TRTFID^. 387 



streaks by a broad dark brown edging to the latter, ex- 

 tending to its full length, and on the twelfth segment to 

 the end thereof, the yellow streaks being, on the fifth to 

 the twelfth, broad and straight, but curved and unmargined 

 on the third and fourth. 



A third variety is dingy ochreous-brown on the back, with 

 the dorsal line as in the last ; the ochreous spot and streak, 

 commencing on the fifth segment, become confluent on the 

 eighth and three following, while on the twelfth only the 

 streak is visible ; each of the yellow curved streaks is edged 

 above with a thin black streak extending two-thirds down 

 each segment, the spaces on the middle of the back between 

 the streaks being filled up with dark brown and containing 

 two minute dusky spots edged with paler. The curved 

 yellow streaks are slightly indicated on the second, third, 

 and fourth segments, and the yellow spot also on the latter. 

 (Condensed from Mr. Buckler's descriptions.) 



September to May, on dandelion, dock, and other low- 

 growing plants. Feeding at night, and hiding by day in 

 the earth at the roots of plants, chiefly at those of dandelion 

 and thistle. From this preference it has been supposed to 

 feed on the roots, but of this I can find no evidence. Mr. 

 Buckler found that his larvae feed freely on succulent leaves 

 of dandelion {Leontodon taraxacum). 



Pupa apparently undescribed. In a loose cocoon of earth 

 and a little silk, under the surface of the ground. 



The moth hides in the daytime in old thatch or among 

 herbage on the ground. It flies at dusk and comes readily 

 to sugar, at which it settles down quietly and is captured 

 without difficulty. Of very uncertain occurrence, and some- 

 times hardly observed for years. From 186,8 to 1872 it was 

 common in some of its haunts; by 1891 it had come to be 

 looked upon as a very rare insect ; it then reappeared, and 

 for the last four years has, in some districts, been common. 

 Found throughout the Southern Counties, and in Kent and 



