TRTFID^. 335 



P. lanccolata, and the sender reported that they liked a change 

 of food, and would eat many low plants ; however, I found 

 that they took readily to clover, and like those before men- 

 tioned continued to feed to about the middle of June, the 

 moths appearing from July 15 to 24, varying much in 

 their appearance and becoming active and restless the 

 moment their wings were dry." 



Pupa of ordinary form, light brown, thin skinned ; in an 

 earthen cocoon beneath the surface of the ground. 



The moth hides itself in the daytime on the ground at the 

 roots of plants, or under rubbish, or any convenient shelter. 

 It flies actively at dusk and at night ; comes occasionally to 

 light ; very freely to sugar ; and is extremely fond of 

 flowers, frequenting those of dock, burdock, ragwort, sun- 

 flower, tansy and even leek, as well as various garden 

 flowers, and it has been found at night sitting on leaves of 

 tall reeds. Apparently almost confined to comparatively 

 level localities, rich farm land, marshes and fens, and at 

 the seaside, more especially to salt-marsh districts. 



Not usually very abundant in the southern counties, though 

 occasionally it increases so in numbers as to become de- 

 structive, yet found in Kent, plentifully in Sussex, Dorset, 

 Hants, Somerset, less frequently in Gloucestershire, and by 

 no means commonly in Devon and Cornwall. Usually 

 abundant iu Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and in the 

 Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Fen district, where 

 also it produces some of its most striking varieties ; mode- 

 rately common in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Herefordshire, 

 less so in Warwickshire, and rare in Derbyshire. I can find 

 no record in Wales, where it surely must occur, though it 

 does not delight in hills. In Yorkshire it is widely dis- 

 tributed ; also common in Cheshire and Lancashire, where 

 the mosses produce the darkest forms ; and is found, though 

 not commonly, in Westmoreland and Cumberland. In 

 Scotland it is recorded from Ayrshire and elsewhere iu the 



