DORSET LEPIDOPTERA. . 169 



difficulty of seeing such small dark objects in the gloom of the 

 evening. At this time, so far as my observation goes, the little 

 moths fly at a distance of six or eight feet from the ground near 

 the lower branches of the firs, and very possibly also higher, 

 amongst the upper portions of the trees. When disturbed in the 

 day-time they generally fly out of the tree, flutter round it a little, 

 and return to its shelter ; but sometimes, especially on cold days, 

 flutter or fall straight down to the ground, when it is almost 

 impossible to secure them. Besides my own captures of this rare 

 species the only British ones that I know of have been made by 

 one person in a locality somewhere in the London district, and two 

 or three specimens have occurred in Norfolk. Probably it will 

 be found elsewhere when searched for patiently, but its early 

 appearance and the apparent scarcity of individuals no doubt 

 cause it to be unobserved in other parts of the country. 



In these same woods occurs later on in the year, in July 

 and August, another uncommon species, Mixodia rufimitrana, 

 the larva of which feeds on the shoots of the silver fir, 

 many of which trees are seen in June and the early 

 part of July to have the needles spun together at the tips. 

 These moths are also rather hard to obtain, as they fly in the late 

 afternoon most wildly round and round the tops of the trees on 

 which they feed, and which are 20 30 feet in height. 

 Occasionally one flies rather lower than the rest and is captured, 

 but to do much execution among them a longhandled net is 

 necessary. Mixodia ratzeburghiana, which is nearly allied to but 

 much commoner than this species, also occurs here a few weeks 

 earlier in the season. Of other fir-feeding species I have taken 

 here Asthenia coniferana, Coccyx nanana, C. hyrciniana, Retinia 

 buoliana, Ocnerostomapiniarietta, Batrachedra pinicolella, Macaria 

 liturata, Them variata. Trachea piniperda, fyc. 



Besides these one specimen of Gelechia lutulentella, a species then 

 new to the county, occurred here in July, 1890, on a small patch 

 of heath, one being also taken in that year by Mr. E. R. Bankes in 

 Purbeck, where it has again occurred in some numbers in 1891. 



