pamphila action. 135 



Pamphila Action. 

 Plate XVII, fig. 2. 



On the 11th of June 1873, Mr. Thomas Parmiter, 

 of Kimmeridge, Dorset, very kindly sent me four 

 larvae of this species found by him on Brachyjpodium 

 sylvaticum, a grass growing abundantly along the 

 downs facing the sea, where the subsoil is of chalk or 

 limestone, from Swanage to Weymouth. Along this 

 region the detached haunts of Actceon are scattered, 

 each locality being within one or two hundred yards or 

 so of the shore, having a southern aspect, and well 

 sheltered from the north by a hill. In these favoured 

 spots Actceon is plentiful. 



I found these larvae take readily to Triticum 

 repens, which was potted for them, and their habit 

 of feeding was as follows : ascending high up the 

 blades of the grass they began eating out a wedge- 

 shaped portion from the side which cut off the 

 pointed top, leaving an oblique edge above, and either 

 fed there on the upper edge for a little, or proceeded 

 to eat away large wedge-shaped pieces from the side 

 of the blade; when tired of feeding, they removed 

 lower down to the middle of the blade, and there spun 

 a coating of white silk from one side to the other, 

 causing the two edges of the blade to draw together 

 a little, and then in the silk-lined hollow they 

 would rest for awhile, coming out again to feed. For 

 a time, I placed one of the larvae on Triticum pungens* 

 a stouter and tougher grass, with which it seemed 

 perfectly contented, and behaved in all respects as it 

 had before on T. repens. 



These larvae had attained their full length by the 

 time they reached me, but continued to increase 

 somewhat in bulk till June 20th, and by the 23rd they 

 had ceased to feed, and were beginning to fasten 



* Triticum pungens is not British ; probably T.junceuw, which grows 

 on sandy coasts, is here meant. — H. T. S. 



