tinge of grey occurs, and in the mosses of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire the individuals are nearly always 

 decidedly smaller, and the shade of grey has become deepened 

 in varying degrees, so that in some instances almost the entire 

 hind wings are of a leaden-grey. In these last the fore wings are 

 also of a darker grey. These variable Lancashire specimens 

 were at one time supposed to form a distinct species, described 

 under the names of L. molyMcola, Guenee, and L. sericca, 

 Gregson ; but no line of distinction appears to exist. Inter- 

 mediate specimens are found in the fens of Cambridgeshire, 

 and the size decreases as the insect goes further north. 



On the wing in July and the beginning of August. 



Larva one inch long ; rather stout and even in thickness ; 

 head rather small, rounded, black ; body purple-grey, sparingly 

 covered with tufts of short bristles of the same colour, 

 arising from the raised spots, which are pui-jole-brown ; dorsal 

 line slightly darker. The subdorsal-line consists of a row of 

 oblong yellow or orange-yellow spots, each having at its 

 anterior end a white dot, and broadly edged with black on the 

 under side ; this — the subdorsal — line is indistinct or obsolete 



