138 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The species has been recorded as double-brooded in Hants 

 (Vict. Hist. Hamps. 147) as well as in Dorset (Prac, Hints, ii. 

 84), with reference to which counties Meyrick (H. B. Brit. Le]). 

 505) enters the first brood as appearing in May, and the second 

 in July and August. The moths reared by Mr. Clutterbuck from 

 South Devon on August 6th obviously belonged to at least a 

 second brood, since the larvfe that produced them were found 

 feeding in July, and the fact that my imagines of the first brood, 

 bred from the same coast, only emerged in July and August 

 was doubtless due to the larvas and pupfe being kept in a very 

 cool place. I have taken the perfect insect on many dates in 

 September, and having then noted it as common at the same 

 time that larvae of all sizes were abundant, think it not unlikely 

 that there is, throughout the summer and early autumn, a 

 constant succession of broods, with much overlapping, and no 

 marked intervals between them. In any case, the probability of 

 the occurrence of, at any rate, a third brood in South Devon is 

 suggested by my having met with the imago in some numbers, 

 and in fine condition, on September 24th — 26th, and having 

 captured in sugar, in 1906, a good example of the female as late 

 as October 15th. 



The moth has frequently shown itself to be possessed of " a 

 sweet tooth " by visiting this bait at some distance from its 

 haunts, generally only in odd individuals, but more or less com- 

 monly at times. When the weather conditions are favour- 

 able it flies freely during the evening — not only "at dusk," as 

 stated by Wilkinson (Brit. Tort. 187 (1859))- but is very difficult 

 to n'it, its protective colour and rapid dashing flight preventing 

 the eye from following it against the background of sand and 

 shingle in which its food-plant grows. 



In my experience, the larva, when feeding in the autumn, 

 gradually constructs, as a rule, a well protected gallery, of 

 remarkable length, up the exterior of the stem of the shoot, by 

 joining together with silk the leaves that grow thereon and 

 drawing them in towards the stem ; it works its way upward by 

 degrees, and, as it progresses, eats out the contents of the 

 indrawn leaves, whose bleached appearance then attracts instant 

 attention to the situation of the larval gallery. It has often 

 been observed devouring the seeds, but I do not happen to have 

 found it feeding in this manner. A. consequana hybernates as 

 a full-fed larva, spun up in an opaque dirty-ochreous cocoon 

 formed of tough silk, and normally pupates therein in the 

 spring, though some of my larvaB cannot well have done so 

 before July. In confinement, certain individuals spun their 

 cocoons among the pieces of the plant, whilst others fixed them 

 against the bottom or sides of the cotton bag in which they 

 were imprisoned ; they seemed particularly fond of attaching to 

 the outside of the cocoon any minute pebbles that could be 



