PSYCH ID At. 343 



thing which looked pale and glistening in the sunshine flying 

 over heather at some distance, so ran after it. It was flying 

 rather high and at a good speed, yet still rather heavily 

 considering the rate at which its wings moved. When I had 

 it in the net its wings were still going at such a tremendous 

 rate that I could not see them at all until it was in the 

 killing-bottle. Blackish as it is, it is curious how pale it 

 looked when on the wing." This specimen is before me, and 

 in excellent condition, notwithstanding the exercise it had 

 taken. 



It is very rarely observed in the imago state, the speci- 

 mens in collections being in most instances reared. The 

 cases when spun up on the trunk of a tree or a large stone are 

 sufficiently conspicuous, Fi'om the habit of the larva of feed- 

 ing on grasses near the ground, immature cases are rarely 

 found here. The species cannot be considered otherwise 

 than scarce and extremely local, usually confined to sandy 

 situations. In the South of England it is found in the 

 New Forest, Woolmer Forest, Bournemouth, near Reading, 

 Wokingham, and probably in many parts of the sandy 

 heaths of Hants and Berks. There is a record of its 

 occurrence in North Lancashire, but this does not appear to 

 have been confirmed. In Scotland it has been found on the 

 open heaths of the Ranuoch district in Perthshire, where the 

 full fed cases were found attached to out-cropping boulders 

 and rocks on the mountain sides. Probably it will yet be 

 found in other districts of both Scotland and England, its 

 obscure and secluded habits causing it to be readily over- 

 looked. Abroad it is not rare in Northern Italy, Germany, 

 Norway, Finland, Livonia, Bulgaria and Armenia. 



(P. graminella, &. V. ; unicolor. Stand. Cat., is a com- 

 mon species on the Continent, of about the size of P. villosella, 

 but blacker and more opaque, with a similar female, and 

 larva inhabiting a still larger and longer case, formed of dead 

 grass and similar dried vegetable substances. So widely 



