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  BRITISH 
  LEPIDOPTERA. 
  

  

  Habitats. 
  — 
  The 
  species 
  appears 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  first 
  recorded 
  in 
  

   Britain 
  in 
  1851, 
  by 
  Stainton, 
  who 
  notes 
  it 
  as 
  having 
  been 
  captured 
  at 
  

   Whittlesea,etc, 
  the 
  preceding 
  summer, 
  and 
  described 
  it 
  as 
  "considerably 
  

   resembling 
  parvidactyla, 
  but 
  differing 
  essentially 
  in 
  the 
  deeper 
  fissure 
  

   and 
  slender 
  second 
  lobe 
  of 
  the 
  anterior 
  wings, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  third 
  lobe 
  of 
  

   the 
  posterior 
  wings 
  having 
  no 
  black 
  scales 
  in 
  the 
  cilia 
  " 
  (Supp. 
  Cat. 
  

   Brit. 
  Pteroph., 
  p. 
  13). 
  Several 
  were 
  then 
  reported 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  taken 
  

   " 
  on 
  June 
  20th, 
  1857, 
  in 
  a 
  small 
  moss 
  a 
  few 
  miles 
  from 
  Crewe" 
  (Ent. 
  

   Wk. 
  Intelligencer, 
  ii., 
  p. 
  108). 
  Our 
  more 
  recent 
  knowledge 
  shows 
  it 
  to 
  

   be 
  confined 
  to 
  the 
  areas 
  where 
  Drosera 
  grows 
  — 
  fens, 
  mosses, 
  marshes, 
  

   etc. 
  It 
  was 
  supposed, 
  half-a-century 
  ago, 
  that 
  the 
  species 
  was 
  con- 
  

   fined, 
  in 
  Britain, 
  to 
  the 
  fens 
  of 
  Huntingdon, 
  Cambridge, 
  Norfolk, 
  and 
  

   Cheshire, 
  but 
  it 
  has 
  since 
  been 
  found 
  to 
  have 
  a 
  much 
  wider 
  distribution. 
  

   " 
  In 
  Dorsetshire, 
  it 
  has 
  never 
  been 
  found 
  except 
  on 
  the 
  heath 
  

   district 
  on 
  the 
  eastern 
  side 
  of 
  the 
  county, 
  and, 
  although 
  fairly 
  widely 
  

   distributed 
  thereon, 
  it, 
  of 
  course, 
  only 
  occurs 
  in 
  actual 
  bogs, 
  or 
  in 
  

   spots 
  sufficiently 
  damp 
  for 
  Drosera 
  rotundifolia 
  to 
  flourish, 
  and 
  is, 
  in 
  any 
  

   case, 
  excessively 
  local. 
  Numbers 
  of 
  apparently 
  suitable 
  bogs, 
  where 
  

   the 
  foodplant 
  is 
  abundant, 
  have 
  been 
  worked 
  altogether 
  in 
  vain, 
  or 
  have 
  

   only 
  yielded 
  the 
  moth 
  very 
  rarely, 
  and 
  only 
  two 
  spots, 
  many 
  miles 
  apart, 
  

   are 
  known 
  to 
  me 
  where 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  really 
  scarce" 
  (Bankes). 
  When 
  first 
  

   taken, 
  in 
  Dorset, 
  in 
  1886, 
  near 
  Wareham,the 
  bog 
  on 
  which 
  the 
  specimens 
  

   were 
  found 
  was, 
  in 
  some 
  places, 
  over 
  ankle-deep 
  in 
  water 
  (Cambridge). 
  

