THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



45 



conspicuous in acanthodactyliis , and the head being yellowish -brown, 

 marked with black, in place of the very dark sienna-brown, almost 

 black, in punctidactyliis " (" Entomologist's Monthly Magazine,"' Vol. 

 XXHI., p. 133). The food plants on the Continent are given as 

 Aquilegia and Geranmm for cosmodactyla, but it is, as I have just pre- 

 viously pointed out, very uncertain whether the Aqiulegia-feeding 

 plume is the same as our Stachys -feeding one. 



Pupa — Mr. Porritt did not fully describe the pupa, but gives the 

 following general information : — The pupa is attached to the food 

 plamt by the tail, and two somewhat curved, pomted protuberances, 

 which spring from the back, give it a curious appearance. As in the 

 larva, there are two distinct varieties — a purple and a green form — 

 each having oblique dark markings" ("Entomologist's Monthly Maga- 

 zine," Vol. XXH., p. 150). 



Time of Appearance — This species would appear to be on the 

 wing at about the same time as the last species. Fresh specimens are 

 captured in July, and again in September ; and, although I know of 

 no actual case of the species having been captured after hybernation, 

 Mr. Nelson Richardson writes : — ^" I believe punctidactyhis is double- 

 brooded. I used to take fresh-looking specimens in Cardiganshire in 

 September, and I believe that there is also an early brood" (in litt.). 

 In the "Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. XXH., p. 149, Mr. 

 Porritt writes : — "In the middle of September, Mr. Richardson for- 

 warded to me, alive, two fine females of cosmodactyla, which he had 

 beaten out of furze bushes at Aberayron, in Cardiganshire, with the in- 

 formation that he almost always took the $ in the autumn, in such 

 circumstances, and he had no doubt they hibernated in the bushes, 

 and deposited their eggs in spring or early summer." 



Habitat — This species is local, and comparatively rare. It occurs 

 at Corfe Castle and Wareham, but rarely. Mrs. Hutchinson also states 

 that the larvae are rarely found in August on Stachys sylvatica, at 

 Leominster. The only Welsh locality I have, is Cardiganshire, where 

 Mr. Nelson Richardson used regularly to obtain it. I know of no 

 Scotch localities. The Rev. H. Williams writes :— " This plume I took 

 some years ago, in the autumn, in the Clee Hill district of Shropshire, 

 on the wing ; and bred two specimens sent me by a friend, found in a 

 different part of the same localiiy. The larvai were feeding on Stachys 



