322 CHILO PHRAGMITELLUS. 



extremity is blunt and fringed with a circle of small 

 hooks ; its colour is a pale ochreous-brown, with but 

 little polish. 



The moths emerged from the 4th of June to the 

 2nd of July. (William Buckler; B.M.M., January, 

 1870, VI, 188.) 



While collecting at Wicken Fen in June, 1880, and 

 again in May, 1882, I found the larvae of this species 

 were readily procured, by pulling at the tall, withered, 

 previous year's reed-stems along the ditch-sides ; the 

 stems tenanted by larvse or pupae broke off near the 

 roots. 



The larva is in length just about an inch, and rather 

 slender. The head is considerably smaller than the 

 second segment ; it has the lobes rounded, and is, as 

 is also the frontal plate, highly polished ; the whole 

 surface of the upper part of the body indeed is very 

 smooth and glossy. The body is cylindrical, but 

 when crawling is strongly attenuated posteriorly. 

 The segmental divisions are well-defined, and the 

 tubercles are distinct but not very prominent. 



The ground colour is a pale yellowish-grey, some 

 specimens having a pink tinge. The head is wainscot- 

 brown, the mandibles very dark sienna-brown. The 

 frontal plate is greyish-yellow, edged all round with 

 smoke-colour; the purplish-brown alimentary canal 

 forms the dorsal stripe ; the subdorsal and spiracular 

 stripes are broader, also purplish-brown ; this darker 

 colour is also more or less suffused on the dorsal area 

 between the subdorsal lines, giving some specimens a 

 darker appearance than others. The spiracles and 

 tubercles are intensely black. The ventral surface, 

 legs, and prolegs are uniformly of the pale ground 

 colour of the dorsal area. 



It feeds in the reed-stem, just below the surface of 

 the ground, and frequently, probably usually, under 

 water. 



The change to pupa also takes place inside the 

 stem. 