   Chapman 
  says 
  that, 
  in 
  the 
  Esher 
  district, 
  the 
  ground 
  is 
  swampy, 
  and 
  

   not 
  easy, 
  in 
  ordinary 
  seasons, 
  to 
  get 
  about 
  on 
  with 
  comfort; 
  it 
  is 
  peaty, 
  

   situated 
  amongst 
  heath, 
  and 
  apart 
  from 
  Sphagnum, 
  but, 
  at 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  

   May, 
  1905, 
  owing 
  to 
  the 
  drought 
  which 
  had 
  lasted 
  for 
  a 
  considerable 
  

   period 
  before 
  the 
  visit, 
  the 
  ground 
  was 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  boggy, 
  whilst 
  the 
  plants 
  

   of 
  Drosera 
  were 
  very 
  small, 
  with 
  the 
  leaves 
  on 
  the 
  ground, 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  

   plants 
  not 
  being 
  more 
  than 
  20mm. 
  across. 
  Barrett 
  notes 
  that, 
  in 
  

   Woolmer 
  Forest, 
  the 
  insect 
  occurs 
  in 
  a 
  marsh, 
  flying 
  among 
  the 
  long 
  

   grass, 
  asphodel, 
  etc., 
  the 
  imagines 
  being 
  difficult 
  to 
  see 
  on 
  the 
  wing. 
  

   He 
  further 
  notes 
  it 
  as 
  " 
  occurring 
  in 
  a 
  small 
  moss 
  some 
  miles 
  from 
  

   Crewe 
  " 
  (teste 
  Thompson). 
  At 
  Lyndhurst 
  it 
  occurs 
  in 
  a 
  boggy 
  hollow 
  

   (Holland) 
  ; 
  and, 
  in 
  Yorkshire, 
  on 
  the 
  open 
  part 
  of 
  Thorne 
  Moor 
  

   (Porritt). 
  Frey 
  records 
  it 
  from 
  turf-moors 
  in 
  Switzerland, 
  e.g., 
  on 
  the 
  

   Biinzen 
  Moss, 
  near 
  Bremgarten, 
  and 
  very 
  rarely 
  at 
  Katzensee, 
  near 
  Zurich. 
  

   In 
  Belgium, 
  it 
  is 
  recorded 
  as 
  occurring 
  in 
  a 
  marsh 
  at 
  Ottignies 
  (Crom- 
  

   brugghe). 
  In 
  Germany, 
  it 
  was 
  found 
  on 
  a 
  peat-moor 
  near 
  Frankfort- 
  

   on-Oder, 
  where 
  Tipula 
  fasciata, 
  sepulchralis, 
  and 
  Tabanus 
  plebeius 
  

   also 
  occurred 
  (Zeller), 
  and 
  is 
  entirely 
  an 
  inhabitant 
  of 
  peat-moors 
  and 
  

   swamps 
  (Hofmann) 
  ; 
  it 
  occurs, 
  near 
  Wiesbaden, 
  in 
  Pfaffenborn, 
  in 
  

   marshy 
  places, 
  damp 
  mountain-meadows, 
  where 
  Crambus 
  sylvellus 
  

   occurs, 
  flying 
  over 
  peat-mosses 
  at 
  sunset, 
  in 
  June, 
  and 
  again 
  in 
  

   August 
  ; 
  it 
  was 
  formerly 
  common 
  on 
  the 
  meadows 
  at 
  Hengberg, 
  

   between 
  Schlaferskopf 
  and 
  the 
  Aarstrasse, 
  whence, 
  however, 
  it 
  has 
  

   disappeared 
  since 
  the 
  draining-off 
  of 
  the 
  water 
  by 
  the 
  municipal 
  water- 
  

   works 
  (Bossier) 
  ; 
  this 
  reminds 
  one 
  of 
  Barrett's 
  statement, 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  

   " 
  formerly 
  common 
  in 
  the 
  fens 
  of 
  Cambridgeshire 
  and 
  Huntingdon- 
  

   shire 
  — 
  Burwell 
  Fen, 
  Whittlesea 
  Mere, 
  Holme 
  Fen, 
  etc. 
  — 
  but, 
  since 
  the 
  

   draining 
  of 
  the 
  fens, 
  it 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  died 
  out 
  of 
  these 
  districts"; 
  near 
  

   Hanover, 
  it 
  occurs 
  in 
  a 
  marshy 
  meadow, 
  behind 
  Hainholz, 
  not 
  rarely 
  

   (Glitz); 
  near 
  Berlin 
  (in 
  the 
  Grunewald), 
  on 
  the 
  "Fenn," 
  or 
  peat- 
  

  

  