lRflNsneTos

OF THE

TY OF LONDON

Entomological Natural

Society.

FOR TH E Y EAR 1906.

PU BLISHED BY mm

CITY OF LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY ,

THE LONDON INSTITUTION , FINSBURY CIRCU S , E .O.

Pr ice Two S h illings.

C ITY OF LONDON

Entomolog ical8: NaturalHistorySOC IETY ,

E sta b li sh ed 18 58 .

MEETINGS HELD AT

THELONDON NSTITUTIONFINSBURY CIRCU S, E.G.

Counc il for the Year 1906.

President A . W . Mmu .

T. A . CHAPMAN , Dn. , F.E .8 .

J . A . Oman, nuns.

FREDERICK J . Human , r ams.

L . B . Paovr , r .z .s.

Vloe- i’reeldents

June Sco'r'r Snovzm ,TrusteesT. Hucn '

rr .

C . P. c xz'rr ,

Treasurer Hera House, 99, Dawlish Road .

Lm 'rox .

Lib rarians

Curators W. Imron Cox.

Tnos. H . L . Gnosvnnon.

S . J . Bm ,

Reporting Pen y bryn, Knight’sHill,Hon. Secretarles

West Norwood , S .E .

Correaponding EDWARD Hanan , r z s. ,

St. Cam ’s,” Chingford .

R" . C . B . N . Bunnows AND Mamas. A . Dwor , A . Em m a,

W. J. Kn : um A . c u.

SPINES OH CLASPS OF ANC ILLARY APPENDAGES OF TRIDENS , PS I (4 VARS),AND CU SPIS

,x 16

,FROM CAMERA OUTLINES .

OF THE

City of London Entomological

1 c?“

6

Natural History Society.

WITH LISTOF MEMBERS.

THE SOCIETY’

S ROOMS, LONDON INSTITUTION,

FINSBURY CIRCUS , E .C.

JANU ABY , 1907.

List of Members.

Annm , E . ,4 , Lingard ’sRoad, Lewisham , S .E .

BACOT , A . W. , 154 , Lower Clapton Road, Clapton, N.E .

Bums, A . F. , Gerencia, FerroCarrilDelSud, BuenosAyres.

Bu m , Wm . Glen Lodge, Mickleham , Surrey.

BELL . S . J Pen y bryn,

" Knight’sH ill, W . Norwood , S .E .

BENTON , R. G “Waterperry ,” Wood Lane, Highgate.

BLoom -mm , W . , 17. King Henry’s Walk , Mildmay Park, N .

BOU SKELL , F Market Bosworth , Nuneaton.

Bown s, E . A . , M .A . , Myddleton House, Waltham Cross, Herts.

BRADY , JA8 . , 4 , Hum Park Road, Stratford, E .

Emacs, C . A . , Rock House, Lynmouth , North Devon, E .S .O.

Bacon , 0mm, 1, Bemers Street, W .

BBoouE , E . G Hurst Vicarage, Twyford, Berks.

Bunaows, Em . 0. R. N The Vicarage, Mucking , Stanford-le-hope, Essex .

CAPPER, CHA8 . , Glyndale, Glebe Road, Barnes Common.

CHAPMAN , DR. T. A . , Betula,” Reigate, Surrey .

CLARK , J . A . , Weston Park , Crouch End , N .

Cocmn m, E . A . , 30, Bedford Court Mansions, W .C .

CONQU EST , G . H The Moorings,” Meteor Road, Westclifi-on-Sea.

Cox, W . Ime'ron, 104, BeauvalRoad, Dulwich , S .E .

CRABTREE , B . E . , TheAcacias,” Levenshulme, Manchester.

DALE ,SY DNEY W . , The Lawn, ArchersBond , Southampton.

Dom) , W . E . , Trederwen,

” Village Road , Enfield, M iddlesex.

EDELSTEN , H . M . , The Elms,” Forty Hill, Enfield.

EDWARDS . S Kidbrooke Lodge, Blackheath , S .E .

FULLER, H . A 13 , Lyndhurst Road, Peckham , S .E .

GARDNER, J E . ,204, Evering Road, Clapton, N .E .

GARLAND , G . B . 94, Sedgwick Road, Leyton, E .

GEPP, REV . E High Easter, Chelmsford, Essex.

Gnosvmxon, Tnos. , H . L . , Walldeans,” Gloucester Road, Bedhill.

Hummus, T. H 27, Kentish Town Road, Camden Town, N .W .

Hu man , Fmammxcx J . , 96, Clapton Common, N .E .

Human , F. CAPEL , 96, Clapton Common, N .E .

Hume, EDWARD , St. Conan’s, Ching ford .

HARRISON , A Delamere,” GroveRd South Woodford .

HAYWARD , H . C . , Bepton School, Repton, Derbyshire.

HEATH , G . H . , 277 , Brockley Bond, S .E .

s nm‘

, R. W . T. C Alcombe, Dunster, Somerset.Hanson, L . S Maisonette,” Palmers Green, N .

HODGSON , G . G . C . , Stoneleigh ,

” Oxford Road , Bedhill.Horsox , MONTAGU E. , Eng . ,

30, Thurlow Road , Rosalyn Hill, Hampstead ,N .W.

Hocxm'r , T 200, New North Road , Islington, N

Jams, Bussm E . ,18, Onslow Gardens, Highgate, N.

mm ,W. J. ,

“ Caracas,” Ditton Hill, Surbi ton.

MASSEY , Hznnnm'

,

“ Ivy Lea,

" Burnage, Didg bury,

M A, A . W 79 CapelRoad, Forest Gate, E .

Nzwnzm , E . A 12, ChurchillRoad, Dartmouth Park, N .W.

NICHOLSON , C 35, TheAvenue, HaleEnd, Ching ford, N .E .

OLDHAM , CHARLES , 2, Warwick Villas, Chelmsford Road, Woodford .

PEARSON , G . , 10, Brushfield Street, Bishopsgate, E .C .

PHILLIPS , H U BEBT Eng . , M . Lond. ,

262 , Gloucester Terrace, HydePark , W .

c xm '

r , 0. P. , Hera. House, 99, Dawlish Road , Layton.

Pnou'r , Loms B . , TheElms,” 246, Richmond Bd. , Dalston,

PRU DENCE , A . , 120, Carr Road, Walthamstow .

Ramon, REV . G . H . , n.A . , Hazeleigh Rectory, Maldon, Essex.

Brenna, J 52 , Calverley Grove, Hornsey R ise, N .

Ronnnrsm w, ARTHU R, EllenroydeHall, Luddenden Foot, Y orke.Bow m an, G . B . , Tarn Lodge, Headsnook , Carlisle.

BY DON , A . , Awbrook ,” Lindfield, Sussex.

SAU ZE, H . A . , 22 , EarlsthorpeRoad , Sydenham , S .E .

qumm , JAMES Scour, Crescent House, Cassland Road,South Hackney,

SHAW, V . Ema, 20. Salisbury Road, Bexley , Kent.c u, ALFRED Corney House, Chiswick , W .

Sun , JAB 8 , Thornton H ill, Wimbledon.

STU DD , E . F. , M .A . , Oxton, Exeter.

TAUTZ , H . E 3 , Crediton Road, West Hampstead, N .W.

TAUTZ, P. H 33 , North Audley Street, W .

Tnonx'm wu' m, W . ,“Wedges,

” Itchingfield, Horsham .

TODD , R. G . ,

“The Limes,” Hadley Green, N .

TONGE . A . E . ,

“ A inoroft,” Grammar SchoolH ill, Reigate.

Tun , J . W Rayleigh Villa, Westcombe Hill. S .E .

WEST, FBEDK . T 64, BrookeRoad, Wood Street, Walthamstow ,

WOOLLEY , H . S 7 , Park Row , Greenwich .

HONORARY M EM BERS .

ANDERSON , E . , Morningside,” Cunningham Road , Toomk , Victoria, Australia.

AVEBURY ,R ight Hon. Lord, p .c. , nun s

High Elms, Beckenham.

Bonson, J E 15, Northgate, Hartlepool.WALSINGHAM , B ight Hon. Lord, M .A . , LL .D . , m .e. ,

Merton Hall, Thetford, Norfolk .

RE P ORTS O F M E ETIN G S .

Dec. 19th , 1905.—TBIPHIENA SU BSEQU A

—Rev. C . R. N

Burrowsexhibited threeexamplesof banded form from Mucking.

CLEocmus vmmALxs.—Mr. A . Harrison, a series bred from larvae

taken at Windermere in June, 1905, the specimens show ing a

considerablevariation in colour , ranging from light todark grey ; a

few captured imagines from Barmouth wereallof theordinary palegrey form .

POL YOMMATU S BELLARGU S .— FROST AND COLORATION .

—Dr. G. G . C .

Hodgson, three 3 s from Surrey Downs and Lewes, taken a few daysafter an early frost in September , 1905 theseweremore inclined toslate colour than those taken in the same districts previous to the

frost.C ( ENONYMPHA PAMPHILU S ABERRATIONS .

- M1‘

. C . P. Pickett , a seriesfrom Dover, August , 1905, including two3‘ s w ith black marginalbands very pronounced , and twospecimens with abnormally darkundersides.

Sm om GBOSSU LARIATA .—A living imago bred from larva foundon

October 2lst.—Ibid .

JASPIDIA PERLA .—M1

‘

. V . E . Shaw, a series from Torquay, July,1905, including var. flavesce'ns (Tutt).RHEU MAPTERA HASTATA .

—M1’

. A . W . Mera, this species and its

English all ies, also twospecimensof the Iceland form Thulear ia .

Mr. L . B . Prout also exhibited this group and various European,

American, and Oriental formsof thespeciesand itsallies .PAPER.

—Mr. L . B . Prout read a paper entitled “TheRheumapteraHastata group ,” which isprinted in extensoin this volume.

Jan. 2nd, 1906.—Pocket Box Exhibition.

MELANIC MALENYDRIS MU LTISTBIGABIA .—Mr . J A . Clark , several

examplesfrom Huddersfield.

ANGERONA PRU NABIA .—BANDED FORM .

—M1‘

. G . R. Garland , 8. seriesbred from parentsof this form in which only a small proportionfollowed theparents ; also a brood from typical parentswhich includedtwohanded specimens.

SPILOSOMA LU BRICIPEDA VAR. RADIATA .—A fine striated 9 w i th

black bands covering more than half the area of the hind wings ,taken at Leyton, June, 1904 .

— Ibid.

HY LOPHILA PRASINANA ABERRATI( )N .—M1

‘

. T. H . L . Grosvenor , a

specimen from Tilgate, June, 1904, with the area between the twosilver lines almostentirelyoccupied by a whiteband.

MELANIO LEpmop'rEnA .

—Mr. H . M . Edelsten, melanic specimens ofPhigalia padaria from Enfield, Ectropis bistortata from Swansea,Cymatophora gemmaria from Midlands

, 0. repandata from Buddersfield, and Calatoiapennaria from Epping ; in the latter thewings weresprinkled w ith black scales .VARIATION IN APLECTA NEBULOSA .

— LII' . A . Harri son, 9. series bredfrom larvaecollected during spring of 1905, in DelamereForest ; thespecimens varied from the ordinary light grey form, tothe extreme

5

black form With white cilia (ab . and included about11 per cent. of moreor less melanic forms .Cosmo'm rcmn po'm '

ronu ABERRATIONS .—Mr . A . W. Mera, pale

specimens from CambridgeMarshes.

NONAGRIA spmeamr.—Mr. L . B. Prout . a short series show ing

(

I

a

gnsiderablevariation, bred August, 1905, from pupa taken in Eastent.

AGLAIS U n'

f roza ABERRATION .—M1

‘

. V . E . Shaw ,a specrmen taken

at Bexley , August 29th , 1905, w ith hindw ings entirely suffused w ithblack , and marginal bands on forewings much broader than in the

type.

Asmm armcu . POLY OMMATU S ICARU S . —A 3‘ w ith marginal row of

ocelli absent on right wing, and represented by only twospots onleft w ing .

— Imn.

ACRONY CTA LEPORINA ABERRATION .—Mr. A . J Willsdon,

a uniquespecimen from South Essex , having upper w ings entirely black andtheunderw ingssomewhat darker than in normal specimens.

SU GGESTED CROSS -BREEDING OF DREPANA BINARIA AND D . CU LTBARIA .

Mr. Willsdon alsoexhibited captured seriesof thesespecies Which sooverlapped in appearancethat theexhibitor suggested that they crossbred in thewild state.

Jah . l6th , 1906.—DONATION .

—Mr . J A . Clark presented a copy ofTheNaturalists’ D i rectory for inclusion in theSociety’s library .

ARCTIA VILLICA VAR. xomcwm .—Dr. T. A . Chapman,

a 9 takenin Sicily, April 1905, and other imagines bred in November and

December fromova laid by the 9SATURNIA PAVONIA -MINOR.

—M1‘

. W. J Kaye, twovery large 9 sbred from Bexley larvae.

ARCTIA CAIA ABERRATIONS .—MI‘

. A . W. Mera, imagines with yellowhindw ings, from Ipswich .

ITHY S IA LAPPONARIA x ZONARIA HY BRIDS .—A living 9 oneof eleven9 s bred todate from a pairing of Ithysia lapponaria and N .

Zonaria .—Ibid .

EFU NDA LICHENEA .— LARVAL VARIATION .

—Mr. V . E . Shaw , larvmreared from a single batch of Torquayova, varying from light greentodark green and brown.

PAPER.—M1

‘

. C . P. Pickett read a paper entitled B reeding B ri tish

Tigers relativetohisexperiences in collecting and rearing the variousspecies included under the popular name of Tiger moths .”Mr. Pickett remarked on the increasing scarcity of A rctia. caia in the

London district , and the gradual disappearanceof A . villica from the

neighbourhood of Willesden ; he also expressed surprise at thecontinued abundanceof Callimorpha dominalu at Deal , despite theannual raidsmadeby collectors, professional andotherw ise, and drewattention tothefact that this species scatters its eggs loosely .

Feh. 7th , 1906.—Donu ron.

—Rev . C . R. N. Burrows, numerouslepidoptera for theSociety ’

scabinet.NEW MEMBER.

—Mr. Henry A . King, of Oakleigh , CoolhurstRoad, Crouch End , waselected .

SPECIAL EXHIBITION or PRESERVED LARVIE .—M1

‘

. A . Bacot, lammofLasiocampaquercz

‘

csand its sub species : Callunae, Meri dionalis, Sparta,

6

and Sicula ; also of the following hybrids Sparti im'

dionali s,Sparti i x Callunae, Callunaex Mem

'

dionalis, and S icula x (Sparti i xMen

'

dc’onalis)

Rev. C . R. N. Burrows, larvaeof about 200 species including Aporz’

a

crataeg i , Amathesdahl'i i , E remobiaochroleuca and Tr igonophoraflammea .

Mr . J A . Clark, larva of Eurymuscroceus, Lasiocampaquerci foli a ,

and Triphaena comes =subsequa).Messrs . Mera , Sequeira , and Shaw, also exhibited preserved larvae.ARUM LILY spon'

r .

"Mr . Riches exhibited an arum lily w ith a

somewhat abnormal blossom, and a leaf whiteon theupper surface,savefor a narrow borderof palegreen, which colour also characterisedtheunder side; the leaf, both in appearance and shape resembled a

flower rather than a leaf .D1scussxon.

— Mr. J A . Clark opened a discussionon thepreservation and mounting of larvae, in which most of thosepresent took part .

Feb . 2lst, 1906.—Dom noms.

—Thecurators announced thereceiptof variouslepidoptera fromRev. C. R. N Burrowsand Mr. V . E . Shaw .

Mr . A . W. Mera presented the 1905 volumeof The Entomolog ist'

s

Record totheSociety .

NONAGRIA NEU RICA .—Ml

‘

. H . M . Edelsten , in connection w ith hispaper , exhibited four N . neuri ca including one taken by HerrSchmidt , twospecimensof N . arundineta (Schmidt), andoneN ar tm

d-ineta from Central Asia— all these specimens being sent totheexhibitor by Herr Piingeler,of Aachen also specimensof N . dissoluta ,

(TL ), (=Hessi i and N . dissoluta , var. arundineta (Schmidt),from East Kent , etc. , w ithova, larva and pupa of arundineta . Rev .

C . R. N . Burrows also exhibited specimens from Mucking , Cambridge,East Kent , and Norfolk, etc. , including one ah. B essia

’

,taken at

Rainham .

Hamopmm BREVILINEA .—Mr. Edelsten, a supposed exampleof this

speciesfrom Asia, with a British specimen for comparison. Mr . F.

CapelHanbury also exhibited this species, including a specimen closelyapproaching to var. bilinea.

CY CLOPHORA PENDU LABIA van. SU BROSEATA .—Mr . W. J Kaye, three

examplesof this var. from Stafi'ordshire, alsoa bred seriesof thespecies

from Reading , with a prominent pink central band .

Epmmm DILUTATA vans.—Mr. A . Harrison,

almost unicolorousspecimens from Epping Forest , dark specimensWith well defined bandsfrom Delamere, and four examplesof var . Chrysti , from Enniskillen.

Nomonm mssow m (NEU BICA van. nnssn), momEAST KENT, wasex

hibited by Mr. L . B . Prout.PAPER .

—Ml'. H . M. Edelsten read a paperon The identityof the

British Nonagn’

a neum’

ca, destined to beultimately published in TheEntomolog ists

’

Record. In this he pointed out that in 1805Hubnergavefour figures, numbers 381, 659 and 661, all of which werereferredtoas Neuri ca ; in 1825, however, Treitschkeexpressed theopinion thatnumbers659-61 did not represent thesamespeciesasnumber 881, andsuggested that theformer figuresshould besub-named D issoluta. Mr.

Edelsten proceeded toquote the description of these insects subsequently given by the various authorities, demonstrating that thetwoforms (or species), had been frequently confounded , not only in the

imaginal , but also in the larval stage. Theconclusion arrived at, by

7

M r. Edelsten, was that the black form at present known in GreatBrltain as var. Hessi i

,isactually Nonayria dissoluta muri ca

Hb . , 659-61 , non 381 and Hessi i , and that thespecies regardedastheBri tish N . neurica, isvar. arundineta (Schmidt), of N dissoluta.

March 6th, 1906.—HEMITHEA ms'rlvuua, ETC .

—M.r. L . B. Prout exh ib ited specimensfrom Japan larger than the European form ; alsoThalera fimbrialis (Scopuli), from Central Franceand Spain, Hemi thea

d istinctaria (Walker), and H disjuncta (Walker), from India , and an

apparent Hemitlwa—speciesunknown—from North Queensland .

Rev. C . R. N Burrows exhibited H aestivaria from Bentley, Sufiolk.

HELIOPHOBU S HISPIDA FROM TORQUAY .—Mr. V . E . Shaw ,

a fineseriestaken at rest andon “ sugar ” in September , 1905.

PAPER.—Rev. C .R. N Burrows read a paperonHemi thea aestivaria,

thebulkof which was devoted to the larvalcharacteristics ; by diag rams and description he showed that the larva bears, in a modifiedform , the highly specialised appendages used by P. smaragdam

’

a toattach its artificialcovering, and also possesses spicules similar tothosefound on Terpnepapilionar ia. Sofar as the larva is concerned thespecies would thereforeappear to form a connecting link between thesetwospecies .March 20th, 1906.

—TRIAENA psr AND T. TRIDENS .—Dl‘ . T. A .

