SNOUT MOTHS 



3081 



white feeds in August and September on various annuals, such as goldenrod, 

 ragwort, etc. Figures of the moth and larva are given on the opposite page. 

 By no means a common species in England, although found occasionally in dis- 

 tricts where birch trees abound, the argent-and-sable (Melanippe hastata) appears in 

 May, flying actively round trees. The larva may be found later in the year among 

 the birch foliage, in a receptacle formed of several leaves drawn together with silken 

 threads. The pupal state is passed in the ground. Figures of this moth and its 

 larva are given on p. 3079. The purple-barred yellow (Lythria purpuraria) , figured 

 on the opposite page, is a not uncommon species on commons, pasture lands, 

 and stubble fields in England and the Continent. The ground color of the wings 

 is pale olive yellow, the upper pair banded with two or three pale vinous-purple 

 bars. The larva, which is brownish yellow with a pale longitudinal dorsal stripe, 

 feeds on sorrel and docks. 



SNOUT MOTHS Family 



The snout moths {Hypena) are intermediate between the Geometridce and 

 Pyralidcz, bearing characteristics which ally them to both families and yet exclude 

 them from either. The common snout (H. proboscidalis) is a pale brownish-yellow 

 moth, transversely marked with rusty brown, and is abundant throughout England 

 and the Continent from June to September. H. obsitalis has only once been taken 

 in England. 



SUBORDER Microlepidoptera 



The whole of the remaining members of the order are of minute size, and are 

 hence generally indicated by the above name, although it must be understood that 

 many of them are closely allied to some of the foregoing. They are divided into 

 a large number of families with their subfamilies and genera of which only a 

 very few can be even mentioned here. Among these pearls (Pyralidce) are repre- 

 sented by the mother-of-pearl moth {Botys margaritalis} , which in June or July may 

 be seen in Britain hovering over the 

 fields in the dusk of the evening, 

 where the female lays her eggs on 

 the seed pods of the flax and other 

 plants. When the caterpillar emerges 

 it spins a few threads between the 

 pods, and bores through their outer 

 shell in order to feed upon the seeds. 

 The moth itself is of a dull sulphur 

 yellow, with two transverse rusty yel- MOTHER--OF-PEARL MOTH, WITH LARVA. 



low bands, intersected by a rusty 



brown stripe running obliquely from the tip of the wing. It is common in June 

 and July on the Continent. To the same family belongs the meal moth (Asopia 



