24 LEPIDOPTERA 



irregularly all over the cocoon, but not laid in any kind of 

 sequence ; the blacker and more bristly hairs point straight 

 outward as though pushed through, and produce the clinging 

 sensation by entering the skin of one's hand. 



The cocoon is usually placed under the surface of the sand, 

 among grass roots, but sometimes on the surface. 



The male moth flies after six o'clock p.m., and is fully on 

 the wing about seven ; at eight o'clock it may be assembled 

 by means of a freshly reared female. The flight of the latter 

 sex is rather later in the evening and is rarely observed ; but 

 that of the male is said to be of a very undulating character, 

 rising and falling in the air with great swiftness, but keeping 

 pretty closely to the wild sandy place in which it has reached 

 maturity. In this country it is confined to the coast, and is 

 now very much scarcer and more restricted in its distribution 

 than formerly. In 1845 it was common on the Cornish coast ; 

 in 1856 hundreds of larvee were found on the coast of Sussex 

 feeding on grasses ; in the same year an abundance at 

 Plymouth, feeding on a great variety of plants ; and in 1859 

 it was common in the New Forest district of Hants. Other 

 southern localities are on record along the coast of Devon, 

 Dorset, Kent, and even Suffolk. In most of these it appears 

 now to be either very rare or extinct, but I hear from Mr. 

 Webb that the light variety has quite recently been found in 

 Kent. Formerly most abundant on the sandy coast of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire, near Liverpool, but for a long time 

 it has been scarcer there, though within the last two or three 

 years there is fortunately some recovery, and many have been 

 reared. When at Carlisle Mr. G. Dawson showed me 

 specimens reared from larvte found on the north part of 

 the Cumberland coast, but apparently this is the extent 

 northward of its range in these islands. Abroad it is by no 

 means restricted to the coast, but is found even in woods 

 and grassy places in many parts of Central and Southern 

 Europe, Sweden, Livonia, Asia Minor, Syria, Armenia and 