Chapman exhibited a series of supposed tm’

dens, from the lateMrs. Bazett’s collection, which he pronounced toconsist entirely ofT. psi , also the late Mr. Barrett ’s seriesof T. psi and T. tr idens,

which showed someconfoundingof thetwospecies.

Messrs. Bell , Burrows, Meta , Front, and Riches, alsoshowedseriesof these species.

NONAGRIA DISSOLUTA AND N DISSOLUTA VAR. ARU NDINETA .—ML’ .

H . M. Edelsten exhibited theseformsex. thelateMr . Barrett’s collection, in which they appeared asN . neuri ca, Hb.

PAPER .—D1’ . T. A . Chapman read a paperon TheDifferentiation

of Triaena tridensand T. psi ,” which is included in thisvolume.

April 8rd, 1906.—DONATION .

—Mr. W. J Kaye presented totheSociety’s collection specimens of Li thophane conformis ex Erwick

collection.

NEW MEMBER .—Mr. L . W. Ncwman, of Bexley, waselected .

MELANIC LEPIDOPTERA FROM RICHMOND PARK .—M1

‘

. E . A . Cockayneexhibited dark formsof E rannisleucophaeari a and Apocheima hispida'

r ia,

taken in 1906.

U NU SUAL POSITIONor ANTHROCERA Cocoon.—Dr. G. G . C . Hodgson,

a cocoon of Anthrocm'

a filipendulae foundon a hawthorn bush abouttwofeet abovetheground .

ANTICLEA BADIATA .—EXTENDED EMERGENCE .

—Mr. W. J Kaye, aseries bred from ova laid

,

by Surbiton 9 The emergence extendedfrom February lst toMarch 22nd, although all the larvae pupatedwi thin twoor threedays .I'rnysm LAPPONARIA ZONARIA HY BRIDS .—Mr . A . W. Mera, 3‘ and 9

specimens, the former showing more resemblance tothe 3‘ parent

(N zonam'

a) than the latter . Several pairings of the hybrids wereobtained , and the 9 8 went through theaction of oviposition, but noova werelaid .

8

Amarnns mmarszwm—Mr. J Riches, a series bred in 1904 fromHampstead Heath larvw.

Pu na—Mr. Alfred S ich read a paper on theMicro- lepidoptera ofLondon, which is published at theendof this volume.

April 17th , 1906.—PARABGE EGERIA , 8rd Bnoon.

—Mr. C. P. Pickett,a series bred August 1904 , and thedescendants of this brood whichpassed the winter in the pupal stage, and emerged in March and

April 1905.

LARVE FROM DEAL.—Ml

‘. T. H . Hamling , larvw of Callimorpha

dominalu from this district, where he had also found larvaeofLeucoma chrysom'hea plentiful.

Bnnpnospmm nxmsATTHEYDON Boxs.—Mr . C . P. Pickett reported

that this specieshad been abundant in thecurrent spring.

May 1st, 1906.—PRESERVED LaRvm.

—Rev. C . R. N Burrows,numerous larvae, including Ptychopoda degenerari a, Trochilium tipal

'

for mis, and T. chrysi diformis.

MESOPHLEPS SILAOELLU S .—Mr. J A . Clark , specimens taken at

Falmer, in July, 1905, by Mr. Vine.

No'ronopnus GONOSTIGMA .—Mr. W. J Kaye, a series comprising

first brood , bred July 1905, from E ssex larvae, and a partial secondbrood, reared from ova obtained from July emergence, bred in

September and October, 1905.

MELANIC LEPIDOPTERA FROM Y ORKSHIRE .—Mr . V . E . Shaw , bred

E rannis marg inari a. var . fuscata, and dark specimens of Phigaliapedaria .

EMERGENCE OF CYANIRIS ARGIOLU S .—R6V . C .R. N Burrowsreported

that hehad bred twocrippled specimens in spring of 1906, fromovalaid by thespring brood of thepreviousyear.

May 15th , 1906.—HELIOPHILA FAVICOLOR.

—R6V . C . R. N Burrows,a preserved larva, and also that of H li thargym

‘

a,for comparison.

EU PITHECIA HELVETICARIA VAR. ARCEUTHATA .— Mr . W . J Kaye, a

living imagofrom Surrey, which he considered tobelong tothisspecies . (SeeExhibitsSeptember 18th ,

June4th, 1906.—EU VANESSA ANTIOPA .

—Dr. T. A . Chapman, larvaein penultimatestadium from South France.

SY NOPSIA ABRU PTARIA .—Ml

‘

. E . Harris, a series bred from almosttypical parents descended from dark and light cross ; thespecimensshown wereconsiderably darker than the type.

PLUSIA MONETA , ABNORMAL cocoon.—Mr. C . P. Pickett , a cocoon about

twicetheusual length , andopen at both ends.

EMATU BGA momma AB .—A specimen w ith two extra rudimentary

w ings .—Ibid .

EXPERIMENTS m m mmsm.—Mr. C . P. Pickett announced that he

hadobtained about fortyova from a pairingof Smer inthusacellatusandAmorpha populi , and fiveova from S . ocellatusand Dilina tiliae.

June18th, 1906.—NEW n emnam—Mr. A. J Willsdon was elected

a member of theSociety.

EFFECTor PABULU M ON LABVE or VANESSAoumm.—Mr. A . Bacot, a

9

larva in last stadium fedon burdock ; thespecimen seemed to bearouta suggestion, made by Dr . T. A . Chapman, that larvae of this speciesfound on burdock are more densely covered w ith hairs than thosefeedingon thistle.

Tnocammm cumomonmn AR.—Mr. A . W. Mera, a specimen from

E ssex with thebody banded with white insteadof red.

Gm mpnom OPIMA.— RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENT.—A series from

Brentwood which was generally lighter in colour than thoseoccurringon thesameground , a few years ago, immediately after thevegetationhad been burnt down.

—Ibid .

MIMAS TILIIE Ans.—Mr. C . P. Pickett , a series including an almost

unicolorous rust -red specimen.

Amoapm POPULI . a specimen with a lilac tinted bloom allover theWings.

—Ibid.

DIPTBERA AL PIU M (ORION).—M1‘

.

'

A . J Willsdon,a specimen bred

froma

New Forest , with brown blotcheson forewings somewhat accentuate

PACHETRA LEU COPHEE A AND Scoa m DEALBATA ATWm .—Mr. V . E .

E11

1

1};reported thecaptureof both these species during theWhitsun

o 1 ay.

September 4th, 1906.—Lawn . RES ISTANCE TO ATMOSPHERIC PRES

SURE .—Ml

‘

. A . Bacot exhibited an imago of Lasiocampa quercitsbredfrom a larva that had, during the last stadium,

been submitted morethanoncefor about an hour at a timetoa pressureof 40 atmospheresw ithout suffering injury .

LAMPIDE S BOETICA AND L . IDAS FROM N. SPAIN.—D1' . T. A . Chap

man, in showing these twospecies, called attention tothe fact that

thelatter had hithertoonly been recorded from S ierra Nevada .

PARASCOTIA FU LIGINABIA .—ML

‘. J A . Clark , a specimen taken in St.

KatharineDock in July, 1906.

SPILOTE SY LVATA ABS .— M1'

. C . P. Pickett, a long and variableseries from Bucks , including many leaden coloured specimens, thefirstcapturesof this form recorded in thiscounty.

HERMAPHRODITE ANGERONA PBU NARIA .— A specimen with markings

of 8‘ and 9 moreor less confused , and tending todiagonal disposition insteadof being confined to the pairs of w ingson either sideofthebody as ismoreusually thecase.

— Ibid.

BBED No'ronon'ra TREPIDA .

—M1‘

. V . E . Shaw , a series from ovalaid by New Forest 2

September 18th, 1906.—Dum as NEBII LARVA .

—M1'

. A . Bacot, a

tarva in first stadium, thecaudal horn being about half as long as theody.

PAca BETU LABIA .—Bev. C . R. N . Burrows , a 2 intermediate

between typeand var . doubledayam’

a .

XA NTHOBHOE AMNICU LATA AR.—A specimen from Mucking, having

thewhiteground colour suffused with brown.—IBn) .

Anomms AGLAIA AB .- Dl

'

. G . G . C . Hodgson,a specimen taken at

Brighton resembling A . adippe, owing tothemarginal band beinglightly marked , especially as regardsthe intra -marginal black lines .

Ennomos AUTU MNARIA AB .—M1

‘

. L . W. Newman, a 9 bred fromw ild parents, having thewings heavily suffused w ith dark scales.

10

LAPHY GMA EXIGU A FROM ISLEorWronr .—A seriestakenin1906.

—Ib i d .

Manama EMATURGA ATOMARIA .— A series from Bury, Lancs. , W i th

hardly any traceof thetypicallight markings.—Ibid .

BnapnosNOTHA—PROLONGED PUPATION .—Mt . Newman also exh ibi ted

a long seriesof this species that had remained in thepupalstage forthreeyears .

Euprrancm SATYRATA .—Mt . L . B . Prout, specimens beaten from

Juniper near Dorking , which wereat firstbelieved tobeE . helveti ca ri a

var. arceuthata, but which heconsidered tobeE . satyrata .

EFFECT or FOOD -PLANT ON CYMATOPHOBA REPANDATA .—Mt . L . W .

Newman reported that larvaa fed on birch had produced a secondbrood, whi leotherson hawthorn had only grown to the length ofabout an eighthof an inch .

DREPANA FALCATARIA EMERGENcn.—Mr . Newman alsostated that

although thisspecies usually appears in April, when in captivity th isyear theemergencehad been about equally divided between Apri l andJune.

CY ANIRIS ARGIOLU S—THIRD Bnoon.—Rev. C . R. N . Burrows reported

therearingof specimenswhich resembled thespring form .

Oct . 2nd, 1906.—POLYOMMA '

1‘

U S ICARUS Ass.—Mr .T. H . L . Grosvenor

a long seriesincluding blueshotted 9sand 8‘ 3 , aa‘ w ithout marginalband , and a specimen from Witherslack , with black dotson cil i a as inP . adonis.

EU cHLoms SMARAGDARIA AB .—Mr . A . Harrison, a series including a

specimen lacking theusual whitelineon forew ings.

C U CU LLIA ASTERIS momEsssx MARSHES .—Mr . A . W. Mera, a series

bred from larvaefoundon Sea-aster .

Par imoMACHAON AB .—Mr. L . W. Newman, a specimen w i th red

colouration in all the lunuleson thehindw ings.

MAM ESTRA GLAUCA .— a seriesfrom Cannock Chase,Bannock , andBury,

thosefrom thelatter showing a melanic tendency .— Ibid .

MELANIC LEPIDOPTERA FROM NORTH CORNWALL .—Ml

‘

. L . B. Prout ,onbehalf of Mr . G . B . Oliver , melanic examplesof Leptmner ismarg inapunctata and Ptyc/copoda subsericeata, 1906 alsoa dark Caenonymphapamphilus, 1903 .

PnayxusLIVORNICA .—Mr. V . E . Shaw , an imagotaken at Torquay,

June2nd, 1906.

TAPINOSTOLA BONDII .—A ser ies taken at Folkestone, July loth,

1906.— Ibid .

Oct. l6th, 1906.—Pm aopnonusBRACHY DACTY LU s.

—Br .T. A . Chapman,

a seriesbred in 1906, fromova laid by imagines bred from larva; takenin Sw itzerland , May 1905.

CnonromnsnAvvs.—Mr .T. H . L . Grosvenor, thetypefromAberdeen

and var. rot/cliebi i , frorn W i therslack and Penrith .

Aonocnom Luxosa.—Mr. G . H . Heath , a series from Sandown,

September 1906, varying from deep brown tosandy specimens.

BU CHLOE cmnamxnsAB .-Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson, a 3 w i th tipsof

forewingsstreaked alternately w ith yellow andorange.

LAPHY GMA EXIGUA .—M1

‘

. L . W . Newman, a seriesshowing considerablevariation in ground colourof forewings, from Isleof White, 1906.

Mr. P. H . Tautz , a singlespecimen taken at Pinner.

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12

w ith A . mines, having six spots on forewing, butwith thefluffy bodycharacteristic of A . minos.

APOROPHYLA avs'rmmsABS .—Ml

‘

. L . B . Prout , very strongly markeda‘ s and a ? of the rare ah. ingenua, from Sandown, Isleof Wig ht ,September, 1906.

LapromamsIMMORATA.—Six specimens , a partial second brood , from

Lewesova.—Ibid .

s cnssron.—During thediscussionon S . abruptaria, it wasel i ci ted

that thedark form had been found in the Clapton district for manyyears, and was apparently gaining ground there.

Dec. 4th, 1906.—LouAsmms MARGINATA ABs.

—Mr. W. Bloomfield ,twospecimens with black marginal blotch intersected by a slender

whiteline.

FOOTMEN .—BRED AR. ou .

—Mr . H . M . Edelsten, short series ofL ithosia muscerda, L . cam

’ola, L . complanula and L . yriseola var. stra

mineola, allbred ah. ova .

LAPHY GMA EXIGUA .—M1

‘

. G . H . Heath , a variable series taken at

Sandown, IsleofWight , September , 1906.

NOTOLOPHU S GONOSTIGMA .—M t . J Riches, imagines reared fromova

laid by 2 s bred in 1905, the larvae having been hibernated in

captivity .

Apm m BASILINEA AB .—Mr. V . E . Shaw, a long series from WyeDowns, June1906, including a very pale specimen in which theorb i

<

1

3ular stigma was entirely absent , and thereniformonly partiallyoutined.

GELECHIA PINGU INELLA AND BORKHAU SEBIA PSEU DOSPRETELLA .—Mr.

A . S ich exhibited thesespeciestoshow their close resemblancetooneanother , and called attention tothe following meansof identification,

G . pinguinella hasthemorepointed hindwings W ith margin idented below thecosta ; also nervuressix and seven spring from a common stalkwhile in B . pseudospretella thesenervures are parallel , and the hindwingsarenot indented .

ANTIQU E EU VANESSA ANTIOPA .—D1‘ . J S . Sequeira exhibited reputed

British specimens dating from 1803 to1872.

PANOLIS GBISO-VARIEGATA .-Mr. A . J Willsdon, a specimen of the

green form , taken at Oxshott .ABNORMAL EMERGENCES .

— MI‘

. Willsdon also exhibited Anticlea

badiata and Cyclophora pendular ia bred in theopen airon October Slstand November lst respectively .

HOLLY IN BLOOM m DECEMBER.-A sprig of holly in bloom, picked

in a London park,was alsoshown by the samemember .

ELECTION op EXECUTIVE FOR 1907 —The result of the election ofofficersfor theensuing year wasasfollows :

Pnnsmnx'r .—Mr. A . W . Mera .

Vlcn-Pansman'rs.—Dr. T. A . Chapman, and Messrs. J A . Clark,

F. J Hanbury , and L . B . Prout.TREASURER .

—Mr . C . P. Pickett.Lmaamw s.

—Messrs . G . H . Heath and V . E . Shaw .

CuRArons.—Mr. T. H . L . Grosvenor and Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson.

Sncnn'

ranms.—Messrs . S . J Bell and E . Harri s .

NON -OFFICIAL MEMBERS or conxem .—Rev. C. B . N Burrows, and

Messrs. A . Bacot, H . M . Edelsten, J Riches, and P. H . Tautz .

13

Sacaa'

ru uns’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1906.

TheSociety’s rulesdecree that the productionof an annual reportshall beoneof the burdens under which the secretaries languish ;moreover, there is alsolaid down in thoserules— perhapsnotunwisely— the precise form that the said report shall take. It is not surp rising , therefore, that thesecretaries’ annual literary efi'ort smacksofrepetition, and sincetheSociety plods along year after year practicallyw ithout change in any respect, weoffer noapology for a necessarilymonotonousperformance.

Inour report for 1905 weventured to gently chidemembersonthesubjectof attendance, and thereproof hashad precisely theeffect—or lackof efi'

ect— that theresultof previousefforts to stir membersintoat least a semblanceof greater act ivity led us toexpect . Lastyear theaverage attendancewas, tobeprecise, 1685, while th isyeari t has been 1655 ; the attendanceof visitors has also declined from1-1 to8 5. Having in our previous report expended considerableenergy in an endeavour tobring hometomembers that their presence,as well as their subscription, is essential tothe well -being of the

society—obviously without result— we w ill this time leave the

follow ing fact tospeak for itself, m’

z ., that the total attendanceof those

members w ithin easy reach of Finsbury Circus gives an averageofsix per capitaoutof a possible20.

The membership of the society remains practically in statuqua,four members having retired , wh ile five new members have beenelected ; for someoccult reason i t is apparently impossible for thesociety tosecuremorethan 70 to75members.

As regardsfield meetings, we have this year tried theexperimentof increasing thenumber, and instead of only twobeing held , threewere conducted , viz . toHorsley in May, Efiingham in June, andChalfont Road in July , by Messrs . Kaye, Shaw , and Prout respectively ; these were, we think, sufiiciently successful toencourage acontinuanceof the increased numberof meetings. It could hew ishedthat a greater variety of localities could be found , but thereare somany limiting factors that this isapparently impossible.

In the matter of donations there is not very much torecord .

Some interest seemstohavebeen aroused byour curator’s persistentattempts toobtain members’ assistance in the improvement of thecollection of lepidoptera . The Society is indebted for numerousspecimenstotheRev. C . R. N Burrows and Messrs . J A . Clark , W.

J Kaye, A . W. Mera, and V . E . Shaw . Itmust not beforgotten also,just because i t is annual event, that the President has oncemoreadded a volumeof theEntomolog ist’sRecord tothelibrary .

TheSociety ’

s programme for the w inter months has, we think ,been as interesting asusual , but that ismainly due, aswepointedoutlast year, totheeffortsof a select fewof our members whoyear afteryear throw themselves intothe breach—or perhaps it would bemorecorrect tosay that they are led there, and at times almost draggedthere by your humble servants the secretaries . One’s imaginationfails topicture the position of the Society in the event of thesegentlemen coming tothe conclusion that they had earned a rest, andthereforedeclining togive further assistance. It is morethan timethatother members began toget into training toassist and succeedour present stalwarts . For this reason, as also for theexcellenceof his

14

initial essay, theSociety is to be congratulated on the entryof M r .

H . M. Edelsten into thelists.The details at the winter programme for the past year are as

follows

1905, Dec. 19.

“TheRheumaptera hastata Group .

M1

51

6$1 Prout,

1906 Jan. 2 .

“Pocket Box Exhibition.

16.

“Breeding British Tigers.

Feb. 6. Exhibitionof Preserved Lar vae. F.E .S .

20.

“The identity of the British N . Mr. H . M . Edelnelm

'

ca sten.

Rev . C . R. NHemi thea aestivaria (strigata) BurrowsDiscussion and Exhibition—Difi

'

er

entiationof Triaena tridensandDr . T' A ' Chap

T. psi in imaginalstage. Opener,Apr. 3.

“A contribution to thestudy of the Mr. A . S ich ,

Micro- lepidopterousfauna of the F.E .S .

London District .”Nov. 6. Exhibition of Member’s duplicates

with a view toexchange.

Exhibition and Discussion—Synopsia abruptaria .

4 . Annual Meeting.

man.

Hon. Secs.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

By A . W. Mam .

