323 LEPIDOPTERA. 



Dull ochreous ; dorsal line dark grey enclosing a pale thread ; 

 subdorsal line broad, grey, shading off downwards; parallel 

 and close below it is a faint grey line ; dorsal dots grey, 

 prominent, shining ; lateral spots shining, but less distinct ; 

 spiracles very large, black and conspicuous ; head pale 

 brown ; plates dull yellowish ; under surface paler ; legs and 

 prolegs tipped with dark brown. When young the colour of 

 this larva is pale greenish. (C. Fenn.) 



Mr. Buckler figures the full grown larva greenish, as well 

 as dull ochreous, but in my own experience the latter colour 

 is predominant. Very possibly the food plant may have some 

 influence, since the Eev. J. Hellins, who fed them on the 

 same food plant, had them in both colours, and one larva 

 green for one half its length, grey the other half ! July or 

 August, to May and even June, but feeding up in the 

 autumn, on Salsola kali, Gakile maritima, Sueda maritima, 

 Eryngium maritimum, Convolvulus soldanella, various species 

 oi Atri])h'x and Chenoiiodiumi, and probably on almost any plant 

 which grows freely in sand within the immediate influence 

 of the sea ; in confinement on lettuce and slices of carrot. 

 Also fed by Messrs. Buckler and Hellins upon Hound's-tongue 

 {Cynoglossum oj/i'cincilc), but this plant does not usually grow 

 in such spots as this larva loves, and it is probably only a 

 substitute food. The larva feeds at night with avidity, 

 crawling freely over the plants, but hides by day in the sand 

 at a depth of one or two inches, usually under its food 

 plants, and chooses more particularly the loose sand near 

 high water-mark rather than that which is bound closely 

 together by the roots of Ammophila and other plants. 

 When full-fed at the end of autumn it burrows more deeply 

 into the sand for hybernation, but in the spring comes again 

 more nearly to the surface or else assumes the pupa state in 

 the small chamber in which it passed the winter. In con- 

 finement it must be supplied with a considerable depth of 

 sand, which must not become too dry, and pieces of carrot 

 should be left on the surlace in order that any larva which 



