TRIFTD.'E. 323 



has not fully satisfied its hunger may, on coming up, find 

 food. If not fully provided it may very probably supply the 

 deficiency by devouring a companion or two. 



Pupa of ordinary form, thin skinned, very pale brown ; 

 in a chamber in sand, often at some depth. 



The moth is extremely sluggish in the daytime, hiding 

 itself close on the surface of the sand — which in appearance 

 it strongly resembles — at the roots of its food plants, or of 

 grasses, under ledges, under pieces of timber stranded by 

 the sea, or in any close shelter. At night it flies vigorously, 

 and may be attracted by sugar and by light. Wholly 

 confined to sea-sands, but widely distributed on the English 

 coast — Deal ; Isle of Wight ; Portland and Studland in 

 Dorset ; Torquay and elsewhere on the coast of Devon ; 

 Weston-super-Mare, Somerset; Hunstanton and Yarmouth, 

 Norfolk; coasts of Essex and Suffolk; Spurn, Lincolnshire, 

 and elsewhere on the sandy coasts of that county and 

 Yorkshire. Formerly at Runcorn, Cheshire, whence it in 

 all probability was not exterminated by the Manchester Ship 

 Canal ; on the Lancashire coast and that of the Isle of Man ; 

 and recorded, though at long intervals — 1859 and 1888 — in 

 the west of Cumberland. In Wales it appears to be fairly 

 common on the south coast, having been found near Swansea ; 

 at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire ; and at Tenby. The only 

 record in Scotland of which I am aware is by Mr. P. 

 Cameron at Troon, Ayrshire. The late Mr. E. Birchall 

 recorded it at Malahide on the Dublin coast, and although 

 the record has not been confirmed I have little doubt of its 

 accuracy. 



Abroad its distribution is not wide, as it appears to be 

 confined to the coasts of Sweden, Denmark, Northern France, 

 and Northern Germany. The white varieties already de- 

 scribed are also found in Pomerania and Denmark. The 

 insect known under the name of instruda, Walk, appears to 

 jne to be nothing more than the female of this species. 