GENTLEMEN ,Youhavejust heard theSecretaries

’

report which has set forthin detail the position of our Society , and you have also had a statement of the financial condi tion as well, both of which it is hard lynecessary formeto enlargeupon. Nevertheless, I may say that I hopethat what you have heard has g iven general satisfaction. Societiesof this kind are always given toebb and flow to some extent , andwhilewekeep upour reputation as a thorough field working society,we are toa large extent fulfilling our part . The exhibits at ourordinary meetings have been well maintained , and I am inclined tothink that they have increased of late. This has always beenoneofour strong points, and i t is very gratifying to seenofallingoff in thatdirection. Aswillbeseen byour programmefor theWinter Session,wemay look forward tosome very interesting paperstobegiven bymembersboth willing and abletolend interest totheir subjects, andweconfidently look forward to theincreased activity and advancementofour Society.

15

Possibly themost striking featureof the season of 1906, and theone that w ill be best remembered , has been the extraordinaryabundanceof Exigua . This hithertorareinsect hasbeen long lookedupon as one of our greatest prizes, and until this year it was verypoorly represented in most ofour cabinets. I think it issafe to saythat never before in thehistoryof British Entomology hasthespeciesappeared in such abundance. The records come chiefly from the

South Coast, and moreparticularly from theIsleof Wight and SouthWestern Counties . It has, however, made considerable inroadsinland , as it hasbeen taken somewhat freely byour friend Mr. BurrowsatMucking, and a singlespecimen was taken at Pinner by Mr. Tautz .

Therearealsorecordsfrom Kingston-on-Thames, and from Navestocknear Romford . Newman gives a description of thelarva wh ich wassuccessfully reared from theeg g in theyear 1859, and from that timeuntil this season, as far as I know , noone had been succe‘ssful inrearing the insect. L i vorm'

ca alsohasbeen unusually numerous thisseason, and asthis isthesecond year of its appearance, it seems as i fi t may havecometostay . Sphinx pinastri isagain recorded from the

neighbourhoodof Woodbridge, where it has been takenon andoff forthe last 30 years. Thisspecies undoubtedly has a hold in theCountyof Suffolk , whether originally planted thereor not, and it cannot becompared tomost of our other rarities, whoseuncertain appearanceswould point totheir migratory habits , andwith a favourableseasonortwo, they areabletoestablish themselvesfor a time.

Myown experienceof field work during the season hasbeen veryrestricted owing tounavoidable causes, but during theearly part ofthe summer,on the few times that I went collect ing, I was usuallyrewarded w ith a goodly number of captures. Themost interestingadditions I have made tomy cabinet are specimens of hybridlapponar ia 9 and zonam’

a 3‘ Last year I mentioned that I had

been sofar successful in getting the hybrids into pupae, and thisspring I was rewarded wi th the imagines . These commenced toappear considerably earlier than either lapponar ia or zonar ia occur,even when bred in confinement. Thefirst threeappearedon Jannary9th, followed by fouron the14th , continuing at short intervals totheend of the month . Then there was a rest until February 11th,followed by otherson the14th , 2oth, 25th , and 27th. U p tothisdateI had bred nothing but females , 24 in all, and I began todespairofever seeing a male; buton March 2nd twomales appeared , followedbyothers , until March 17th . These last wereall males , twelve in all,sothat not a sing lemale put in an appearance until all the femaleshad emerged . I believe this is a characteristic w i th lapponaria , as Ihave invariably bred thefemales first and themales after, although Imust confess that my acquaintance w ith thespecies is notof veryoldstanding. Asmost of usknow, it usually happens that themalesofa species put in an appearance first, and the females afterwards . Ihavenoticed this tobemost pr nounced in breeding hispidaria, whichis not such a great way remove from lapponarz

’

a. The hybrids havemoretheappearanceof zonam’

a than of lapponaria, being very muchlike a dark form of zonaria, but the females are very intermediatebetween the two, as they lose the red stripe down the body whichlapponaria has

, and the rings of zonaria are very much lessconspicuous, although not entirely absent, and the body generally, i snearly as dark as lapponam

'

a.

16

I sentoneor twoof thefemales to Mr. Cockayne, whohad malezonariaout at thesametime, and hewassuccessful in getting a pairi ngbetween them . The result, however, was a failure, asnoeggswerelaid . Mr. Cockaynealso sent memalezonar ia , but I did not succeedin even getting them topair, although I succeeded in pairing the 3and 9 hybrids. These also paired without any satisfactory result.The hybrid females commenced calling almost immediately theyemerged, and after having paired they went through a performanceofeg g

- laying , placing their ovipositors between thethelidof a box and

thebox, and remaining in that position for days at a time, but neverlaying a single eg g . I think it may safely be assumed that thefemaleswere w ithout eggs, for although when they were alive theywereplump and appeared full of eggs, after they were set, the bodiesdried up toabout a quarter of theiroriginal size.

Somefew years agothere was an effort madeon the partof anumberof influential Entomologists to endeavour to check theovercollecting of certain speciesof Lepidoptera, w ith a v iew topreventtheir possible extermination, and it was suggested that thesespeciesshould beprotected by common consent . Personally , I had very weakfaith in thebeneficial resultsof any concerted action in thematter ,for my belief has always been that species disappear from certainplaces from natural or perhaps unnatural causes, rather than fromany efforton the part of the collector to stock his duplicate boxes.

Tomy mind thegreat causeof the disappearanceof insect lifenearour large towns is from the contaminated atmosphere caused bysmoke. Wehaveonly totakea ramble in country lanes and fields, afew miles from London, tonotice how many of our commonestbutterfliesareconspicuous by their absence. Tithonus i soneof thefirst togo. Thisspecies, asweall know , isoneof themost commonin the South of England , but i t has quite gone for several milesround London, and being socommon an insect noonecould attributeitsdisappearance in certain places toover -collecting . Other strikingexamplesof theabsenceof common species round London are thoseof meyaera, egeria, and hyperanthus, all of which have moreor lessdisappeared , besides a large number of others not socommon,

whoseabsence might lend colour tothe theory of extermination by overcollecting ; but seeing that our common ones have gonew ithotherswhich areheld in greater request, i t appears tobeonly reasonable toassumethat a vitiated atmosphere has more to dow ith their absencethan that they have been over - collected . On theother hand, it i sremarkable how someof our local species maintain their numbersunder very hard collecting. We may instance bandi i , which stil lholdsout in its old locality near Folkestone, where it has been collected probably for the last 40 or 50 years, whileother things thathavebeen scarcely touched havegoneunaccountably.

The failuretointroduce butterflies intoour parks, I imagine, wasnosurprise tomost of us, and if I am right in assuming that somany of our common species have gone throug h the influenceofsmoke, it would have been indeed surprising if thehopes of seeingour parks beautified by the graceful flight of sibylla and paphia hadbeen realised by introducing them there, w i th their necessary pabulumof honeysuckleand violet .In a few instances it would appear that somespecies thriveunder

17

smoky conditions . Our familiar friend g rossulan’

ata can stand absolutely anything , in fact , it would seem the more confined and smokythe garden the larger the number of g rossulariata there are tobefound . Although this insect thrives sowell under dirty conditions,thereappears to benopronounced effort on thepart of the insect toasmmilate in colour to its environment in theperfect state, but in the

larval state i t undoubtedly does. I have frequently seen thelarvaefrom myown garden almost entirely black, and in great contrast tolarvaebeaten from blackthorn, where the atmosphere i s pureand thebushes free from soot. Another insect which has made i tself entirelyat home in the neighbourhood of houses i s rhomboidam’

a. In thiscasethespecies, generally speaking , ismuch darker than country-bredones, undoubtedly having been able toadapt itself tocircumstances .A bruptaria isalsomaking a braveeffort todo thesame, but I think iti s generally conceded that melanic formsof abruptam

’

a are moredelicatetobreed than thoseof thetype. This, I believe, would applyto a good manyother species, and it would seem that themoredelicatespeciesdieout in smoky districts, and thoseof more robust constitutionsdotheir best toadapt themselves to environment .It is still a very debatable question as tothe actual causeof

melanism, but weare mostly agreed that when a species first showssignsof melanism, theseexamplesmost frequently occur inor aroundour towns. A year or two agoI took oneor twoelinguaria in mygarden w ith an unmi stakable tendency todarken, and my friend , Mr .

J P. Minter , has in his cabinet a specimenof Zeuzera nasowli , takenin thenorthof London, with all thew ingsof a smoky colour, whichmay belooked upon asa caseof protectiveresemblance, as undoubtedlyi t would be less conspicuouson a tree trunk , which is discoloured byLondon smoke, than an ordinary typical specimen would be in asimilar position.

Asmy collecting extends over someconsiderablenumber of years ,I thought , perhaps, I might beallowed togive someaccountofoneortwoof thebygonecollecting localities, where someof theearly BritishEntomologistsused tofrequent, w ith such good results. Theprincipalspot in my m ind is Hammersmith Marshes , and as I havefrequentlybeen asked wherethey used toexist, I hopeI may bepardoned for introducing the subject . I imaginemostof ushaveread , moreparticularly inNewman’

sbook , therich listof insects which used tooccur inthesemarshes, and although their best days had goneeven beforeI wasabletodoany serious collecting , I saw enough of them to beabletotell what a grand spot it must havebeen in its palmy days.Theextentof thesemarshes, as I knew them, extendedon theEast

from theRailway wherenow standsAddison Road Station (then onlya goods linewith nopassenger traffic) to Shepherds Bush Roadon thewest , and Blyth Laneon thesouth . Thisspaceconsisted principallyof osier beds intersected with dykesor ditchesof various width, and inmost cases full of reeds and bullrushes. There was one largepondthickly surrounded with bullrushes, and the insect and pond life wasmost luxuriant. Wehaveonly to look through Newman’s Bri tishMothsto seethenumber of wainscots that were tobehad in that Entomological Paradise, including such species as obsoleta, nlvae, and geminipuncta. TheLepidopterist was notalonein his happiness, as thepondswere alivewith every sort of aquatic insects, and thedragonflies were

18

in plenty. In most of thedykesthewater wasclean and clear , and Iimagineit could not havebeen absolutely stagnant . I never saw anyfish taken from anyof theponds w ith theexception of thetwospec iesof sticklebacks, the common three spined and the much rarer ten

spined . This latter species onlyoccurred inonepond and I believe i tis not a very common species.Theosiers also werevery fullof various larvae, and I th ink I am

safein saying that I havenever sincefound larvaeof Smem‘

nthusocella tusand D icranura m

’

nala in such numbersas I used to find them in thesemarshes. Theunusual featureabout thelartm ofocellatusfound therewas, that propably 90 per cent. of them were ichneumoned. I havefound theselarvaefrom Cornwall toSuffolk, but in noother placehaveI found the number of ichneumoned larvaeto predominate. With a

littleexperience i t was quiteeasy totell which of the larvaewerestungand which were not, as w ith those stung the born at the tail w as

invariably shorter, and it would losenearly all thebluecolour, whereasthehealthyones had a perfect tail , and itwasof a rich blue. It wouldalmost appear as if the larva had gnawed a piece011 itsown tail forsomeunaccountablereason, as therewas frequently an indicationof ahealed wound .

Bird lifewas also well represented . A friend of mine, someyearsmy senior , had shoton thesemarshes, wild duck , snipe, and the lesserGrebe, the last mentioned bird clearly showing that the place musthavebeen marsh land pre-historically , asthesebirdshavenopowerofflight, and they were probably there from the dark ages . All th isgrand hunting ground disappeared as by magic . I think it musthavebeen about the year 1862 when themain drainagewasextendedor much enlarged , down the Bayswater and Kensington Roads, andwhen this wasdone the water all disappeared, the bullrushes for aseason were left high and dry, roads weresoon made, houses sprungup, and what wasonceHammersmith Marshes now gloriesin thenameof West Kensington Park .

Another collecting ground of my young days , which perhapsis not entirely devoid of insect life at the present day, wasWormwood Scrubbs and Old Oak Common. These places are

practically one and the same, as they are only separated from oneanother by thelineof theGreat WesternRailway. Someof themostinteresting species taken in that spot by myself,or by my schooldaycolleagues, wereMeli taea artemis (a single specimen), Vanessa polychloros, Lycaena agestis, and about the year 1865, Hesperi a sylvanus

wasparticularly numerous . Bombyx rubi wasvery abundant both inthelarval and perfect state. A rbuti was also plentiful, as well asTanag ra clcom'ophyllata. Staticeswasanother local specieswhich wasfound in somenumbers, and also A rctic villica. This latter species, Ibelieve, still holds out tothepresent day , as therailway banks afl'ordundisturbed feeding ground , but I understand that it is nolonger ingreat abundance.

With reference tothe capture of artemis, I was greatly surprisedat the timeto meet thespecies sonear London, but I have sinceseenthat Frederick Bond used totakeit at Kingsbury, in Middlesex , whichis novery great distance from Old Oak Common, and probably thespecimen I saw wasoneof thevery last of an old colony.

Before concluding, i t now only remains for me tothank mostheartily theofii cersof theSociety for their willing co-operation in the

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20

REPORTS ON FIELD MEETINGS .

CLANDON AND HORSLEY , May 26th , 1906.—Leader, Mr. W . J KAY E .

Theschemewastotrain to Clandon Station and walk up throug hthevillage, and on tothe downs , where the principle collecting was

expected tohavebeen done. Theweather, however, wasvery unpropitious, and although better than what the morning promised (beingsobad astodrivepart of the early contingent homewards), little real

collecting could be indulged in. At the foot of thedowns some considerable timewasspent in searching for Strem’

a clathrata, where i t isusually plentiful . Anoddoneor twospecimens werethe total rew ardof not a little hard search . After this the party slowly wended itswayover the downs, passing Newland ’s corner, along theridge, anddown tothe Silent Pool , where an excellent tea wasprovided underthewelcomeshelterof thecottageroof . Tea having been disposedoftheroute taken wasbackon tothecrestof thedowns, and along eastwards toNetley Heath . Thispieceof countryon a fine day is mostbeautiful , and entomologically and botanically a happy huntingground , butunder dull skies, and showers at intervals , it wasrobbedof half itsbeauty and nearly all its insect , if not its plant, treasure.

Netley Heath itself had not had time torecover from theextensivefirethat ragedon theprevious Easter Monday . This deplorableconflag ration had demolished a largepartof thevery fine rhododendronbushes, and thebilberry , where usually advenari a is not uncommon,

was largely demolished . Having crossed the heath , the lane thatleadsdown tothesouthern endof theSheep Leaswas followed untila footpath wasstruck which led right intothedelightful bush - covereddowns. Hereseveral members hung back in the hopeof retrieving abad day’s sport , but littlewastobe found , and several members werenearly left on the station platform . A list is appended belowof thelepidoptera noted, together w ith oneor twoof themoreconspicuousplants. In spiteof the meteorological conditions, the membersenjoyed the ramble, particularly as country new tomany memberswas explored, thepossibili tiesof which looked fullof promise.

Lspmop '

rsm OBSERVED .— Pian

'

snapi , theonly butterfly seen ; Bapta.

temerata, B . bimaculata, Eupi thecia scabiosata, Lampropteryx sufiumata,X anthorrhoefiuctuata, Lomaspilis marg inata, Eupi thecw abbreviata

,

Lozogramma petram’

a, X anthorrhoc montanata, Zonosoma linean’

a,

E ctropis punctularia, Strem'

a clathrata, E ct'ropiscrepuscularia (biundular ia Acidalia remutata, Asthma candidata, Nola mi stulalis

,

Nemophom swammerdamella, Adela vi ridella, Crambus chrysonuchellus,Plusia moneta larvae, Eupi thecia sobrinata larvae, Hydriomena clutata

larvae.PLANTs.

—0rchismili tar is, Orchismar ia, Belladonna.

21

EFFINGHAM , June 23rd, 1906,—Leader Mr . V . E . SHAW .

About a dozen members and friends put in an appearanceon thisoccasmn.

Ou arriving at Efiingham theparty took theRipley Road , workingthe wood en route

, and made for the Wisley Pond , where a fewH ydrelia unca were turned up in thepinewood a number of speciesaddicted tothis pabulum were taken.

After tea, atMartyr’s Green, members gradually worked their way

back again to the starting point at Efiingham Station. It wasgenerally agreed that the ground traversed offered excellent opportunitiesfor collecting , and it wasregretted that the time available totakeadvantageof thesamewasof necessity sorestricted .

Between 40 and 50 speciesof lepidoptera wereobserved includingthe following : E rynnis sylvanus, Hydralia unca, Nemeophila sannia

(russula), Cymatophora consortaria, M acam’

a li turata, Hydriomenaautumnalis, Eupithecia lar iciata, E uphyia picata, Mesoleuca albicz

’

llata,E rast'ria amata

, Epi rrhoe r i vata, Percom'

a strig illaria, Plerocymt'

a

mucronata

CHALFONTROAD , July 7th , 1906.—Leader , Mr. L . B. PROUT.

Fineweather and considerableabundanceof lepidoptera combinedto make this excursion a decided success . Thirteen members and

v isitors attended, commencing work in thewoods near Chalfont RoadS tation, and thenceworking back toChorley Wood—after tea at theWhiteL ion — by a lanewhich provided excellent beating, especially

for the Geometrides. Seventy -eight speciesof lepidoptera were re

corded , the more interesting being— Sesia stellatarum, Stauropusfag i(twomales), Bombyci d fluctuosa (oneat light), Euroisprasina (herbida),Spilote (Abraxas) sylvata (as abundant as last year, and includingleaden- coloured and other aberrations), Hydrelia blomeri (still fairlycommon, but past its prime, having been out early this year), H .

luteata, Euphyia picata, E . amniculata (unangulata), Ochym'

a quadrifasciata, illesoleuca albi cillata, Melanthia procellata, Amoeba rubidata.

Coenocalpe tersata, Lig dia adustata , Leptomcris imi taria , and Dichelia

g ratiana (oneonly) whileof theTortricidesthepretty littleGrapholitha aurana was flying in remarkable abundance, in the sunshine,over thetop of a high hedge.

22

PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY

THE RHEUMAPTERA HASTATA GROUP.

(Bead December 19th , 1905, by LOU IS B . PROUT,

Thesubject of my paper this evening wassuggested principally bymaterial in my own collection, and the drawer of black and whi te

Geometrideswhich I have passed round for exhibition may serve inpart as a basis for my remarks. Thefact that I am rather well providedwith theprincipal formsof hastata and itsclosest allies, and havealso typesof someEastern species hearing moreor less afiinity thereto,and the further fact that my kind friend Dr. Chapman, in presentingmew ith somespecimensofl'uctuata Schifi'

. (lugubrata spokeof itas a closeally of hastata , thesewereamong theprincipal causesof myoverhauling this section of my collection and preparing the followingnotes .I believeall thespecies contained in my drawer havesomeconsider

able natural afiinity, but it w ill bemanifest toyou at a glance thatthey donotformonegenus, and that they could hardly all bedescribedas forming the “hastaia group .

” The first group , thecomparativelynarrow -winged black species w ith narrow or broad whitecentral bands,comprises the genera Baptria (ti biale Esp. , with Trichodez ia(haberhaueri Led. and exsecuta Feld.) and Neodezia Warr recentlyerected (Nov. Zool. , xi . , p. 541) for theAmerican representativesof thelast-named (albovi ttata Guen. , etc.) which havenot well developed thehair- tuft towhich Toi chodezz'a owed its name. There are someinteresting structural questions in connection w ith the group , but Iam not going tod iscuss them on thisoccasion. N . albovi ttata (incongruously placed by Hulst in Euchoeca) is, asI am informed by Mr .

