120 A NEW MOTH. 



by its uniformly darker colour. All the specimens I have taken 

 are very dark, and have fewer white scales and light markings than 

 any variella I have ever met with ; they vary but slightly, whereas 

 in B. variella there is every possible variety, from very pale grey 

 down to nearly black. 



The habits of the two insects seem to be precisely similar, as 

 they both skip along with short jerky flights over the scant 

 herbage or bare sand in the hot sunshine ; and I can corroborate 

 the statement of Professor Zeller as to the fondness of B. siccella 

 for frequenting flowers in the sunshine, as I found them extremely 

 partial to Hypochceris radicata, off the blossoms of which they 

 could be boxed with a little dexterity. At the time that I first 

 met with B. siccella it struck me that Thymus serpyllum might 

 very likely be the foodplant of the larva, and this surmise has 

 since been shewn to have been correct, as far as it went. Being 

 anxious, if possible, to prove that Von Heinemann's doubt as to the 

 claim of B. siccella to specific rank was quite unfounded, I made an 

 expedition down to Weymouth on May 5th, 1887, and visited the 

 locality, where I had in the previous year captured the insect, with 

 the special object of discovering the larva. By dint of perseverance 

 my efforts were at length crowned with success, for, after some 

 time, I discovered unmistakable Butalis larvae (which I knew 

 could belong to no other species except B. siccella) living in long 

 silken tubes attached to half -buried stems of Thymus serpyllum and 

 Lotus corniculatus, both of which plants shewed evident signs of 

 having been freely eaten by the larvae. Those feeding on trefoil 

 were the easiest to detect, as the hollowed-out leaves turn quite 

 white, and are very conspicuous ; whereas the thyme leaves, when 

 eaten, only become brown. I had also pretty good evidence that 

 they occasionally turn their attention to other plants, such as 

 Plantago lanceolata, as I found their tubes attached to several 

 partially hollowed-out leaves. 



The following description of the larva was taken on May 7th : 

 Length about 4J lines. Head horny, polished, brownish-black ; 

 plate on 2nd segment dark brown, and polished. Body very long, 



