350 LEPIDOPTERA. 



sunshine, keeping about the grass on the sides of chalk hills, 

 the edges of salt marshes, and generally in fields in its rather 

 restricted localities. Mr. Sydney Webb says: "The females 

 certainly attract an assemblage of males ; I have frequently 

 seen perhaps a dozen fluttering about and settling in a spot 

 which indicated the presence of a female. They seem to 

 arrive quite suddenly from all directions within a limited 

 area, and almost every blade of grass within a square yard 

 will have its occupant."' 



Found in suitable places in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hants, 

 Dorset, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex, and at Lakenheath, 

 Suffolk. There is even, in the National Collection, a speci- 

 men labelled " llfracombe," but this locality seems to require 

 confirmation. ]\lr. McLachlan tells me that many years ago he 

 observed this moth in abundance in the Green Park in 

 London, but there is no evidence that it is a constant 

 inhabitant of the Metropolis, and this unusual circumstance 

 may have arisen from the introduction of a quantity of fresh 

 turf to the park from some chalky hill-side. Abroad it is 

 common in France, Switzerland, and most parts of Central and 

 Southern J^urope, as well as in Bithynia and Armenia. ' 



3. E. reticella, Ncv:mait. — Expanse of male f inch. Ex- 

 tremely small and delicate ; whitish, lined and dotted with 

 dark grey. 



Antennae of the male not very short, black, regularly 

 pectinated with long solid rays or teeth, which are slightly 

 curved, but stand out distinctly apart, and are not ciliated, 

 but are so brittle that few preserved specimens of the moth 

 have them quite perfect. Thorax small and very slender, 

 black, thinly covered with hoary scales ; abdomen very small 

 and slender, thickly covered with rather long white hair-scales. 

 Fore wings short, broadly ovate, with rounded margins and 

 apex ; hind wings rather long, moderately broad, rounded 

 behind ; all the wings white with a faint purplish tinge, and 

 having the nervures dai4c grey, and numerous irregular 