B. F. Pearsall , of Brooklyn, a day -flier, like somany blackor blackand-white species, and I suspect the same is trueof Baptrz

'

a and

Tr ichodezia. In fact most, if not all , of the black -and-whites which Iam exhibiting will comeunder thesamecategory, and this will accountin part for their similarity in coloration. For instance, thenext speciestowhich I would direct your attention, semenovi Alph . , is superficiallyvery like lugens Oberth . , but as it differs notonly in its pectinatedantennae, but also in neuration, and probably some other characters,it is referable, in the present state of our knowledge, tothe genusX anthorhoe,or at any ratenot toRheumaptera.

Tristata and its group , again,

‘

placed near hastata ever since thetimeof Linnaeus, are in like case. Not only the imaginal structure,but here also the weighty supportobtained from larval characters*,sufiicetoplace this group with alternata Mull . (sociata etc.

, in

Aurivillius Nord . Fjar . , p. 236) apparently ignores these latter , for hementionsthecloserelationsh ipof C idaria hastata and tristata asan argumentagainst using the formationof the discocellulars for generic subdivisionsof thatunwieldy genus.

”

23

thegenus Epi rrlwe. So, too, luctuata Schiff. must gotoEuphyia,ofwhich more anon.

The hastata group, in the narrowest sense, embraces only a

s1nglespeciesand its varieties, races and Darwinian formsor species,1f we may include among the last-named the Japanese hecataButl. ,w hich seemsa littleless close ‘

tohastata than theothers of thegroup ,and proserpina Alph . (Rom. Mém. , ix . . p. 183, pl. x. , fig . of which Iknow next tonothing—only that figure and description point toa

near relativeof hecate. But there area few other species (Japaneseor Chinese) so near to hastata in structure that Mr. Warren (in li tt.)advocatesplacing them in thesamegenus, and I am strongly inclinedtobelieve they areveritable mimics of thedistasteful Abraxinae.Before passing on, I should like toenlarge a littleon this last

point. It seems pretty clear that our European hastata hasmadeabsolutely noattempt inthedirectionof mimicking, say , Spilotag rasaulariata (or even Lomaspilis ma-

rg inata , if we may assume thatcomparatively retiring little species tobe of the “ warning ” type,which I much question) but that it (hastata) has evolved i ts spottedpattern and sharp contrasts to suit its day-flying habits . But whenwe trace themodificationsof i ts eastern relatives, step by step, wecannot fail tobe struck w ith the increasingly Ahraxine appearanceofmany of them . In luqensOberth . , which I have already mentioned ,the body has become yellow , while the wings arestill near semenoviandother tolerably normal carpets. But in placida Butl. and itsallies (or varieties) evanescens Butl. , and propinqua Butl. , theyellow isappearingon thewings also , and thesameis thecasewith thesimilarand not distantly-related whi telyi Butl. , for which Warren (Nov. Zool. ,x.

, p. 264) has erected the genus Calleulype; while in some furtherundoubted Larenti ids, such as latifasciaria Leech (the type ofXenospora Warr . , Nov. Zool. , x. , p. interruptaria Leech genus),etc. , the abraxine appearance seems tome still stronger ; and i t

culminates in such species as Callabraxastrigoniplaga Hmpsn., Christophiella aynes Butl. (= Iesténar1

’

a Stg r.) and Gandar itis maculata

Swinh. It may beadded thatX anthorhoe abrawarz'

a Butl. hasalsoan Abraxine- looking body . It appears that Spilotesylvata (ulmata) isan extremely abundant Asiatic species, with varieties or subspec iesinnumerable, and i t would not be surprising if it and someof theother abundant Eastern Abraarinae (Percnia, attracted sometrueBatesian mimics , although in my ignoranceof field work in theselands , my suggestion must be taken aspurely speculative.

Mr. Warren would constituteour genusasfollows —hustata Linn. ,

subleastata Nolck. (var. or thuleania H .-S . (sp.

Butl. , proserpina Alph . , lugens Oberth . , kczonmetari a Oberth.

placida Butl. , evanescensButl. , propinqua Butl. , and perhapsa few w ithwhich I am not acquainted ; he also adds a strange South Americanspecies (from Ptreopolis)which hehasnamed nondesci i pta (Nov. Zool. ,viii. , p. and which doesnot seem tofit anywhere else; butonewould here suspect accidental convergence, as the group 18 otherw1seexclusively holarctic and oriental , and I am not sure whether 1t even

extends very far south in China .

Thegenus forms a section, but in any casenot thetyp1calseet1onof Meyrick

’

s somewhat mixed genus Plemym’

a (accepted by Hulst,Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc.,

xxvii . , p. The typeof Plemyria, and so

24

far as I know thesolespecies (unless weadd theNorth American georg i iHulst) is bicolorata Hufn. , a species which I have always 1ns1sted

(from oval and larval characters , has more relationsh ip W i thCidariaor Them , etc. ,

than with the speciesoftenest associated w i thit ; and I am glad tolearn that Mr. Warren supportsme in regard in git as sui gener is. The residue fall intotwodistinct groups, that ofhastata and that of tristata, ri vata, galiatu, etc. , and Mr. Warren h as

called my attention tothe fact that even on Meyrick’

sown pet

character of neuration he could have avoided the error of lump ingthese, for themajority have the discocellularof thehindwingobliqueand simple with the radial from about the centre, whilethehasta tasection hasit bi - angulate, theradial from the lower angulation . Theneurationof hastata isfigured by Packard (Manama, pl. i . , fig . 10, the

forewing only), and by Grote (Ill. Woch. Ent. , i i . , p. 594 , pl.

Until more is knownof theAsiatic representativesin their early stag es,I am well content toaccept Warren

’

s composition of the genus,excepting kezonmetam’

a Oberth ' from the specimens inour NationalCollection, as well as from Oberthur’s figures, I think this comesnearer to(X anthorhoe) semenovi than tothe present genus, and

Mr. Warren now writesme—“ It isa long timesinceI had anyth ingto do w ith kezonmetaria it should very likely bereferred , likesemenom

‘

,

toX anthorhoe, but I havea sortof idea that theremay betwospec iesunited under thename (in. li tt November 27th,

As regards the synonymyof the genus, which Mr . Warren callsEulype (Eh Varz. , p. I follow theAmerican authors (exceptingHulst ,olim) in using theolder Rheumaptem (Hb Tent , p. In anycase, thetwogenera areco- typical , both having undoubtedly the typehastata, and if the Tentamen should finally havetoberejected , therewill be nodifficulty in deciding that theright name is Eulype. Theother (thetristata) section of Meyrick

’

s Plemym’

a is, as I havementioned, the Epi rrhoeof Hubner (typealter 'nata Mull . sociata Bork . ,

fixed by Warr ., Proc. Zool. Soc. , 1893 , p. 375, under the synonym of

bir iviata although whether themale antennal differencesaresufficient towarrant its separation from the closely-allied X anthorhoeis another question, which need not now beconsidered .

“Abraxas whi telyi Butl. , which comessonear thegenusRheumaptera, but which , absurdly enough , has still been left in A braxas byStaudinger and Rebel , difi

'

ers somewhat in i ts longer and narrowerwings, itsup- curved and blunt palpi , smooth and flat forehead , antennaew i th angular joint , etc. , but agreesw ith Rheumaptera in neuration and

general facies, and with somemembers of it in the yellow Abraxine

body .

The interesting speciesluctuata Schifi'

. transversata Thnb . (neea .)=obductata Moeschl. lugubrata Stg r. , next claimsour attention.

I havealready mentioned that it impressed oneofour Bri tish entomolog ists, Dr. Chapman, as an apparently closeallyof hastata , and ithas

nearly always been placed beside hastata in our lists , whileParkard,thefirst toresuscitateRheumaptera as a genus , finds it a placetherein.

In addition totheir general similarity, which is perhaps induced bysimilarityof habits, asStaudinger (Stett. E nt. Zei t. , xxii . , p. 397) foundthem indistinguishable in flight, both these species produce parallelblack varieties in Labrador , and elsewhere in North America (hastatavar. gothicata Gn. , andluctuata var.obductata Probably the

25

first thing toexcite a suspicion that the twomay not really comeasclosetogether as they appear, istheconsiderabledifference in form andhabit between thelarvae. Thatof luctuata is figured by Freyer (Neu.

Bei tr. , vi i . , pl. 690) and Milliere (Nat. S i cil. , iv. , p. 8 , pl. 1, figs. 4 , 5)and there i s a not very important account by Schilleof hisrearing itfrom theeggs(Soc. Ent. , vii . , pp. 12 -13 , 18 -19) it isevidently notat allof thecharacteristic stout formof R. hastata, and it feedsquiteexposedon Epilobium, while hastata feeds spun on leaves, in a manner madefamiliar toour Epping Forest collectorsby thesimilar habitof Phileremevetulata. Having onlyvery inadequatebook - knowledge, I cannot saymuch about thelarvaof luctuata, but, from the figures, I see nothingag ainst uniting itw ith i tsother most probableallies, picata Hb . ,

um

niculata Hb . (unangulata etc.- thegenusEuphyia E h. Meyrick

hasalso arrived at a separation between hastata andluctuata,on accountof thesimpleareoleof the former and thedoubleareoleof the latter,and he has allthe three Euphyia species which I haveenumeratedstanding ascongeneric inHydriomma (videTrans.Ent. Soc. Lond. , 1892,

pp. 72 -7 but this latter fact loses i tssignificancewhen weobservewhat a medley his Hydr iomena is— comprising ocellata , albicillata, the

genera (or a great part of them) Emmelesia, Them , C idar id ,Ypsipetes,

Anticlea, Tr iphosa, Larentia, Camptog ramma, etc. , etc. ,of our British

lists— and i t israther amusing toread that “ as here restricted ”“ it isnot, in fact, solargeas tobeunmanageable.

”

On account of the absenceof an adequatediagnosisof luctuata inthe Vienna. Catalogue, Staudinger refused torecognise the name, andimposed thatof lugubrata (Cat. , 2nd ed.

, p. 189, 1871) at the sametimecalling another species, which wasat firstmisidentified byHubner,luctuata notwithstanding that H ii bner himself discovered hism istake and renamed his new species hastulata. But in any caseS taudinger’s new namewasnot required ,or atmostonly asa varietalone, for Moeschler had in the meantime (Wien. Ent. Monats. ,

iv . ,

p. 374 , named the Labrador form obductata , and that wouldhave priorityover lugubrata, as would alsoWalker '

sconcordata fromNova Scotia (List, xxv. , p. 1295, Meyrick resuscitatesThunberg

’

s transversata which isolder still ; but this wasahomonym. asthetransversataof Hufnagel (1767) wasthespecieswhichwe call Philereme (Scotost

'

a) rhamnata. The whole complication isavoided by the obvious and natural courseof accepting Schifl'

er

muller’s luctuata , which is at any rate more than a mere “ nomennudum, and waselucidated by H ii bner andTreitschke. Thiscoursehas been followed in Dyar

’

s List of North Amer ican Lepidoptera,”

p. 279.

This speciesvaries considerably in the amount of white, partienlarlyon thehindwings, where in the type it is quite broad . I havealready remarked on the close parallelism between theextremedarkform (var. obductata Moeschl. concordata Walk .) and the darkestexamplesof Rheumaptera hastata (var . guthica you w ill noticethat

, except in thedirectionof theouter marginof thecentral areaoftheforewings, there is very little whereby todistinguish them superficially. An intermediate variety has been described by Petersen

(Lep . Batt. , p. 331, 1902) as var. borealis, with thediagnosis alis

posticis nigris , fascia media alba angusta, marginem costalem versushaud dilatata.” Herr Petersen kindly sent his type (from theUral)

26

for my inspection; its hindwings ,on both surfaces, have theband as

narrow ason theupper sideof forewings , whereit is normal . Sché yen ,

in a survey of Arctic Norwegian lepidoptera (Arch. Math. og . Vz’

d v .,

p. 198) mentions an example which is evidently referable here, and

the Siberian form which I have recently received from Staud ing erapproaches it. Very simi lar again is var. kodiakata Pack . (P roc .

Bast. Soc. , xvi . , p. 23 , pl. i . , fig . 7 , fromKodiak I Alaska, W h ich—unlikesomanyof theAmerican forms - has thewhitebandson the

upper sideof allthe wings , although (tojudgefrom thefigure) theyare not very sharply defined nor very broad, so that the form standsbetween var. borsalis and the type, to which latter Dyar (Proc. U S .

Mus” xxvii . , p. 895) doubtfully suggests sinking it. In the same

place, Dyar correctly suggestssinking var. concordata to var.obducta taGumppenberg (Nova A cta, iv . , p. 279) has them separate, and byimplication makes the former havenowhitebandon thehindwing s,evenon theunderside, butthetype specimen shows that thisiswrong .

Ah. wendlandti Fuchs (Jahrb. Nass. l’er. Nat. i ii . , p. 60, 1900) seems

tocome near borealis Peters , but is uncertain, Fuchs being sounreliable in his determinations; i t is described from a single broadwinged example from St. Goarshausen. In d irect antithesis tothesedark forms, there is a var . albidz

’or Alph . recorded from Kamtchatka

(Rum. Mém. , ix . , p. 78, 1897) w ith moreof the white than thetypeorm .

But probably the hastata group in its most restricted sensepossessesthemost interest for an audienceof British Entomologists.

This comprises five forms which have, atone timeor another, beenconsidered torank asspecies hastata Linn. , gothicata Gn. ,

subhastata

Nolck., t/mlearia H .

- S . , and hecateButl. Thelast twoare, by commonconsent, still treated as worthy of that claim,

although Packard(Monoyr . , p. 165) is inclined todoubt it in thecaseof thulcaria, whilstByar ’s List of North American Lepidoptm'

a, p. 278, sinks hecate as a

synonym tohastata var. yothicata . Opinion is still somewhat dividedon the exact strength of the claims of subhastata , but theweight ofOpinion (and, as i t seems tome,of evidence) isagainst them ; whilegothicata is now universally sunk to hastata , notw ithstanding a rathernoteworthy peculiarity to which I shall refer presently .

RHEU MAPTERA HECATE Butl. (A rm. Mag . Nat. H ist. i . , p. 448 ,

1878) from Japan is, sofar as isyet known, a pretty constant species,although Leech (Ann. Mag . Nat. H ist. xix ., p. 570) mentionsthat histwofrom Hakodatearesmaller than anyof Pryer’s extensiveseries from Oiwake, and have the central wh1te band w ideron thesecondaries and towards thecostaof primaries. The typical form isfigured by Butler in Ill. Typ. Lep. Het. , iii . , p. 55, pl. iv. ,

fig . 12

It bears considerable resemblance totheblackest formof R. hastata

var. yothi cata and tovar. chinensis, but is quite distinguishablein itseven more angulated central fascia of forewings , which is whitemzspotted w i th black , and much broader in i ts costal than in itsmarginal half.

BHEU MAPTERA THU LEARIA H .- S . (Syst. Bearb. , iii . , p. 156, fig . 387,

only known from is a very interesting creature. It

Fuchshad a form from Krasnioarsk, Siberia, which hetook tobethis, buthe tells na (Jahrb. Nan . Var. Nat li i i . , p. 62) that the determination was

certainly incorrect.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

28

whitish , except a very narrow stripeof theground colour which formstheouter boundary of thecustomary whitish band . I haveonly oneof this pretty form, but there i s another, though rather less extreme,in the British Museum collection. As is usualwith this typeofvariation (compare Entom. xxxvii . , pp. 155 thedark colour i n the

central area is well consolidated , as if to enhancethecontrast .Herrich figure (not description)might almost represent

yet another aberration, as i t shows a partial suppression of the darkmarkings in the central area (excepting its boundaries) and m the

marginal (between veins 3 and but as he only possessed a

worn example, which waspresumably theonefigured, I think it w isernot toover-emphasize these peculiarities. At the same time, theBritish Museum collection containsone 3 bearing some analogy to i tin respect of thelarge central spot surrounded w ith palecolour , andmy own series includes some (apart from ah. clam) in which theredoesnot seem to bemuchof thedark colour in themarginal areaoftheforewings .Rnsvuaprsm GOTHICATA Gn. (Spéc. Gén x. , p. 388, 1858) was

erected asa separatespecies intermediatebetween i cterata Gn. (pl. ixfig . 9, said to be from Australia, but probably by error , compareMeyrick, Proc. Linn. Soc. N . S . W (2) v . , p. 879) and hastata, makingits blackest form his type, its whitest, most hastata- like his var . B ,

and an intermediate form (thewh i te band continued on hindwing)var . A . It wasfirst sunk tohastata by Moeschler in 1860, in hisvaluable Beitrage zur Lepidopteron-Fauna von Labrador (Wien.

Ent. Monats. , iv. , p. he gives good figures (pl. x ., fig . 4 -5)of

thetwofemales which he had received , the firstof which (nodoubtfig . 5) had been determined by Zeller as gothicata Gn. , while the

second (a less extreme form) removed all his doubtsastoitsspecificidentity w ith hastata, its underside, in particular, showing nottheslightest difference therefrom .

”

In Stett. Em. Zei t. , xxxi . , p. 370,he isequally emphatic in claiming it as a var. of hastata and noteven an essentialone. TheAmerican forms areexcessively variable,and somewhiter forms arenow known (Anticosti , St. Martin’

sFalls,

Oregon, Colorada , British Columbia, etc.,and especially Vancouver

which are hardly distinguishable from certain forms of Europeanhastata and var. subhastata but thepoint which has struck me in allthe truedark gothicata which I have seen (and in a few paler Americans) is the less irregular outer margin of the central fascia, andespecially thefact that it reaches the inner margin w ith anoutwardcurve, often, indeed, its entire lower half is directed somewhatobliquely towards tornus. Moeschler (Stett. Em. Zei t. , xliv. , p. 122)alsonoticesslight differences between his8 . Labrador 9 hastata andtheEuropean. Theremay possibly be twodistinct speciesmixed upin America, but I am not prepared w ith any convincing evidenceofthis . On the whole i t is simplest tousethename gothicata Guen.

asmerely varietal , for the blackened American forms, and totreat theNew World examples w ith the white preponderating (Pack . , Manama,

pl. ix. , fig . 11) as, for thepresent, synonymous with the type.

RHEU MAPTERA svnm srau Nolck. ( l'

erk. zool. -bot. Ges. Wien, xx.,

p. 68 , ! hastata Eh. fig . 356, nec Eh. Beitr. , wasfirstmadeknown by Hubner

’

sfigure in the Sammlung,” just cited ; but asthe

same author had earlier used that name for another species (the

29

tristata- likespecieswhich hehad firstmisidentified as luctuatai t rightly belongs tothat , i t becomes a homonym here (indicatedby or according to the Merton Rules), and Nolcken was quiter ight in imposing a new name— subhastata. H iibner evidently viewedi t asa valid species, butTreitschke (Schmett. Emu, vi 2 , p. 209)unhesi tatingly sinks it as an aberration of hastata w ith moreblackand less white, and says it occurs intermixed with theordinarytype, yet rarely . Herrich -Schafi

'

er (Syst. Bearb. ,iii .

, p. 156) followed Treitschke, and sodid Lederer (Verh. z .

