JASIONE PUG. 233 



The moth is out in July, but is rarely seen in a state of nature. 

 Caterpillars, however, are not uncommon, where the food plant 

 is plentiful, in several of the English counties from Worcester- 

 shire southwards to Kent and Cornwall ; also in Norfolk. 

 This species is the campanulata of most British authors. 



Jasione Pug {Eupitheda Jasioneata), 



Except that the ground colour inclines to dark greyish 

 brown, and the cross markings are rather more in evidence, 

 this species is somewhat similar to that last mentioned, pale 

 specimens especially (Plate 95, Figs. 8, 11). The caterpillar 

 feeds in the seed heads of sheep's bit {Jasione montand)^ is very 

 like that of denotata {campanulatd), and occurs in the same 

 months. Possibly this insect, which is regarded as purely 

 British, may eventually be reduced to varietal rank. As 

 pointed out by Mr. Prout, it is in its paler form not easily 

 separable from atraria, Herrich-Schaeffer, a mountain form of 

 denotata, Hiibner. Whether species or variety, it is equally 

 interesting to the student of British Lepidoptera from the fact 

 that, up to the year 1878, it seems to have been unknown 

 to entomologists. From its close allies, it stands out more 

 distinctly than do absinthiata a.nd goossensi'ata from each other, 

 and the latter can hardly escape a similar fate if j'asioneata is 

 degraded. 



The moth is out in May and June, but it is very rarely seen 

 at large, though caterpillars are found locally in Devon and 

 Somerset, England ; at Barmouth, in Merionethshire, North 

 Wales ; and in Cork and Kerry, Ireland. Possibly, it awaits 

 discovery in several other parts of the British Isles, and almost 

 certainly in the west of England. In ascertaining new localities 

 for the species, the best method of investigation would be to 

 search for the caterpillars. 



