96 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



near Yarmouth the larva appears to prefer Galium of considerable 

 growth intermingled with coarse grass, amongst which it hides low 

 down, and is not easily discovered, but may be traced by its long 

 pellets of black frass ; near Kendal it affects chiefly the borders 

 of the large tracts of mossland, where it is always associated with 

 Galium mollugo, growing in thick patches among the grass, especially 

 at the side of the dykes. The young green larva is more easily 

 detected than after it has assumed its dark coat, and owing to 

 the growth being so thick, it is hardly possible here to trace it 

 by the frass (Moss) ; larvae difficult to find in daytime, they strip 

 a spray of bedstraw, leaving the bare stem, and hide by day among 

 roots of grass and bedstraw as near ground as possible, where their 

 colour renders detection difficult; at the end of July, 1895, four hours' 

 work in daytime at Malvern Wells provided 4 nearly fullfed larvae, 

 the same place at 10 p.m. with lantern gave 10 larvae in 10 minutes: 

 at this time there was a drizzling rain, which caused the larvae 

 to have the appearance of large snails glistening in the light from 

 the lantern (Rodgers) ; in the Namur district the larva lives 

 on rocky ground, eating only in the night and early morning, 

 remaining during the day at the roots of the foodplant (Lambillion). 

 Wailes found larvae in the early morning of a wet, gloomy day, 

 but the following day they could only be obtained by disturbing the 

 sand at the roots of the plants ; he also states that Blomer, when 

 in Egypt, used a garden rake successfully for this purpose ; Robson 

 says that the larva prefers a sandy habitat, perhaps because it can 

 burrow in the loose sand during the heat of the day. Holland observes 

 that, during August, G. vcrum and G. mollugo should be searched with 

 a lamp after dusk for larvae, which are always well hidden away 

 in the daytime. Larvae found from 10 p.m. to midnight with a 

 lantern, on Esher Common (Lovis), [nearly fullfed larvae on August 

 4th-i8th at Bisterne, feeding at mid-day in the hottest sun (Subs., 

 p. 20),] larvae found abundantly at Cherryhinton, July 31st, 1900, 

 between dusk and 11 p.m., by lamplight, mostly of the brown 

 form, but a few green ones, on G. verum (Crisp), larvae fairly 

 common from August nth-27th, 1900, on yellow bedstraw on the 

 cliffs at Folkestone, and readily found with a lantern at dusk as 

 they crawl up the bedstraw to feed on the top shoots, of some 

 three dozen captured five only were of the green form (Pickett). 

 July and August are the great months for the larvae, but there is 

 some variation. The following dates for the capture of larvae have 

 accumulated: July and August at Postlingberg (Himsl), July and 

 August at Namur (Lambillion), July to September in Germany 

 (Kaltenbach), September 7th, 1882, fullgrown, on the Pic du Midi de 

 Bigorre at 6000ft. (Jones), August 30th, 1856, larva at Ramsgate( Powell), 

 13 larvae on G. verum between July 26th and August 26th, 1857, at 

 Ufracombe (Mathew), larva August 20th, 1857, at Brighton (Merri- 

 field), larvae common June 26th, 1858, at Perth (White), larvae August 

 19th, i860, at Jersey (Johnson), on Deal sandhills from September 

 ist-6th, i860 (Fenn), fullfed larvae on July 29th, 1861, August 2nd, 

 1866, August 26th, j 869 (Buckler), larvae found on outskirts of 

 Chelsea at the beginning of August, 1863 (Clifford), August 

 5th, 1865, at Rottingdean, August 21st, 1869, at Hollingbury 

 Coombe (Image), June, 1 S 6 7 , at Perth (Stewart), August 8th, 