-b. Ges. Wien,iii . , p.

but Staudinger , in 1857 (Stett. E'nt. Zei t. , xviii . , p. 259) wrote:

H astulata i ‘ is still held by sometobea var .of hastata,which in my

Opinion isdecidedly incorrect whileGuenée, about the same time(Spec. Gen. Lep. , x. , p. wasstill moredogmatic , stating that it isperfectly distinct and cannot be confounded with hastata

, andthat thosewhohave sunk it have done sow ithout having seen it innature. But Guenéeonly judgesafter a few rather extremeexamplesof theLapland form , which would now be reckoned as ah. moestata,and Staudinger, dealing with larger material, soon wavered in, andfinally forsook his earlier view, vide Stett. E nt. Zei t. , xxii . , p. 397 ,where, amongstother things, he mentions that Wocke took , in Finmark , a g subhastata in cop. w ith a practically typical 9 hastata .

However, theview that therewere twospeciescontinued tofind supporters, e.g . , Rossler (Jahrb. Nass. l

'

er . Nat , xxxiii . -xxxiv ., p.

August Hofi'

mann (Stett. Ent. Zeta, xlix . , p. 175)and, tosomeextent,SparreSchneider (Trams. Mus. Aarsh. , xv. , p. and Strand (Nyt.M ag . Naturm

’

d xxxix . , p. while Gumppenberg (Nova . Acta. , liv . ,

pp. 278 , 292, 293) has introduced i t three times, first asvar . (subhastata) of hastata, next as n.sp. (sag i ttifera) and finally again as

species (hastalata) ! The Norwegian and Scottish forms certainlyseem tome tograde through from hastata tosubleastata

, as forexamplea short serieswhich I bred from larvaecollected in a singlelocality , Strathcarron, Rossshire theones with the most whitemustclearly becalled hastata, nothwithstanding that their size is a littlebelow that normal for thesouth of England , while the blackest onesapproach thedark moestata form of var. subhastata. As I propose totreat thewholerangeof forms asa single species, I shall reserve thestudy of the variation, and shall devote the rest of my paper tohastata.

RHEU MAPTERA HASTATA Linn. (Syst. Nat. , cd. 10, p. 527 , isoneof thevery many specieswhich— in spiteof themany unfortunatediscoveries which we studentsof literature make, and which bringcontinual execrations upon our devoted heads— can never change itsspecific namewhiletheworld lasts; even if thefaddists, whodemandthat inappropriateor unmeaning names should be subject toalteration, should ever get their way (which heaven forfend !) I believeourpretty little friend is reasonably safe, for hastata is suggestiveenough of a characteristic marking, and the alternative nameofbetularia (although given it by the ignorant Gladbach , Namen-und

Prei z - Varz . , 1778) is comfortably appropriated elsewhere. Phalaena

Geonwtra hastata was described by L inné , in the first year of binomialnomenclature, under thefollowing diagnosis :

That is,of course, subhastata Nolck. , which had notyet been rechristened.

30

P. Geometra seticornis, alis omnibus nig ris albomaculatis

fascusduobusalbis immaculatisbastato dentatis.”Clerck in the following year figured (Iron. Ins. Ran , pl. i . , fi g . 9)

the sameform which Linné had described , and L inné himself i n h is

later workssomewhat amplified his descriptions . H is type spec imenstill exists in his collection, now in the possession of the L innseanSociety, and is of a form nearest someof my Yorkshireones, or onefrom Wismar, in that the central fascia is divided by a longitud inalwhite line, and its outer half interrupted again wi th white near the

inner marg in.

Thelarvaof R. hastata waswell known to someof theold masters,and isdescribed and figured by Degeer (Mémoi res, i i . , pp. 455-7 , pl.

v iii . , fig . 19) and Kleemann (Beytri ige, pp. 369-72 , pl. xliv . , fig . 1

and figured by H ii bner (Geschichte, Geom. Aeqv. I . b. ,fig . 1a , b).

They all g ive iton birchonly , in the spun- together leavesof which i tsogenerally lives in Central Europe, etc. Kleemann (loo. ci t. , fig .

7 , 8) figuresthelarge typical form of the imag o (fig . 7 , indeed ,qui teabnormally large, measuring about 2 inches), Degeer (lac. ci t. , fig . 20)a smaller form w ith the black a littlemore consolidated and w i thstrong black dots ln the white band , i .e. a more intermediate form ,

but certainly not thegenuinevar . subhastata . As tothe larva, i t isvery variable in colour (compareRatzeburg , Waldverderb ii . , p. 408,

pl. iii . , fig . andon this accountonewould hesitate togive muchimportance tomere colour in differentiating those of subhastata oreven of thulearia. As regards foodplants, Sandberg (Ent. Tcd v .

p. 143) says that thelarvaof var. subhastata 1spractically polyphagous,but i t has long been known that its favourite pabulum is

oVaccinium,

pre-eminently V. ulig inosum (Stg rn, Stett. Em Zei t.

,xxi i .

, p. 398 ;Hofi'

m . , i bi d., xlix . , p. 175 Schneid . , Trams. Mus. A arsh.

,xv . ,

p. 85 ; etc.) but alsosometimes V. mym'

llus (Zell . , Stett. Em.

Zei t. , xxxvii i . , p. 468, as “ hastar ia , but Schneider, Ent. Ti d . , vi i . ,p. 251, would seein thissubleastata ; Krieghofi,

M i tt. Geog . Ges. Thii riii . , p. 167 ; and it is equally well known that it does notdespisebirch wherethisi sobtainable in its haunts , nor dothevariousSali ces comeamiss toit (seeSandb loo. cit , Schneid .

, Trams. Mus.

Aarsh. , xv. , p. Réssler (Jahrb. Nass. Var . Nat. , xxxiii . -xxxiv. ,

p. 154) says also on whortleberry for the type from hastata ,

perhapson thestreng th of Zeller’s record for Ober Albula just citedabove; at any rateHofi'

mann (loo. ci t. supra) explicitly states that hehas never found a Vaaccinmm larva produce any but the subhastata

forms. Newman (Brit. Moths, p. 157) gives Myri ca g ale, in additiontobirch, asa foodplantof hastata , and I have been given tounderstand that this record referred toour Scotch forms of var . subhastata

,

but I have not been able totrace the reference further , though itappears tobe confirmed by McArthur

’

8 experience in the OuterHebrides (South , Entom. xxv. , p. Richter, in oneof theoldlocal lists (for Dessau, Stett. Em. Zei t. , x. , p. has an absurdnote that hefirst found the larva on Salix am i ta, and afterwards inhisgardenon Ri bessanguineum and Rhododendron lau1icum. I cannottake this seriously , and can only supposethat hedid not know Spiloteg rossulariata,or someother species, from Rheumapte

‘

ra hastata .

Therangeof this species israther extensive. Staudinger g ives(itwe include gothicata and thevar. subhastata)practically thewholeof

31

n orthern and central Europe, S .-W. France, N . Italy, Ural , Armenia,

A ltai , Issyk Kul, Amur, W. and S .-W . China, Labrador, Kamtchatka

and North America generally . In thefar northof Europe therearealmost exclusively the darkened formsi ‘ ; Schilde, writing of NorthF inland (Stett. Em. Zei t. , xxxv . , p. says “ only in the smallerv arying forms , var. gothicata, Gn and subleastata, Nolck by the

formerof which hedoubtless intends theform wjqreni , Lampa ; andSchoyen’

s and Schneider’s experience for Arctic Norway has beenpractically the same. It seems tofind itsenvironment in these highlatitudes particularly favourable, for Schoyen (Trams. Mus. Aars. , v

p . 35) has noted it as there the commonest of all Geometers, and

Schneider (Ibid, xv . , p. 83) records it as in incredible profusion in1883 and 1884 , though (like most species in such regions) itsabundance is only sporadic . L ike its relative hastata

,

” saysSchneider, “ it is entirely heliophil and visits flowers in the sunshinequitelikea butterfly, at night I have found it sitting quite sluggishon stems and branches . Onlyononesingleoccasion haveI noticed it flying of its own free wi ll at night, namely in Harstadone charming July night in By the way, as would beexpected , it appears later in the summer than thehastataof thelowlands ; Zetterstedt (Ins. Lapp. , p. 961)even gives August asthemonthfor Lapland (also, under thenameof tm

‘

stata, theend of July).The variation of Rheumaptem hastate is not easy to work out in

detail ; the very broken black pattern of the paler ,or typeforms,ofcourse lends itself toan infinitudeof permutations , and i t would beridiculous toendeavour toimpose a varietal nameon each differentonewith whichone chanced tobe acquainted . Mr. South hasgivena concise summary of the general trend of the variation in the

E ntomolog ist for 1892 (xxv . , pp. 87 The darkened formshave suffered somewhat from over -naming, but I donot think anynamehasbeen proposed for theseforms in which there is an abnormalsuppression of the black . The follow ing is the best scheme I can

submitof thevarieties and aberrationsknown to me1. H astata L inn. (betularia —Central fascia of forewings

moreor less interrupted with whitebetween veins 1 and 2 ,otherw isefairly normal in extent, outer white band unmarked (Haworth

’

svar.

B absque striga punctorum atrorum)or weakly dotted w ith black ,subterminal line interrupted , hastate mark nearly always connectedwithouter whiteband .

2 . (var.) Subhastata Nolck. (i'iti

'istata Strom, Nye Saml. Dansk.

Vi d. Selsk. Skin, ii . , p. 83, fig . 35, 1783, Zett 1713. Lapp. , p. 961 ;=i‘hastulata Eh. , Samml. , fig . 356, 1796 ; hastate var. , Newm .

,Bri t.

llloths, p. 157 cumfig . , 1869 ; ni grescens Ckll Entom. , xxii . , p. 75,1889 ; sag ittifera Gmppbg ., Nam Acta , liv . , p. 292, 1890; conti nuumFuchs, Jabrb. Nass. Ver . Nat. , liv . , p. 56, 1901, see. Piing . in

Generally smaller, central fascia hardly ever completely interrupted ,outer band traversed (generally on both pairs of wing s) by a seriesofdark dots, not infrequently joining toform a continuousline, hastatemark nearly always separated from band by a dark line, subterminal

Further south these tend tobecome restricted tothemountains, and insomeplacestobemoreaberrationalthan varietal. Somewritersindi catethetwoforms, hastate and subhastata , asoccuring together, othersasnever doing so;probably bothobservationsmay beright, according tothelocalcircumstances.

32

line often almost continuous (quite soin ah. undulata Strand) . In

our British examples , however, there is a very general tendency forthecentral fascia to besomewhat constrictedor even semi - interrupted ,and for thehastatemark tojoin thewhiteband , and it isundoub tedlyon these grounds that Guenée and his friend Doubleday refused torecognise them as true subhastata (vide Newman, loo. ci t ), with the

result that Cockerell imposed on them a new name, var. nig rescemr.

Butmy Finmark series andonefrom Lapland (Guenée’

sown loca li tyfor subleastata) show how inconstant these points are, and var .

nig rescm isat best only a subvariety.

3 . (var.) Chinensis Leech , Ann. i

‘

lIag . Nat. H ist. (6) xix . , p. 570,

1897 (moerens Alph . , Rom. M ém. , ix . , p. 147, —Black , w i th verylittlewhiteexcepting theouter band (which isdotted w ith black) andan interrupted subterminal . I have only seen this variety fromwestern China ; it stands between hastata and var. (7) gothicata , the

outer boundary of the central area showing moreof the hastatacontour than in gothicata and thewhitebandof thehindwingsbeingbroader and cleaner than in Guenée’s gothicata var. A .

” It seemsafairly constant form, but might easily be approached (except perhapsin size) by chanceaberrationsof var . subhastata.

4 . (var . 7) Gothicata Guen. (furcifascz'

a Walk .)—“Wings black

,

thesuperiors w ith a strongly angulated whiteband oftenconnected , between veins 3 and 4, with a triangularor sagittate subterminal spot (Guenée). I have already discussed this form , and

wouldonly add that perhapsthefact that it presents such a differentaspect from theother black var. (chinensz

’

s) lends some support totheidea that it isnot strictly co-specific. I donot propose at present tog ive names to Guenée’s “

vars.

”

(abs.) A and B . Ab . furcifascia.

Walk . (List Lep ., xxv . , p. 1294, 1862) is a rather extreme form, w i th

nowhite except the band of the forewings , but practically noblackdots in this.

5. (ah.) Demoli ta mihi , n. ab .—I would propose this name,

without hair- splitting, for thoseoccasional aberrations in which thecentral fascia has nearly disappeared , only persisting in small blotchesround the discal spot (or more rarely a few dasheson the nervures)and at the inner margin. This phaseof variation occurs chiefly inthe typical hastate race (ay. , Barrett , Lep . B ria, pl. 336, figs. 1, 1b,lo; onefrom Edlington Wood, Doncaster, taken by Prest , and figuredin Entom. , xiv. , p. 1, and a second from thesamelocality thenext yearkindly shown meseveral yearsagoby Mr. William Bradyof Barnsley ;onein Rev. G . H . Raynor’s collection recently exhibited in this room,

and a second approaching it ; a fine form bought by Mr. SydneyWebb from theS . Stevenscollection ; andone exhibited by Tugwell,vide Entom. , xxv. , p. but it also turns up occasionally amongvar. subhastata , two being figured by Schneider (Trams. Mus. Aars. ,

xv . , plate, fig . 4b, 4c) and a somewhat similar phasementioned byGauckler (Ent. Nachr . , xxv. , p. whileoneof Barrett’s figures(pl. 336, fig . 1h) tends decidedly in the same direction. Schneideralso figures (lac. ci t. , fig . 4a) a strange- looking rayed example, whichprobably deserves naming separately. Some other forms with an

increase of white, to which I find references in literature (E sthonia ,smaller with more broken bands and more white than ordinary,"

HuenetasteNolcken, Lep. Faun. Estl., p. 270; AlaTau, a very large

33

9 w i th much white in itswings, Stgr ., Stett. Ent. Zei t. , xliii . , p.

need not benamed .

6. (ah.) Moestata Nolck ,Verh. z -b. Ges. Wien,

xx . , p. 62, 1870

(hastulata Guen. , Spec. Gén. Lép. , x . , p. 389, 1858 ; tanni cata Fuchs ,J ahrb . Nass. Ver . Nat. , liii . , p. 61, Nolcken’

soriginal descriptionof this form is not worth quoting, as be differentiated it, not fromsubhastata but from hastulata Hb . , Btr .

, but i t isclear that it simplycoversthedarker aberrationof var. subhastata . It wasdescribed fromF inmark , and a few which I have from there, as well astwofromNorth Finland which Staudinger sent me as ah. moestata,

agree wellW i th Moleken’s description. They are also thetypical hastulata ofGuenée, while Hii bner

’

s hastulata (the type figure for subhastata

Nolck.) has just a littlemore white about it ; but the line that onedraws has tobe quite arbitrary . Fuchs’

tauni cata was a singlespecimen from near Oberursch, and though Fuchs regarded it as

different from moestata and probably nearer yothicata , his descriptionshows clearly that it is simply a dark moestata with the central blackband rather well consolidated . Herr Piingeler has seen thespecimenand writesme that i t is a dark subhastata.

”

7 . (ab .) Hofg rem: Lampa, Ent. Tid. ,vi .

, p. 113 I donotthink Staudinger isjustified in sinking this toab . moestata Nolckrather should hehave sunk that tosubhastata . Ah. hofyreni i s a veryextreme form which I have never yet seen , and which it would bevery interesting tocomparew ith vars. chinensisand gothicata. Lampabyoversight erected it under hastulata Hb . , Btr . (

i ‘luctuata Hb . , nee

instead of under subleastata , but this was corrected byAurivillius (Nord. Fjéir. , p. Thespecimen was from Jemtland,and wasdescribed as soot black ,outer white transverseband dividedby a dentateline; for therest, noother markings than a white spotat the outer margin in cell 4 and a small remnant of subterminalat tip of forewing .

” Thus it differs essentially from ah. moestata inhaving noinner white line, nor any white in thecentral area .

8. (ah.) Undulata Strand , Nyt. Mag . Naturvid xxxix . , p. 63,1901. This is erected under subhastata , which Strand is inclined totreat as a good species. The subterminal of the forewings is notbroken up into spots, but quite continuous, nodistinct hastatemark,thehind marginof theforewings with numerous white dots. TwoSpecimens from Langfien,oneof the Lofi

'oden Islands . Theform is

perhapsmore important than appears at first sight, as it shows thatone of the characteristic featuresof R. thulearia is not absolutelyd istincti veof that species. Gauckler also(Ent. Nachr . , xxv . , p. 17)mentions an aberration (his ah. 3) in which the hastate marksareonly weakly indicatedon forewings and entirely wantingon thehind.

He considers his series of var. subhastata, and this form in particular,as indisputably supplying thetransitions between hastata and tristate.

There are possibly some traces of another southern and easternlocal form or race, as twospecimens from Achalzik and twofromAmur, all in the British Museum collection, show quite a similarfacies , inter se, being rather large, with the central fascia broad, muchblotched with white in its inner half and rather straight at its outermarg in, i .a. ,

rather likethelightest American forms but this is verydoubtful , as such a vast territory intervenes , and I possess examplesfrom Sajan and N Tibet not fitting in with these, and, moreover,

34

Leech (Ann. Mag . Nat. H ist. xix, p. 570) considers h is fromAmur to reewell wi th theEuropean, while blackened racesexi st inWestern hina (var. chinmsis), and perhaps (cf. Fuchs, Jahrb. Nass.

Var . Nat., liii . , p. 62) about Krasnoiarsk.

DIFFERENTIATION OF T. TRIDENS AND T. PSl IN THElMAGlNAL STAGE.

(Read March 20111, 1906, by T. A . CHAPMAN , M .D .)

When our invaluable Secretary, Mr. Bell, asked me in his mostNapoleonic manner to Open this discussion, I saw escape was impossible, so at once acquiesced with the most cordial alacri ty myinnatechurlishness permitted meto assume. A few years ago I paidsomeattention to theearly stages of theAcronyctas, and so, thoug h Ipossess the greatest ignorance of the imagines , nobody wi ll give mecredit for it. I reflected, however, that toopen a good discussion , an

exhaustive paper is the last thing to be desired , and that the introductory remarks aremoreeffective if they arestufl

'

ed fullof emissionsand seasoned with a few glaring mistakes. I have felt it tobenecessary, however, out of respect for the Society, to try and get

together a few observations bearingon thesubject.There are certainly a good many differences between psi and

tn'

dens in the imaginal state; I will begin, however, by asserting thatthere arenodifferences whatever. If you ask me to lay down anycharacters by which someone unfamiliar with these twospecies maybeableto say with absolute certainty to which species a specimen he

has just taken belongs, I confess absolute inability todo se. There isnoone character that always holds good, although it may furnish acorrect conclusion in a large proportion of cases . A combination ofcharacters, nodoubt, willfail lessfrequently ; nevertheless, it will failsufficiently often toprevent entiredependenceon it.It is, notwithstanding, unquestionable that , if the specimen be a

male, an examination of theancillary appendages leaves noshadow ofdoubt as towhich species thespecimen belongs to .

The inner chitinous processesof theclasps areabundantly difi'

erent,and though there are considerablevariations in each species , they innoway approximate the twoforms. I presume both species der ivetheir names from the dagger on thewings, a three-pronged marking that is like the letter psi ( ,p)or like a trident, but it is curiousthat tridmsmay be distinguished from psi by usually having, in thepupa, threespines on a certain portion of the cremaster, instead of

four , and in theseancillary appendages tn’

dens is furnished wi th threebranches to theinner spineof theclasps, and psi hasonly two.There isanother male character that is less tobe depended on,

although in some of my Hereford broods it waspractically without

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36

has it of the same colour as the rest of the wing. Some darkspecimens of psi havea seriesof palepatches down the hind margin.

