346 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Time of appearance. — The imago appears at the end of May and 

 throughout June. June lst-2nd, 1850, at Sheerness, by sweeping 

 plants on coast skirting the sea (Stevens) ; cases May 20th, 1892 (one 

 on a post, another on a stem of Artemisia maritima), imagines (^ and 

 ? ) bred, June 5th, 1892, imagines flying in afternoon sun among Arte- 

 misia, June 7th, 1894, on the Essex salt marshes (Bower) ; imagines at 

 Benfleet, June 1st, 1899 (Chapman) ; June, 1870, at Southend, cases 

 May 17th, 1894, May 7th, 1895 (one case the result of a whole day's 

 search), imago bred May 27th, 1895, imagines captured May 17th, 

 1894 (2), June 5th, 1894 (4), June 15th, 1894 (8), at Canvey Island 

 (Burrows) ; May 6th, 1893, on Essex coast (Thurnall) ; June 14th, 

 1891, at Shoeburyness, June 6th, 1892, at Benfleet, May 24th- 

 June 2nd, 1893, at Leigh, May 28th-June 17th, 1894, at Pitsea, 

 May 26th- June 4th, 1895, at Vange, May 17th- June 5th, 1896,. 

 May 30th- June 5th, 1897, at Canvey (Whittle) ; a case on April 24th, 

 1898 (sole result of a whole morning's work at Canvey) ; three cases 

 (t? and two ?), in 1876, near " den Enmer," at Breda, the male 

 emerged June 4th, the females on the 9th (Heylaerts). 



Habits and Habitat. — The male flies in the afternoon and is 

 readily attracted by a newly emerged female, Whittle having captured 

 large numbers by this means. He writes : " The female never leaves 

 the case, is parthenogenetic, and yet able to strongly influence the 

 other sex, as I have occasionally successfully used her as a decoy for 

 assembling the males. I once observed a male moth settled on a dead 

 flower-disk of Aster tripolwm, a beautiful example of colour assimila- 

 tion. The males can be readily found on patcbes of Sclerochloa 

 maritima. There is a scattered growth of this grass all over the 

 salt-marshes, but quite clean patches of it to the exclusion of 

 Atriplex portulae aides are not common, but on such patches I 

 have often seen dozens of these most charming little moths, which 

 love to nutter from grass-blade to grass-blade, although on windy 

 (yet sunny) days their flight is decidedly more than a flutter." 

 When ready to emerge the ? (being very soft anteriorly) opens 

 the end of the cocoon by pushing forward the pupa in order to burst 

 it (Chapman). This species appears to be almost confined to the 

 saltings of the south and south-eastern coast of Britain, the lame 

 living low down almost on the mud at the roots of Sclerochloa (Poa) 

 maritima, although the cases are sometimes found higher up on the 

 grass stems. On Canvey Island they appear to prefer the bottom of 

 the sea-wall, but Burrows notes that in June, 1870, he captured a speci- 

 men at Southend, quite high up on the cliff, just past the end of the 

 Royal Terrace. Chapman notes that on May 7th, 1899, cases were 

 found attached to green leaves of Sclerochloa maritima ; one ready for 

 pupating high up and conspicuous, others were found low down near 

 the roots (possibly still feeding larva?) , none were found upon Spartina 

 stricta to which Barrett suggests that it is attached, nor was there any 

 green Conferva (with which this author also associates the species) on 

 the spot where the cases were found. The specimens met with were 

 all found within a few square yards and it would appear that the 

 individuals of one brood often occur thus in a limited space, with large 

 intermediate vacant areas. Whittle generally finds tbe cases low down 

 on S. maritima or on the soil under this plant. Of four cases found 

 during the Easter of 1899, two were found flat on the mud at the 

 roots of a plant of this species. 



