76 LUPEEINA CESPITIS. 



When disturbed these larvae had a way of turning 

 their heads sideways back to their tails, and after 

 attaining some size hid themselves by day amongst the 

 grass. About the end of June they began to go 

 undergound, forming for themselves very neat and 

 smooth oval chambers, at about half an inch below 

 the surface, and inclined to it at various angles, some 

 of them being nearly perpendicular to it, so that the 

 pupae in them rested nearly upright. The pupa is 

 reddish-brown, round and full in outline, the blunt 

 anal spike having two very small fine points projecting 

 from it. 



The first moth appeared on the 14th of August, and 

 the rest soon after. It was not always easy to detect 

 the newly bred moths, as they hid themselves at the 

 roots of grass nearly as cleverly as the larvae had done, 

 but one could always see the clean round holes they 

 had bored through the earth in emerging from their 

 cocoons. All sorts of common grasses were eaten by 

 this brood, but a certain number of them showed a 

 decided preference for the rough hard Aira cxspitosa. 

 (J. H., 11, 10, 65 ; B.M.M. II, 211, 2, 66.) 



[See also under Heliophobus popularis, p. 69, com- 

 parative descriptions of that larva, this larva, and the 

 larva of Char seas graminis.—TI. T. S.] 



Mamestra abjecta. 

 Plate LXV, fig. 5. 



That I am able to offer some account of the hitherto 

 undescribed larva of this species is due to Mr. Samuel 

 Stevens, whose kindness in imparting to me for the 

 purpose all the knowledge he acquired of it when he 

 discovered the larva some years ago, I have most 

 thankfully to record. 



Although thus instructed, it was, however, in vain 

 that I hunted for the larva in 1877, through the end 

 of May, onward to 11th of June, the day on which I 