This iswell seen in someof Mr. Raynor 's Brentwood specimens, andin thedark 3‘ of cuspis. Somethingof thesamesort may bedetectedin tridens, but it is never sopronounced . Still , all these mattersof colour are, in fact, questions of degree rather than ab solutedifferences .Mr. Burrows lent mesomemounted wings of the twospec ies , and

examining these, I found that in the neighbourhood of the analdagger the scales of tn

’

dens had the four (or other number) ofserrations at theend of the scales quite level , i .a. , of equal leng ths.

In psi themarginal were much shorter than the centralones. I

thought I had discovered a further proofof thegenius and insight ofour beloved pastor, but alas ,on pushing the research a little further,I found that thesewere individual and notspecific variations .In Tutt’s Bri tish Noctuae, i . , p. 18 , there are some remarksof

mineon thisquestion, toall of which I think I would still adhere,especially emphasising thefact that I had only certain racesof thetwospecies at my disposal. Themorecritical remarks by Mr . Tutt,that follow mine, areopen tothe sameobservation, and whilst theyare equally val id now as they were when they were written , theymust be read with the provisoI have several times called yourattention to, that, wh ilst generally applicable, there are a g ood proportion of specimens of both species that present not themarkingsherepredicated of them , but thoseof theother species .I think I have referred toall the points in which I can report

differences between the twospecies, and oneor moreof them w illsuffice, in most instances, to enable which species some examplesbelong toto bedetermined.

At Hereford I learnt todiscriminatebetween them easily . WhenI picked up a moth , I always knew whichone I had got. But theni t will beobserved that theHereford formof psi isonly the paleone,and Hereford tri dent was usually well coloured . Unfortunately , forpurposesof illustration this evening , most of my wi dens have beengiven away, many of my friends desiring authentic specimens , andespecially those parted w ith included nearly all the most richlycoloured ones .Thediscrimination would certainly be less facilebetween the dark

London form of psi and the splendid large dark tri dens, bred byMr . Burrows but I think I could usually distinguish between them .

In one of the boxes are the duplicates of these Species fromDr. Mason’s collection ; amongst these I picked out several thatappeared wrongly placed , and an examination of the appendages inthe 3

‘ specimens verified my surmise in each case.

Amongst thespecimensexhibited aretheseries of tridensfromMrs.

Bazett’s collection. They areall, eight in number, dark specimensofpsi there is onlyone3‘ and thisopinion wasverified by examinationof this specimen. It is obvious that to discriminatethe species mustbedifiicult, when the tr idms tobedifl'erentiated are, in fact, psi .I exhibit also the series of the twospecies from the Barrett

collection. They include eighteen specimens of tr idem of my ownbreeding, andonespecimenof the bidensvar . of psi . I foundof these,and verified by examinationof the appendages, that two specimensof

37

p si wereplaced w ith tridens, and threespecimens of tridenswere in theseriesof psi . For greater certainty , I also examined twospecimensofpsi that might be taken for tridens, according tosome criteria , andfound that Mr. Barrett’sand myownopinionof them wascorrect.I think , therefore, that anyone whohandles a good number of

specimens from any one locality, and probably if he has still morematerial, then from any locality , w ill rarely , if ever, be wrong indeciding which speciesany given specimen may be.

I may, however, conclude as I began, by saying that nocriteriacan be laid down that w ill enable anyonew ithout thisexperiencetoname a doubtful specimen, except w ith a largemargin of probableerror . Myown experience is sufficiently defective, asregards thefinedark formsof both speciesfound in the London district , tomakemehesitatebefore pronouncing, and I should sometimas expect toprovew rong in my determinations of doubtful specimens, especially iffemales.

Thephotographs presented herew ithof theappendagesof thetwospecies (taken by Mr. F. N . Clark) show very well the differenceof the spines of the claspers, and they also show a structure thatis less frequently demonstrated, viz" themembranousstructure that iseversible from the E doeagus, and that is armed wi th a beautifularrangement of spines ; it will benoticed that thesesp inesarenotofan identicalarrangement in thetwospecies, thoseof psi being all ofa large, somewhat uniform , size, whilst thoseof tri dens havean areain which they are distinctly smaller . It is, of course, accidental inmounting thespecimens, that the[Edoeagusis pushedoutcomparativelyfree of theother structures in the specimen of tri dens, whilst it i samongst them soastoproducelessclearoutl1nes in that of psi . Theother photoisfrom camera sketchesof theclasps, and includesoneofthespinesof theallied cuspis, and also tries to illustrate some of thevariation that occurs in psi , therebeing equal variation in tr idens.

NOTES ONTHEMICRO-LEPIDOPTEROUS FAUNAOFTHELONDONDlS

’

l‘

RlCT—TlNElNA.

(Bead April 3rd, 1906, by ALFRED SICH ,

Thedistrictof which thispaper treats may bedescribed asall thatportion of theThames Valley which lies between Charing Cross andKingston. It isw ithin theten-mile radiusfrom Charing Cross . TheThames here, flow ing from Kingston , takes a serpentine course in a

northeasterly direction. That portionof thedistrict northof theriverlies in thecountyof Middlesex , while theportion southof theThamesbelongs toSurrey . In an area lying in such close proximity to thelargest city in theworld, it isquitenatural that theMicro-lepidopterashould mostly be confined to the parks, commons , and other open

38

spaces. On thenorth , in Middlesex, wehaveHydePark, a good dealof still open land round Chiswick , and Osterley Park . In S urrey,Putney Heath , Wimbledon Common, Barnes Common, RichmondPark and Kew Gardens arealllegitimately included .

In order to study the present Micro- lepidopterous Fauna of theLondon District it seems unnecessary to goback far intogeolog icaltimes, for I do not believe the strata lying below the present surfacewill belikely toyield usany knowledgebearing directlyon them icrolepidoptera which now inhabit the district . Wehave, then,on ly todeal with theactual soil which nourishesthevegetationon which thesesmall insectsalmost entirely depend .

Thesubsoil everywhere in the area is the Blue clay of thelowerEoceneperiod. This is nearly always capped by sandsor gravels, theoldest of which is theBagshot sand , which occurs as an outlier in the

south endofRichmond Park .

ThePlateau g ravels , which were deposited at a very much laterperiod ,occuron thehigher parts of thedistrict in Richmond , Putney,and Wimbledon, while those known as the Low level gravels , a stilllater deposit , are found at Charing Cross , Hammersmi th , Chisw ick,Kew, and other parts. In some places , such as Fulham, Shepherd

’

s

Bush , partsof Chiswick and Acton, and thesouth partofKew Gardens,thegravel takes a more argillaceous character and forms a rich soi l,known as brick earth , from the fac ility w ith which it can be burntintobuilder’s bricks . Lastly, in stretches along some portionsofthe river side, there is a fine deposit known as alluvium . Thebearing of thesedifferent formationson the micro- lepidoptera is of asecondary nature, apparently afi

'

ecting them only sofar as thedifferentsoils aremoreor less suitable todifi'

erent plants. In theheavier claylandswefind rather wet meadows w ith oaks, elm , and w ild roses inthehedges, while in themoresandyor gravelly districtswehaveheathlandsw ith broom , gorse, and the finer- leaved grasses, the trees beingbirches and firs, w ith hereand there, dwarf w illows(Salimrepens) in thedamper spots . With regard toits physical features , thedistrict maybelookedon asa level valley, w ith theThamesflow ing at thebottomand the land sloping moreor less gradually upwards on each side.

Asthe tides flow up from the sea, practically throughout thewholedistrict, it must of necessity be fairly level in its lowest portion, and

theflatsalong theriver sidedonot rise above 13 feet abovesea levelin many places , and are frequently covered w ith water at thefloodtides. Thehighest points in thedistrict lie, I believe, under 200 feet.Hyde Park may be taken as lying between 50 and 100 feet, whileBarnes Common ranges from 20 to 46 feet. In themile of roadbetween theriver and Putney Heath there is a riseof 130 feet, andthis rise is continued over Wimbledon Common nearly to200 feet .Richmond Park rises to165 feet near Richmond Hill Gate, but ismostly under 100 feet abovesea level. Themean annual temperatureis about and the rainfall about 25 inches per annum , but theaverageamount of sunshineis decidedly low , being littlemore than a

quarter of what might be experienced . The climate may then beconsidered , compared with therestof England , as rather warm,

fairlydry but for theriver mists, though deficient in sunshine. It will beseen then that thewholedistri ct lies at a very low level , that thereis

39

nowhereany chalkor limestoneexposedon its surface, and that therearenoforests , but only theremnantsof them, now left .Therecan, of course, be nodoubt whatever that the lepidoptera

followed in the wakeof vegetation as it spread from various sourcesover the London District. Therefore a study of the Flora of thed istrict w ill be almost sure tothrow some light on the immigrationand progressof the lepidoptera, which at thepresent timeconstitutethat partof theFauna.

The earliest accounts of this district gotoshow that the riverwound its way among the marshes, swamps, and ponds , whichextended on each side from somewhere about the spot we now callB lackwall tothe place wenow know as Mortlake. A good deal ofheathland lay between the present sites of Westminster and Fulham,

wh ilebeyond thetenstothenorth stood thegreat forestof Middlesex ,w ithoutlying portions spreading down totheriver. Thehigher , lessswampy , parts of the district which were not forest , being perhapsm ore sandy and poorer soil , were probably covered w ith heath and

scrub. Such wasthe general idea of the landscape, asfar as wecang ather, when in the

’

4th century theRomans built Augusta on the

banksof theThames, somewhereon thesiteof thepresent Walbrook.Long after this town had decayed , and the germ of the cityof

London had come intoexistence, weget another glimpseof thedistrict,and find that much alteration has taken place. A good deal of theforest land , which appears to have existed till the end of the 12thcentury, has been cleared and converted into meadows and pastureland . Hencearosethepastures and farm landswhich used tobeoneof the great features of Middlesex . AsLondon grew , and requiredmore vegetables , the farm land was gradually turned into marketg arden grounds, and asLondon and its suburbs spread w ider, many ofthemarket gardens were covered w ith houses , and those lepidopteraw hich were not exterminated during the building operations had tocontinue their existence in thefew squareyards devoted totheprivateg ardensor public parksand recreation grounds.Besides the forest, andoccupying probably a larger total area, were

themore sandy grounds covered with heath , gorse and broom, w ithb rambles, blackthorn, andother low bushes . Thesewerealso graduallyenclosed , especially at the end of the 18th century, and have nowmostly shared thesamefateas theforests .Aoncefamous locality,whichwasin this district ,must bementioned.

It wasknown as Hammersmith marshes , and wasoneof the specialhunting groundsof the late Mr . Samuel Stevens. Here Laverne

phragmi tella was taken, as well as Leucam’

a obsoleta, L . straminea, and

Senta mari tima. (SeePresident’s Address,

Thepresent micro- lepidopterous faunaof this district is probablyonly theremnant of a much moreextensiveone. Though weappeartohavefew actual recordsof thesmaller species , yet, judging from the

old recordsof themacro- lepidoptera, I think wemay fairly argue thattheTineina werealso morenumerous , both in species and individuals,in days gone by. Many species must have become extinct in the

district, and though doubtless a few have immigrated, their numbershave probably not counter-balanced the loss sustained through thespecies that havediedout.Thenumber of species mentioned in this paper is less thanone

40

fourth of the total number of speciesoccurring in Britain and aboutone-fifteenth of theEuropeanTineina. I feel surethat if theTineinawereproper]y worked for, another 60or morespeciesmight beobtainedin thedistrict. In supportof this supposition I can point tothe factthat we have 28out of the 80 species of thegenus Ooleophora , and

this is the only group that has really been worked at sofar. TheGelechiads, thegenera Elachz

’

sta, Li thocolletis, andNepticula, w ill surelyfurnish several additional specieswhen proper search is made.

Nearly all the species found in the district belong tothe M idEuropean Fauna ; a few such as OecOphora sulphurella, Li thocolletismessaniella, and Elqchista rufocinera appear to lean towards thesouthor west in their distribution, as does Gelech'ia domestica, Gelechia costd la ,

and Coleophora bicorella, and albicosta seem tofavour England and

Holland , whileTimepallescentella particularly patronises England andtheneighbourhood of Vienna . Coleophora glaucicolella , an easilyoverlooked species, has as yet only been recorded in England. Coleophorasaturatella was also confined toEngland till i t was discovered inBelgium, and this is more remarkable because it is a conspicuousinsect and feedson thecommon broom, a plantof European distribution. However , the history of theTineina has been written by socomparatively few hands, and these small insects soeasily escapeobservation, that therecordsmust necessarily bevery incomplete, andit does not follow that, becausea species is not recorded from a certainarea , that it doesnotexi st there.

Among theoldest micro- lepidopterous inhabitants are doubtlessthe rush feeders, such as Glyphipteryw thrasonella and thecespi ti tiella

group of theColeoPhorids, thesedoubtless abounded in themarshes oftheThames Valley long beforeeven the early Briton wandered besidethe river. As soon as the deciduous trees became established theywereprobably mined by Li thocolletisand Nepticula.

Indeed there seems noreason to doubt that nearly all thespecieswhich arenow found in thedistrict werealsoinhabitantsof i t in thoseearly days .

Among the trees the whitethorn seems to have been later inreturning toBritain after the last glacial period, and its re- introduction,

in whatever way itoccurred , may havebrought a few additional speciesintothearea, thoug h manyof thewhitethorn- feeding species also eatw ild apple. TheRomans may havebrought a few species w ith them ,

such as Li thocolletismessaniella when they introduced theQuercusflewintoBritain,or possiblyoneor twoof theHousemoths (Tinea).

Oinophila v-flavum, which occurs in w ine vaults and similarsituations , and i s not usually met with away from towns, may belookedon asan importation, and wasprobably introduced in thecorksof w inebottles . Thelarvaoften bores intothecork whilethew ineisstill in the bottle, and it seems tohave a partiality to old port andchampagne.

Commerce is doubtless responsible for the introduction of Borkhausem

'

a pseudospretella, Tineola bieelliella, and Tinea pallescentella , and

possibly also for Endrosi slacteella these species, feeding in the larvalstateon feathers , skins,or dry goods , arevery liable to be imported .

Wehave seen tohow great an extent theoriginal heathlands andforests have been converted into streets and human dwellings, andthis processisnow goingon with greater rapidity. Themeadows and

41

market garden grounds get less in extent year by year ; theoldmansions with extensive gardens are pulled down, and rows ofcottages with little else but back yards built over the sites ; whileeven theparksand commons first become morefrequented , and thenmore strictly kept, and then levelled , provided w ith paths, andgenerally improved , as it is called , out of all recognition. Theconsequence is that every plant which is neither of economic norornamental value, eventually becomesexterminated , and naturally thelepidoptera which are dependent for their existenceon such plantsshare the same fate. Among these plants may bementionedoneortwo speciesof Chenopodium and A triplex , and themoths dependentonthem here are—Aristotelia Imvnannella and A . stipella , Scythris chmopodiella and Coleophora laripennella. Solanum dulcamara, whichnourishes Gelechia costella Stellar ia holostea, the foodplant ofColeophom solitariella : and even Ballota nig ra, towhich Coleophoralineala. is attached , arefurther examples. Theseplants arenow foundin wastecornersof theroadsides ,or in hedges, but aredestroyed whenthe roads are takenover by thevarious Councils ,or when a hedge isg rubbed up and a wirerail substituted . From a collector’s point ofv iew thesewirerails areuseless, and I am sorry tosay that in someof the parks they are taking down theoldoak palings ,on which somany moths used to rest by day , and substituting for them thesecold ,comfortless , metal abominations.

Another class of species that w ill probably soon become muchd iminished in thenumber of individuals , is that which is attached toplants of ornamental value, but which does not find the conditionunder which such plants aregrown a suitableone. Several speciesofthe genus Li thocolletis may be c ited asexamplesof this class . Thelarvaeof theselittlemoths, atone time known as Stainton’

sducks,”

m inetheleavesof trees and pass thew inter in cocoons in the deadleaves lying on the ground . In the early summer they emergeandfly up tothetrees, and sotherace is continued. Now in gardens andsomeparks , these leaves are allswept up in the autumn and carriedaway

, naturally , most of the Li tlw colleti ds are borne away too , andthus therace is g radually diminished . Adela viridella will share thesamefate, but whereLithocolletismessaniella is provided with an ilextree, i t w ill probably continue, as this tree retainsi ts leaves throughthewinter , w ith theLi thocolletis inside someof them. Phyllocnistissufi

'

usella minestheleaves of poplars, but as this spec ies hybernates intheperfect state, it has a much better chanceof escaping destruction.

Another set of species which are fast becoming restricted to the

damper parts of parks and commons are the rush - feeders, such as

Glyphipteryx fuscovi ridella and G . thrasonella, Coleophom caespt’

tiella, C .

glauci colella, and C . alticolella . When the commons are taken overby theauthorities , the lower and damper spots aresometimesfilled upand levelled , and therushes and rush - feeders consequently destroyed .

Thusweseehow , in all probability , we shallsoon lose someofthespecies which new still inhabit thedistrict . Ou theother hand ,there are many species which will probably survive the alterat1onsfrom rural tosuburban conditions . Onesetof these consistsot thosespecies which are able toaccommodate themselves tocult ivatedsubstitutes of theiroriginal foodplantswhen the latter are nolongerobtainable. Perhapsoneof themost notable instancesof th18 class is

42

furnished by thecommon Yponomeuta cognatellus. Thisspecies, whosenaturalfoodplant in this country istheEuonymuseuropaeus, seems tohave taken most kindly to the Euonymm japrmicus, which is soabundantly planted in the suburbs . Dem'essaria costosa, which feedson broom and furze, will also flourish on at least one ornamentalCytisus, which is , I believe,of south European origin. In thewood8 ,theblackthorn furnishesthefoodplant to Nepticula plag icolella, but inChiswick its mines may be found in the leaves of theVictoria plum,

which is so much grown in themarket gardens.A second set of survivors is formed by those species which are

moreor less polyphagous, and thereforewhenonefoodplant fai ls theyreadily accustom themselves toanother. Thus Coleophora paripennellawill eat bramble, blackthorn, and rose. Carcinaquercana is, however,a better example. I have found the larva in Chiswick on almostevery kind of tree. It seems tohavetaken a special fancy toA rbutusand Laurestimcs, owing probably tothese plants being evergreen, forthis species is in thelarval state throughout autumn and w inter . Itmay be worthy of remark that among theTineina there i s a muchsmaller proportion of general feeders than among theTortrices orMacro- lepidoptera .

A third class of species that will probably continueconsists of thosemothswhoselarva feed on plants commonly cultivated in gardens , oron shadeplants grown in thestreets . Gelechia malvella, for instance,feedson theseeds of thehollyhock, Nepticula anomalella mines in theleavesof roses , and Gracilar ia syringella feeds on thelilac . The lastoften makes thelilac bushes qui te unsightly by the numerous largebrown blotches which its depredations cause in the leaves. Thebeautiful red and black Chiysoclista linneella feeds in thebark of limetrees, and may befound in Julyon the trunks , even in themetropoli s.Oi course, Gelechia malvella and Gracilaria syringella haveaccustomedthemselves to these cultivated foodplants, but they havenow becomesoattached tothem , and theiroriginal fooodplantshavebecomescarcein the suburbs, so that hollyhock and lilac have now become theirnatural foodplants.A fourth group, not likely todieout, i s composedof these species

which arenot dependenton growing vegetation for their sustenance.

