200 NOTICE OF THE HABITS 



H. Cassiope had been taken at Castle Eden in company with 

 H. Blandina; and most probably that report originated in the 

 capture of a similar dwarf specimen, which, to an unexperi- 

 enced eye, would not appear to differ very perceptibly from 

 some females of H. Cassiope. 



The following notice of the habits of Charceas graminis 

 may not be unacceptable. 



Though the devastations committed by the larvae of this 

 moth in our island do not in general appear to bear any com- 

 parison M^th its ravages in the Swedish pastures, yet when, 

 from the failure of some of the checks appointed for keeping 

 it within proper bounds, the species is left to increase unmo- 

 lested, its effects are very apparent, as the following instance 

 will shew. Some years ago (in 1824, I believe), during the 

 spring and early summer, the herbage of a large portion of the 

 level part of the mountain of Skiddaw, near the well which 

 most tourists visit on the ascent, previous to climbing to the 

 summit of the first Man, comprising at least fifty acres, and 

 extending some distance down the western side of the moun- 

 tain, was observed, even from the town of Keswick, to assume 

 a dry and parched appearance ; and so marked was the line, 

 that the progress made by the larvae down the mountain could 

 be distinctly noted. Nor was the change of colour of the 

 herbage the only thing that attracted the attention of the good 

 folks of Keswick ; large flocks of rooks, attracted, no doubt, 

 by the abundance of food which these larvae afforded them, 

 were every morning seen wending their way to the spot, both 

 from the rookeries at Lord's Island, and other places in the 

 Vale of Keswick, and also from those of distant ultramontane 

 parts of the neighbourhood, and, after spending the day in 

 preying upon the unfortunate caterpillars, on the approach of 

 night, rising in one dense cloud, and dispersing to their respec- 

 tive homes. Though their numbers must have been in this 

 manner greatly reduced, yet I was informed, by a very intelli- 

 gent friend residing at the foot of the mountain, that in August 

 the moths literally swarmed throughout the neighbourhood. 

 So completely was vegetation destroyed, that, on a visit to the 

 spot in 1830, the extent of their ravages was distinctly visible, 

 being very similar to the effect produced by the burning of 

 heath, which is so much practised on all our hills. Of course 

 the quality of the newly grown herbage was materially improved ; 



