COLLECTING THE GENUS EUPITHECIA. Ill 



greatly according to locality that one is apt, on first seeing it flying 

 plentifully on a Scotch moor, to think we have found something 

 new. No doubt both these latter species feed upon the heather, 

 or ling, in such localities, though some think otherwise. In 

 similar places we find E. nanata and E. minutata, both flying 

 during the afternoon and evening in early May over heaths. The 

 former wherever the food-plant, heather, occurs, and further north 

 than the latter. Much the best way to obtain a good series of 

 either is to sweep the heather flowers in August and September 

 for the larva, which may be obtained in numbers. That of 

 E. nanata is very beautifully marked with pink and white, while 

 the other species is more uniformly coloured. E. castigata has 

 the reputation of being one of our commonest moths, but it 

 is more numerous in some localities than others. It occurs 

 singl}^ all over Britain and Ireland, and the larvae seem to feed 

 singly, and upon almost anything, in July, August, and September. 

 Another, with like habits and time of appearance, is E. vulgata. 

 It will be well to rear both these from ova. 



Among the late spring-time "pugs" Eupitheeia venosata is one 

 of the most easily obtained, and certainly one of the prettiest. 

 The imagines are never found far from the food -plants, and flit 

 there-about gently at dusk in May and early June. It occurs in 

 almost every locality where any of the genus Silene grows plenti- 

 fully. Those larvae which have fed upon S. maritima by the sea 

 coast produce generally larger and often darker moths than one 

 breeds from the inland-growing S. inflator. It is much better to 

 simply gather the unripe seed-pods in June, July, and even 

 August, put them into a bag about the size of a small pillow-case, 

 tie them up, and leave the larvae to pupate among the broken 

 leaves, &c. This saves much trouble in looking for individual 

 larvae. By stretching a hoop within the mouth of the bag, in 

 spring, one can see the moths as they come out. This hoop can 

 be covered with open gauze, a loose place being left for the hand 

 when entering to box the moths as they come out. This feeding 

 of larv8B of Eupitheeia in bags is frequently very successful where 

 the food-plant can be easily gathered in quantities, no earth for 

 the pupae to change in is needed, and the system is most conve- 

 nient. The bags are best kept in an outhouse, or other place 

 where not too dry, and the material of which they are made 

 should be fairly open, as to admit of good ventilation, so as to 