Theclothes moths arefamiliar examples of this group.

Several speciesof thegenus Tinea and others feedon fur, feathers,hair , and other non-vegetable substances , but it appears doubtfulwhether thesespecies always consumed such food. It seemsprobablethat theearliest haunts of this group were decaying treesand fungoidgrowths, and that thelarvaewandered by chance intoa deserted bird’snest , and thus acquired a taste for their present food . It ispossiblethat they shared the cave dwellings w ith Paleolithic man, and theywere doubtless inhabitantsof thehuts of the ancient British . Somespecies of this group appear tohave spread with commerce, andseveral arenow less abundant in thecountry than in the towns, wherethey can often obtain more congenial surroundings . The clothesmoth par excellence isundoubtedly Ti 'neola biselliella. This is a smallpaleochreous moth with a rough -haired bright ochreoushead . It iswell named , as itwill make its home in themost palatial residencesamong thefinest curtains and carpets that art can produceand moneyprocure, but itwillflourish apparently qui teashappily in thesmallest

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E . PygmwataE . SubfulvataE . PlumbeolataE . ScabiosataE . HelveticariaH . SatyrataE . CastigataE . PusillataE . Irriguata

45

THOS . H . L . GROSVENOR,

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Hon. Curators.

L. Sexalisata A . NigrofasciariaL . Halterata BerberataL . V iretata C . Fluviata

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HIS SOCIETY has for itsobject the diffusion of the scienceofNatural History, by meansof papers, discussions , exhib i tions,

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commencement in 1858 , a valuable and useful L ibrary has been

formed, which comprises, amongstother works , sets of the Zoolog ist(1843 Entomologist (Vols. 1 Entomolog ist’sMonthly Magazine (Vols. 1 and the Entomologist’s Recordand Journalof Variation (Vols. 1 There is also a collection ofBri tish Lepidoptera, and collectionsof other orders arenow in courseof formation.

Themeetings take placeon the first and third Tuesdays in each

month , nxcnp 'r JULY AND AUGUST , from to 10p.m. , at theLondon

parts. Exhibits are made at every meeting , and papers read onvarious Natural History Subjects, a special feature being the

systematic discussion and exhibition of interesting groups ofinsects , etc.

TheEntranceFee isTwoShillings and Sixpence, and theAnnualSubscription Seven Shillings and Sixpence, payable in advance, bein gfixed at as moderate a sum as is possible, consistent with theprepermaintenanceof the Society and its work , inorder that allmay ava i l

themselves of the benefitsoffered. The Society thereforelooks w i thconfidence for the support of all whoare interested in the study ofNaturalH istory .

The year commences on the first Tuesday in December, but,

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C ITY OF LONDON

Entomolog ical8: NaturalHistorySOC IETY ,

E sta b li sh ed 18 8 8 .

MEETINGS HELD AT

HE ONDON NSTITUTIONm eson 013006.

Counc il for the Y ear 1908 .

President A . W . M3 3 1 .

T. A . CHAPMAN , Da. , p .m.s.

J . A . Oman,

Faannmcx J. Hansen ,

L . B . Paou'r , r .n.s.

V Ice-Presidents

J James Saen ma,TrusteesT. Hucxn'

r'r .

P. H . TAUTZ ,Treasurer33 North Audley Street, W

Lib rar ians

C urators G . G . C . HODGSON .

A . J . a snon.

S. J. Blew .

Pen-

y-bryn, Knight

’s Hill.

Hon. SecretarlesW7“ NOW OOd 33

Tnos. H . L . Gnosm oa,

Walldeans. Gloucester Road,

Em . 0. It. N . Bunnows AND Masses. H . M . Enxmm ,

EDWARD Hum , J BICHES AND A . Bron.

TRK N S ZXG TIO N S

OF THE

C ity of London Entomological

NaturalHistory Society.

PART XVII.

W ITH LIST OF MEMBERS.

THE SOCIETY’

S ROOMS , LONDON INSTITUTION ,

FINSBURY CIRCUS , E .C.

FEBRUARY, 1908.

Names and Addressesof Members.

Annm , B 4, Lingard’sRoad , Lewisham , S .E .

Baco'r , A . W . , 154, Lower Clapton Road , Clapton, N .E .

Bums, A . F . , Gerencia, FerroCarrilDel Sud, BuenosAyres.

Bu rns, Wm , Glen Lodge. Mickleham, Surrey.

BELL , S . J Pen-

y-bryn, Knight’sH ill, W. Norwood, S .E .

BENTON , R. G Waterperry, Wood Lane, Highgate.

BLoomrmm) , W . , 111, Royston Villas, East End Road , East Finchley .

Bonsxnm , F . ,Market Bosworth , Nuneaton .

Bowmas, E . A . , M .A . , runs Myddleton House, Waltham Cross, Herts.

BRADY , Jas. , 4 , Ham Park Road, Stratford , E .

Bmees, C . A . , F E .8 . , Rock House, Lynmouth , North ' Devon.

Eaooxn, Cass 1 , Berners Street, W .

Bnooua, E . G . , Hurst Vicarage. Twyford , Berks.

Bunnows, REV . C . B . N The Vicarage, Mucking , Stanford-la-hope, Essex.

Carma, CBA8 . , Glyndale, Glebe Road, Barnes Common.

CHAPMAN , DB . T. A . , r .z .e. Betula, Reigate, Surrey.

CLARK , J. A . , 57 , Weston Park , Crouch End, N .

Cocxume, E . A . , 16, Cambridge Square, W.

Cononns'r , G . B . , The Moorings, Meteor Road , Westcli ff-on-Sea.

Cox, W . ILSTON , 7 , Cleveland Avenue, Merton Park , Surrey.

Cmnm n, B . B . , Cringle Lodge, Levenshulme, Manchester .

011088 , F. B . , Park Villa, Bruce Grove, Tottenham, N .

DALE , SYDNEY W . , The Lawn , Archers Road , Southampton.

Donn, W . B . , Trederwen , Village Road, Enfield, Middlesex.

Enxmmn, H . M . , The Elms, Forty Hill, Enfield.

Enwmns, S Kidbrooke Lodge, Blackheath , S .E .

GARDNER, J . E . , 204 , Evering Road, Clapton, N .E .

GARLAND , G . B . , 94, Sedgw ick Road, Leyton, E .

Gnosvnsoa, Tnos. , H .L . , Walldeans, Gloucester Road, Redhill.HAMLme, T. B . , 27 , Kentish Town Road, Camden Town, N .W .

Hammer , a smon J 96, Clapton Common, N .E .Hammer , F. CAPEL , 96, Clapton Common, N .E .

HARRIS , EDWARD , St Conan’s, Ching ford, Essex.

Hummon, A . , Delamere, Grove Road, South Woodford.Human» , H . C Repton School, Bepton, Derbyshire.

Hum , G . H 277 , Brockley Road , S .E .

Hanson, L . S Maisonette, Palmers Green, N .

Honesou, G . G . G. , Stoneleigh , Oxford Road , Redh ill.Hopson, Momma F. , Eng . ,

30, Thurlow Road , Rosalyn Hill, Hampstead, N .W.

a n '

r'r , T. , 200, New North Road, Islington , N .

Janna, Russzm. E . , 18 , Onslow Gardens, Highgate, N .

Jmson, 0. E 95, Claremont Road , HighgateN .

Kan , W . J . , Caracas,” Di tton Hill, Surbiton.

Kme, Hmmr A“ Oakleigh,

” Coolhurst Road, Crouch End, N .

M oron» , D . , Brooklyn,

” DollieRoad, Church End, Finchley.

Mass“ , Hansen , Ivy Lea,” Burnage, Didsbury.

Mam , A . W 79, CapelRoad , Forest Gate, E .

Nan n y , E . A . , 12. ChurchillRoad, Dartmouth Park, N .W .

a n n, L. W. , 41, Salisbury Road , Bexley, Kent.Nrcnonsos, G. , 35, TheAvenue, HaleEnd , Chingford, N .E .

0mm , Cam s, 2, Warwick Villas, Chelmsford Road, Woodlord.

Puneon. G 10, Brushfield Street, Bishopsgate, E .C .

PH I LL IPS , HU BERT G. , Eng . , 11 . L .8 .A . Lond. ,

262 . Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park , W.

Prcxn'

r'

r , C . P p .m.s Hera Hmse, 99, Dawlish Road ,Layton, E.

Pnon'r , Loms B . , The Elms,” 246. Richmond Road ,

Dalston, N .E .

Ramon , a . G . B . , M .A . , Hazeleig h Rectory, Maldon, Essex.

Ru n , Enwm n,

“ Birdhurst,” Chot'leywood near Rickmansworth ,

Herts.

Bronz e, J 52 , Calverley Grove, Hornsey Rise, N .

Bou'a neE , G . B . , Tarn Lodge, Headsnook , Carlisle.

E Y D ON , A . ,Awbrook ,

” Lindfield , Sussex .

Su m s, L . A . E 1, Selhurst Road , South Norwood, S .E .

S AU ZE , H . A 22, Earlsthorpe Road . Sydenham , S .E .

Snounm , Jsuns Sco'r 'r , Crescent House, Cassland Road,

South Hackney,

SH AW , V . Emo, 20, Salisbury Road, Bexley, Kent.8 103 , ALFRED . F .E s. , Corney House, Chisw ick , W .

Sm uons, 0. W 43 , Fairmead Road, TufnellPark, N .

S 'rtmn, E . F.

, M .A . , Oxton, Exeter .

Tan 'r z , H . E . , The Mithers Nower Hill, Pinner, Middlesex.

Tam z , P. E . , 33 , North Audley Street, W .

Tnom nwm n, W . , Wedges,” Itchingfield, Horsham.

TOD D , R. G . The Limes,” Hadley Green, N .

Tones, A . E A incroft, ” Grammar SchoolHill, Reigate.

TU RNER, E Manor House, Twickenham.

Wm nousn, HAROLD B . , 61, Lambeth PalaceRoad, S .E .

Wmm m , A . J . ,

“ Ailsa Craig ,

” Lewes, Suffolk .

W ILLSDON , A . J . , 28 , Albany Road, Manor Park , E .

Honorary Members.

Ammnson, E . , 11, Marlton Crescent, St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia.

AVE BURY , B ight Hon. Lord, p .c. , High Elms, Beckenham .

W ALSINGHAM, Right Hon. Lord, r .n.s F .L .8 F .E .8 .

Merton Hall, Thetford, Norfolk.

RE PORTS O F M E ETIN G S .

1

Dec. 18th, 1906.—ENTEPHRIA cmsmm and E . RU FICINCTATA .

—M1' .E . A . Cockayneshort series from Rannoch district, including dark andbanded formsof both species .Prams Bmsswm.

—Mr. A . Harrison, a series reared from ova laidby typical 9 taken at Wavertreenear Liverpool. In severalof the9s, and oneor two3‘ s, the spotson the forew ings, on both theunder and upper sides, were connected by black scales, thus forming inthemoreextreme instancesa broad band .

BINDAHARJE Suemva. MIMICRY .— Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson,

in exhibitingspecimensfrom Australia, stated that hehadobserved that thisspeciesrested either head downwardsor horizontally sothat theocellion theundersideof thehindwings resembled a head, and the tails simulated antennae; thefact that allthespecimensexhibited weremoreorlessdamaged at theanal angleof thehindw ings , suggested that birdsweredeceived by theresemblancedescribed.

Jonm caocmeo.—Mr . A . J Willsdon exhibited twoseries the

one bred in Essex from Kent ova wasof normal orange colour,while theother bred in Yorkshire from New Forestova wasof a palesalmon pink colour.

Param—Mr. L . B . Prout read a paperon Entephria caesiata, printedin extensoin thisvolume.

Jan. 1st, 1907 .—Pocket Box Exhibition.

DWARFED LEPIDOPTERA .—RGV . C . R. N. Burrows, a number of

undersized lepidoptera, including Ag rotis puta, A . sauci a, Amathes

c-nig rum, Plusia chrysitis and Heliophila palle'ns, taken in September,1906. Mr . Burrows suggested that thedwarfing wastheresultof theexceptionally hot and dry season.

POLIA cm mom Yonxssms.—Mr. S . J Bell , a series from the

moorsnear Whitby, wherethespecieswascommonly met w ithon thestone walls that abound in the district ; the specimens wereof auniform palegrey colour.

ACRONYCTA MENY ANTHIDIS .— Mr . H . M. Edelsten, fine melanic

examplesfrom Yorkshire.

ARGYNNIS SELENE ABS .—Mr . T. H . L . Grosvenor , a 3‘ w ith con

fluent marginal spots, and a 9 much sufi'

used w ith black , fromAshdown Forest .THYATIRA BATIS .

—h’Ir. L . A . E . Sabine, a specimen with pinkcoloration much accentuated , from Epping Forest , and another fromNew Forest, w ith this coloration entirely lacking as in theLinnaeantype

Jan. 15th, 1907.—THERA vaam'ra AND Psonos rannu ma—Panm m.

vanw rron.—Mr. E . A . Cockayne, specimens from Rannoch with central

fasciaon forewing s interrupted .

a emarosu FU LIG]NOSA .—A 9 with yellow abdomen and b ind

w ings , and an exampleof var. Borealis, both from Rannoch . Ibid.

5

Manama LEPIDOPTERA .—Mr . H . M . Edelsten Synapsi d abruptaria

from Clapton, Nonag r ia geminipuncta and Phigalia padar ia from En

field, N . cannae and N . typhae from Norfolk, Stauropus fag i fromE pping, and Cymatophora gemmam

’

a from Kent . Mr . A. HarrisonBombyci d duplar is and Acrom'

cta leporina from Cornwall and Lancs. ,Pharetra rumicis from Barnsley, Eupi tlzecia venosata from Folkestoneand Shetland Isles, and Aplecta nebulosa from Cornwall , Epping andDelamere. Mr. L . A . E . Sabine, Phraymatobia fuliyinosa w ith blackbody and hindw ings . Mr. H . B . ‘Vhitehouse, Lymantria monachafrom Hull .Pu sa—Mr. L . W . Newman read a paper detailing someof his

experiences in breeding melanic lepidoptera . The particulars givenshowed that as a rule such forms usually bred true—or almost seafter thesecond brood thestrains, however, usually dieout soon afterthis, presumablyowing toweaknessduetoin-breeding. Mr. Newmanclaimed that melanism was obviouslyon the increase in theBritishIsles, and could not be attributed solely toan increasingly smokepolluted atmosphere, astheareasaffected arewidely separated both asregardsposition and general characteristics, and by nomeansconfinedtomanufacturing districts .A voteof thankstothe essayist proposed by Mr . L . B. Prout , and

seconded by Mr. S . J Bell , wasduly carried .

Feb. 5th, 1907 .—HARTU LA HY ERANA—TEMPERATURE AND VARIATION .

—Dr. T. A . Chapman exhibited specimens show ing that out of 15examples emerg ing in November, December and January, 13 were

decidedly darker in colour than anyof 400 specimenswhich emergedat the normal time, m

’

z . , from August toOctober. Dr . Chapmanconsidered it probable that the low temperature experienced by thepupaeof the late imagines wasthedi rect causeof the latter’stendencytodarker coloration, at the same t imeadmitting that the prolongation of the pupal stage (directly due totemperature) might be acontributory cause.

Acaomcm LEPORINA AB .—Mr . E . A . Cockayne, a specimen from

North Sutherland , entirely white savefor a large black spot in centreof forew ings .CAMPTOGBAMMA BIL INEATA vass.

— Specimens from same districtspotted w ith black .

— Ibid .

ACALLA LOBQU INIANA AND SENTA MAarrma.—Mr. H . M . Edlesten

exhibited a seriesof the former from Norfolk , and drew attention tothefact that notonly did thespecies resemblea m iniatureS . mari time,but that it had parallel formsof variation.

CIBARIA M IATA .—Mr. A . Harrison, a long seriesbred in August and

September, 1906, from New Forestova.

Pacnrs BETU LARIA vans—Mr. V . E . Shaw , striking examplesofforms intermediate between the type and var. Doubledayarz

’

a ; the

specimenswere secured at Bexley by sembling w ith typical bred 9s.

In four nights, 14 typical 3 8 , 15 var. doubledayar ia , 3 light intermediates and 4 dark intermediates were attracted , mostly between

and p.m.

CY MATOPHORA REPANDATA—AB . CONVERSARIA .—A second brood bred

September and October, from Torquayova.— Ibid .

CosmusFROM PINNER .—Mr . P. H . Tautz , all four species from this

6

di strict . 0. pyrqlina being taken freely at light in July, and C . afiim’

s

bred from larvaebeatenout of elm in May.

Parna—Mr . E . A. Cockayne read some Notes from NorthSutherland ,

”which arepublished in full in thisvolume.

Feb . 19th , 1907.—NONAGBIA GEl PU NCTA .

—Mr. E . A . Cockayne.

melanic specimens from Bournemouth .

PUPATION or Manners m umm .—Mr. L . W . Ncwman, pupaespun

up in captivity in reed blades drawn by the larvae intoperfectlycylindrical form ; the larva usually pupates in thestem.

Pau sm NU BECU LOSA.—A pupa retaining the transparent green ish

appearanceof a freshly formed pupa but actually a yearold.—Ibid .

Toxocmm pasrmvm—Mr . V . E . Shaw , a series from Walmer,Kent, July, 1906.

Lapmrema nx e A .— Imag ines bred in December, 1906.

—Ibid.

DISCUSS ION .—Ml

‘

. H . M . Edlesten’

sopening of a discussionon theWainscots ,

”is included in this volume.

March 5th,1907 .

— DONATION TO LIBRARY .—Mr . Mora presented the

1906 volumeof the EntomologistsRecord.

N0M ]NAT10NS .—Thefollow ing gentlemen werenominated for mem

hership . Mr .F.B . Cross, Park V1lla, BruceGrove,Tottenham, proposedby Mr . L . B . Prout and Mr. H . M. Edleston. Mr. D . Langford,Brooklyn DollisRoad , Church End, Finchley, proposed by Messrs.

P. H . Tautz and R. 0 . Todd . Mr. Edward Reid, Bi rdhurst,”

Chorleywood , near Rickmansworth , Herts, proposed by Messrs. H . M .

Edlesten and P. H . Tautz .

LEIOPTILU S CARPHODACTYLU S FROM Fomresronm— Dr . T. A . Chapmanspecimensreceived from Mr. Purdy— thefirst British record .

HASTULA HY ERANA— PUPAL FREAK.— A pupa with mandiblesof

larval pattern.— Ibid .

Nanoam VIRIDATA .—D1‘ . G . G . C . Hodgson, a series from Wither

slack , show ing variation w ith regard topale lineson torew ings; inonespecimen therewasonly a singleline, in another thelower endoftheouter linewasbent outwards , and in a third the linewas markedlycrenulate.

NENORIA PORRINATA (ZELLER).—Mr . L . B. Prout , specimens fromS . Europe, apparently indistinguishable from N . vi ridata, but said tobedifferentiated by having brown costal dusting and brown irons andforelegs.

Hm pym BICU SPIS cocoons—Mr . L . W. Ncwman, twococoonscontaining living pupaefoundon birch trunks inTilgateForest.DIPTHERA ALPIU M (0111011)— Mr . P. H Tautz , a bred seriesincluding

a specimen w ith brown marbling much accentuated, and green g roundcolour darker and duller than usual .Parna — Rev . 0. R. N Burrowsread a paper on Nemor ia viridata

ultimately destined tobe published in TheEntomologists’ Record .

