344 LEPlDOPTERA. 



After a discassiou of the various proposed methods of destruc- 

 tion of these larv£e, the writer goes on to say that moths pro- 

 duced from some of these caterpillars clearly showed them to 

 belong to Nodim tritici. From this account it would appear 

 that the strong attachment of this species to sandy soil, as 

 noticed here, is also conspicuous abroad. Doubtless our 

 more general toleration of birds, and especially of the rook, 

 protects our crops from similar ravages. 



Pupa of ordinary shape, glossy, smooth, yellow-brown ; anal 

 segment much rounded, both points minute ; subterranean. 



The moth hides usually in the daytime among dense 

 masses of sand-hill grasses, or under the overhanging ledges 

 of these hills, among the roots of grasses. Away from the 

 coast it doubtless conceals itself on the ground, like its allies. 

 Should the weather be hot it will fly when disturbed, and it 

 has been known to fly voluntarily in extremely hot sunshine 

 and to imbibe the nectar of field-scabious, ragwort and other 

 flowers. Its ordinary flight is, of course, at night, and it 

 comes freely to the attraction of sugar, to heather bloom, 

 ragwort blossom, to those of scabious, tansy, lime and 

 chestnut, and has even been found to sit upon the leaves of 

 tall reeds at night. 



Usually abundant on coast sand-hills, where also nearly all 

 the strongly-marked forms are exclusively taken ; inland by 

 no means plentifully, and then almost confined to sandy 

 heaths. Extraordinarily abundant at Deal on the coast of 

 Kent, and thence plentiful all along the sands of the coasts 

 of the Eastern Counties, to Yorkshire, Durham, and Northum- 

 berland. Common also along the South coast, and locally 

 abundant, but becoming less so toward the West, especially 

 in Devonshire and Cornwall ; but more frequent in Somerset 

 and Gloucestershire, and found in the Scilly Isles not uncom- 

 monly. Plentiful on the Cheshire and Lancashire coast, and 

 northward to Cumberland. In Wales apparently less common 

 and certainly scarce in Pembrokeshire. Inland it seems to 