”

After dealing w ith thesynonomy, and accepting theLinnaean specimenwith onlyonepalelineon the forew ingsasthe type, Mr. Burrowsdealtwith the insectshabitat ; this hedescribed asvery local, there beingnorecordsfor Ireland, Scotland , Walesor Isleof Wight . Hepointedout that this species differed from all theother emeralds sofardealt w ith by him,

in that it hybernates as a pupa ; moreover, the

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8

of about threedozen lepidoptera from Rev. G . H. Raynor , and severalCosmin pyralina from Mr . P. H . Tautz .

Emum'ae.—Bev. C . R. N Burrows bred specimens of hybrid

Epin ita dilatata x Christyi : alsoa cross between Enniskillen and

LancashineE . autumnata closely resembling E . filig rammaria.

May 2lst, 1907.—Douarxou.

—Mr. J A. Clark contributed a pairofAuarra cordigera, from Rannoch , totheSociety ’

scabinet.Nounw nom—Mr. O. E . Jansen, 95, Claremont Road, Highgate,

N was nominated for membership by Mr . J A . Clark and Dr. J S.

Sequeira.

X mmoanm n uc'mam , wastheobject of special exhibition anddis

cussien. Rev. C .R. N Burrowsexh ibited ab . C'ostorata from Mucking ;

Mr. J A . Clark also exhibited this var . , and the Linnzean type. Aseries shown by Mr. J Riches, also included var . costovata fromHornsey .

Beams ANDBENE FORMIS .—Mr. H . M . Edelsten, stemsof Viburnum

showing larval boringswith ichneumon cocoons, and an empty pupacase in si tti .

Genusammu—ovxposrrron.-Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson exhibitedova,

and reported that he had noticed that these were always found inbatchesof threeor more on a leaf such ova generally hatchedsimultaneously , pointing totheir being alllaid by thesame 9Dan s menu LABVE .

-Mr. L . W. Ncwman, larvae in penultimatestadium, bred ab 0110.

June 4th , 1907 —N1-:w MEMBER .—~Mr. O. E . Janson was elected

a memberof theSociety.

ENNOMOS QU EBCINABIA—The evening was mainly devoted totheexhibition and discussionof thisspecies .Rev . C . R. N Burrows exhibited ab . equestrar ia from Ipswich.

Mr. A . W. Mera, very pale specimens from Ipsw ich , and formsapproaching ah. equestraria from S . Kensington . Mr . L . B . Prout ah.

in/uscata from S . Kensington, and a paleform from Eynsford .

EU SABCAE Emueuama.—Mr. J A . Clark , specimens from Scotland

of deep almost orange coloration, and without the usual centralfasciaon forew ings .

June 18th, 1907 .—Nomm nox.

—Mr . A . J Wightman, Ailsa

Craig , Lewes, Suffolk, was nominated for membership by Messrs.

T. H . L . Grosvenor and P. H . Tautz .

CALOCAMPA VETUSTA .— D1

’

. T. A . Chapman, larvaefrom South Tyrol,which , instead of being g reen as is usually the case in Englishspecimens , were black with yellow dorsal and lateral lines , and palewhitesubdorsal line.

ITHY S IA LAPPONIA, AR.—M1

'

. E . A . Cockayne, a 3 w ith pale yellowcosta and dorsal stripe, Rannoch , 1907CHILO PHRAGMITELLU S .

— Mt . H . M . Edelsten, a very dark , almostblack 3‘ from Norfolk Broads.

Nnmoa nvxamu a, ans.—Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson, twospecimens from

Surrey, one having reddish forewingsflecked w ith irregular g reenpatches and hindwingsof usual g reen colour , except at theanal angle,

9

theother beingof usual green colour, but dappled w ith irregular andasymmetrical reddish blotches.

Smopsm ABRU PTARIA— GYNANDROMORPH .—M1

‘

. C . W. Simmons, a

very striking specimen from Holloway , with right w ingsalmost black3‘and left wingstypical SEGaapm pnom eprm .

—Mr. A . J Willsdon,a series from Epping

f

Forest district , including a palegrey specimenw ith dark brown centralasc1a.

ERANNIS LE U COPBEARIA .—Mr. J A . Clark , very dark specimens w ith

usual palemedian band almostobsolete, from New Forest .Mr . A . H . Shepherd , E . marg inaria var . fuscata,

from Huddersfield,and E . leuwphear ia ah. marmorinaria from Richmond Park .

LEPIDOPTEROUS OVA ON A man’s m .—Mr . T. H . L . Grosvenor

reported having found ova of ili acrothylacia rubi on thew ing of adead jay in Ashdown Forest .

September 3rd, 1907 .— NEW MEMBER .

—Mr. A . J Wightman waselected a memberof theSociety .

Nommanons.—Mr. C . W . S immons, 43 , Fairmead Road , Tufnell

Park , N was nominated by Messrs. J A . Clark and J Riches, andMr. E . Turner, Manor House, Tw ickenham ,

by Dr . J. S . Sequeiraand Mr. J . A . Clark .

An'rsaocsaa PALUSTRIS . —Mr . S . J Bell , a series from Bude, endof

July, 1907 , including many w ith spotsmoreor lessconfluent, andoneexamplein which thefivespotsweremerged intooneblotchoccupyingmorethan half thew ing area.

Mr . H . M . Edelsten, specimens from Norfolk Broads, endof July,1907 , mostly having the central spotsconfluent.Ham '

rnm [ESTIVARIA LARVZE .— R6V . C . R. N Burrows, larvaa feeding

on w ild thyme.

Dan s PAPH IA— VAR. VALEZINA .— M1

‘

. J A . Clark , five examples,bred ex twelvepupaereared fromova laid by Valezina. 9SPlLODES PALEALIS FROM DOVER.

— Dr . G . G . C . Hodgson, a longseries taken between July 24th and August 3rd, 1907 .

THERETRA poacnnw s, AR.— A specimen with right wingsof normal

southern coloration, and left wingsof almost unicolorousyellow shadeoften seen in northern specimens. Ibid .

CALL IMORPHA DOMINU LA , AB .— M1

‘

. C . P. Pickett, a specimen withred ground colour replaced by yellow , from Deal .

Sprnors GROSSU LARIATA , AR.—MI

'

. J Riches, a series bred from northLondon larvae, including twospecimensw ith all thew ings powderedwith black scales .

September 17th , 1907 .— NEW MEMBERs.

— Messrs. C . W . Simmonsand E . Turner wereelected membersof the Society .

LY CE NA ARION .—Ml

‘

. S . J Bell , a series from N. Cornwall in goodcondition,

although taken during thelast week in July.

AGROTIS osscuna.—Rev . C . R. N. Burrows , two9s and ova laid

by same, twelve specimens having been taken by him at Muckingduring lateAugust and early September.

CYMATOPHORA GEMMARIA .—Mr . J A . Clark, dark specimens, similar

toLondon form ,from Pitlochrie, N.B.

POL‘

YOMMATU S THETIS (BELLABGU S) Q 8 WITH 3 COLORATION .—Dr.

10

G . G . C . Hodgson, unusually bluespecimenstaken in Surrey, Sussexand Kent, between May 26th and July 28rd, 1907 ; the exhib 1torsuggested that the tendency to 8‘ coloration had somerelation totheinclement season.

Senora AR.—Mr. A. W. Meta, a seriesfrom Chalfont Road,

including several specimens with black markingsalmost obsolete.

Mu nom rrrnonus, ans.—Mr. 0. P. Pickett , a long series from

Daw lish , August lst-2lst, many showing abnormally largeocelli onforew ings , wh ile a few lacked thewhite central spot in same; severalspecimens wereof a palePamphilus- likecolour.

Cosmo'rmcnn Po'ra'

rom .—Mr. J Riches, a series from Eastbourne,

being asa wholesomewhat darker than usual .Su nnopus FAGL—Mr. P. H . Tautz, seven specimens taken at

Chorleywood about July 15th , 1907, including oneor tworatherdark 3 s.

October lst, 1907 .— NONAGBIA CANNE—OVIPOSITION.

—Mr. H. M .

Edelsten,ova in ain‘

t.on Typhae. Theexhibitor explained that the 9was provided wi th special hooks enabling it toli ft up the natural

folds in thecuticleof the leaf and deposit theovum underneath .

Mana ma m rams.—Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson, seriesshowing parallel

variation in w idely separated districts , such as Central Ireland and

South Wales, Devon, Surrey and S. Wales and Devon, Kent and 8 .

Wales.

Spmna pasm e on LY CIENIDE .—Dr. Hodgson also exhibited a

large red spider observed in abundanceon Reigate H ill, where itsirregular web , spun close totheground , was frequently found tocontain numbersof Polyommatus thetis 3‘ s.

DIANTH (ECIA LUTEAGO van. FICKLlNI.—M1'. L . B . Prout , a specimen

bred July 3rd, 1907, from larva found at Bude, N Cornwall, endofJuly, 1906, feeding on roots of Silezw mar itima. The larva was

reared on out root in a tin box, and pupated about themiddle ofSeptember.

Poms meaocmc'rA .—Mr . L . A . E . Sabine, a series bred from N

Cornwall larvaerearedon appleand sallow.

Anopam FLAVA , Rssrme m uu—Dr. G. G . C . Hodgson exhibited

sketchesof a specimen observed resting in the sun in the posi tionassumed by N isoniades tayeswhen at rest at night .

October 15th, 1907.—LASIOCAMPA CALLU NE , AB .

—M1’

. J. A . Clark, a6‘ from Dulnaith Bridge w ith usual palefascia suffused w ith brownground colour.

COENOBIA RUFA .—M1

'

. H . M . Edelsten, a dark red- brown form fromDorset .POLY U MMATU S 1caans.

—Mr. T. H . L . Grosvenor, series from Surreyand Aberdeen, thosefrom the latter district being the larger and moreintense in colour.

Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson, specimens taken during 1907 , show ing an

unusually largeproportionof blue 9s.

COLo'roxs psxmau , AB .—MI

‘

. A . W. Mera, a Brentwood, 1907 ,w ith lineson forewings very close together, and only faintly indicated.

Msmmc Exxouos AU'

I U MNARIA .—M1

’

. L . W. Newman, 8. seriesbred

11

from pairing of melanic 3 and typical 9 from Dover ; many of thespecimens followed the 6“ parent .Toxocm a cmccm.

—Mr. L . B . Prout , specimens from N Cornwalland N Devon, 1907 all the specimens were of slatey grey colour,none show ing thebrownish tinge supposed tobecharacteristic of N .

Devon examples someyears ago.N01:11am». GEMINIPU NCTA .

—Mr. J Riches , a series bred from Lewespupa .

ME LIANA n .smmm—Dr. J S . Sequeira, specimenstaken at light andsug ar , Wicken, June, 1907 .

NONAGBIA ARU NDINIS .—Mr . R. G . Todd , a long series, Wicken,

Juneloth -23rd, 1907 .

LE U CANIIDS FROM TORQU AY. Mr. A . J Willsdon, Heliophilaputrescens, and H vi tellina, September, 1907 .

November 5th, 1907 . DEATH OF MEMBER. The Presidentannounced thereceipt of adviceof thedeathof Mr. A . H . Shepherd ;a m otion requesting the secretary to send a letter of condolence and

reg ret wasadopted.

CLEOGENE pnnnm mma, SECOND snoon.—Dr. T. A . Chapman, a

living 3‘ bred fromova laid in August ; attention was drawn tothefac t that thethrowingof a second brood by an Alpinespecies, thoughunexpected , was paralleled by a similar record in connection w ithErebi a cassiope.

Bommrcm OCU LARIS FROM Fma Er .—Mr. W . Bloomfield, various

lepidoptera collected in Finchley district during 1907 , including asingle B . oculam'

s.

Theusual customof devoting thefirstevening in November totheexhibition and exchangeof duplicates wasmaintained .

November 19th , 1907 .— DONATION TO LIBRARY . The librarians

announced thereceipt from Mr. A . E . Tonge,of a brochurecontainingm any photographsof lepidoptera and lepidopterous ova.

CAMPTOGRAMMA FLU VIATA AT 8UGAR .—R6V . C . R. N Burrows, a 8‘

taken at sugar at Mucking , October 2nd, 1907 .

ANTHROCERA m apvmms (Mmos).— Mr . A . Harrison, specimenstaken in Carnarvonshire in 1905 and 1907 , those taken in theformeryear being larger and more thickly scaled than the 1907 examples .M r . Harrison mentioned that in 1907 emergence took place about amonth later than in 1905, and suggested that the inclemencyof thecurrent yearmight account for thedifference in appearancebetween thetwoseries .

Manama ax'rnaocnm TRIFOLII .

—D1' . G . G . C . Hodgson, threeex tremeexamplesw ith all w ingsmetallic blue-black , and only a traceof thered spots—also six spotted specimens— Surrey , 1907.

MELANIC Epmarra DILUTATA .—Mr . L . W. Newman, a deep brown

b lack specimen, Bexley, October, 1907 .

Caocu ms ELINGU ABIA mom NORTH LONDON , 1882 and 1907 .—Mr .

A . J Willsdon exhibited examples taken at Manor Park in 1882 and

1907 , the recent captures being heavily speckled w ith dark brown,

while the 1882 specimens were pale in colour . Mr. Willsdon alsoexh ibited a gynandromorph from the same district, and a specimen

12

from Torquay, September, 1907 , w ith thecentral band on forewingsvery dark, and heavily outlined.

December 3rd, 1907 .—ANNUAL MEETING .

EU VANESSA ANTIOPA .—M1

‘

. J A . Clark, a specimen taken at

Walthamstow in 1872.

U RBICOLA comma, AR.—Dr. G . G . C . Hodgson, a long series from

Surrey including a cream coloured 3‘ and another 3‘

w ith undersideasdark as in typical 9

HARPY IA BICU SPIS FROM TILGATE .— Mr . L . W. Newman, 3 cocoons

containing living pupae, foundon birch trunks .EU PSILIA SATELLITIA , AR.

—Mr. J Riches ,on behalf of Mr. Deweyof Eastbourne, twovery dark specimens, and anotherof uniform brickred colour .

Epmmm AUTU MNATA FROM TILGATE Foassr .—Mr. L . A . E . Sabine,

threeE . autumnata taken in 1907 ,one having the upper w ingsof aunicolorouspalegrey savefor a somewhat darker broad central band.

ELECTION OF Counci L .—The result of the election of emeers for

theensuing year wasas followsPRES IDENT .

—M1‘

. A . W. Mera .

VICE -PRESIDENTS .—Dr. T. A . Chapman, and Messrs. J. A . Clark,

F. J Hanbury and L . B . Prout .TREASURER.

—M1‘

. P. H . Tautz .

LIBRARIANs.— Messrs. G . H . Heath and V . E . Shaw.

CURATORS .— DI‘ . G . G . C . Hodgson and Mr. A . J Willsdon.

SECRETAR1Es.—Messrs. S . J Bell and T. H . L . Grosvenor .

NON - OFFICIAL MEMBERS OF COUNCIL .—Rev. C . R. N Burrows, and

Messrs. H . M . Edelsten, E . Harris, J Riches and A . Sich .

SECRETARIES , REPORT FOR THE Y EAR 1907 .

It issomefour years since the secretaries have been abletoobeythe strict letter of therule that decrees that on theoccasion of theannual meeting they shall put before members a report on the

prog ressof theSociety.

It is, therefore, with a refreshing and pleasurable sensationofchangethat weannounce that we are this year in a position tostatethat during 1907 some progress has undoubtedly been made; it ismodest in degree, but, nevertheless, better torecord than dormancyor retrogression.

In the first place the members’ roll has been increased , and we

havenow got well ahead of the limit of 75 members, which numberwas commented upon a year or soagoas an apparently impassablefigure in connection w ith thenumberof theSociety

’

sadherents.

During theyear eight new members have been secured, whiletwohave resigned and two(be it regretfully recorded) have joined thegreatmajorlty— theone, an honorary member, Mr . J E . Robson, andtheother (only elected in April , Mr . A . H . Shepherd. Thuslast year’s totalof 75 hasbeen increased to79. A search through the

13

recordsof the Society’s doings during the past seventeen years hasfai led toreveal any record equal tothis, and i t is tobe hoped that,having° left thefatal number 75 well behind , we shall soon be requiring an enlarged prospectus toaccommodate a steadily increasingmembership .

The attendance at themeetings should be a reliable indicator tothe Society’s activity, and here, also, an advance can be recorded.

The’

average attendance per meeting in 1906 worked out at

whilefor 1907 it is The highest averageon record is, appar

ently, 18 0 in 1903 ; theincreaseinour numbersshould enableustobeattheaveragenext year. Next year, be it noted , is the Society ’

sjubileeyear, and it would be satisfactory tocommemorate sameby a recordmembership and a record attendance.

The increasing attendanceand themorenumerous exhibits consequent thereon make i t more than ever impossible for the reportingsecretary torecord allthe exhibits from hisownobservations; andhefrankly confessesonceagain that hehasnointentionof attemptingthe impossible. Members are, therefore, oncemoreurged tofurnishnoteson allpointsworth recording in connection with their exhibits.

The attendance of visitors , unfortunately , goes from bad toworse. In 1905 we averaged 1 vi sitor per meeting ; in 1906, mathematically speaking ,only of a visitor graced each gathering

, whilethis year the figure has dw indled to06 . As about a thirdof thosewhosenameshaveappearedon thevisitor sideofour attendancebookduring thepast four or five years have ultimately become members,this falling off in the number of visitors is obviously a matter forte et.gr

The largest gathering of the year wason exchange night,

which hasproved a popular fixtureever since i ts introduction in 1903 .

In connection with thismeeting it is worth noting that thisyear therewas more real exchanging going ou, and considerably lessof thatdisplayof faith in the old saw that the Lord helps thosewhohelpthemselves, which has tended todetract from the enjoyment ofprevious exchangeevenings. This isa step in theright direction and

should encourage the display of more really good insects, therebyrendering theoccasion still more attractive. However generous an

entomologist may be he cannot but feel somewhat discouraged if hisinvitation to help yourselves isobeyed soliterally that his box isconverted intoa receptaclefor a mereaching void .

In respect of our field meetings Providence—or the clerk of theweather—proved less kind . Arrangementsweremade for three, vi a ,

toWorley, on June 15th ; Chalfont Road , July 6th ; and Reigate,July 27th . Thefirstmeeting was rendered impossibletoall butoneor twoultra- adventurous spirits by torrential rain ; the second wasmore fortunate as regards theweather of the moment, but insectswerelackingowing tothe generally inclement season. Ou the thirdoccasion the weather was cold and dull, and lepidoptera were conspicuousby their absence.

There is , unfortunately, not much torecord in the matter ofdonations. Our worthy President has repeated his annual gift ofavolume of the Record,

”and this constitutes the only substantial

g ratuitous addition to the library . The cabinet has fared ratherbetter, and several of the rarer species of lepidoptera having beenpresented by Messrs . Clark , Hodgson, Prout, Raynor, andTautz.

Thefollowing programmehasbeen carriedout during theyear :1906, Dec. 18. Larentia caesiata Mr. L . B . Prout.

1907, Jan. 1. Pocket Box Exhibition.

15. Notes on breeding Melanie lepi

doptera Mr . L . W. New

man.

Feb . 5. Notes from North Sutherland Mr. E . A . Cookayne.

19. Exhibition and DiscussionWainscots opened by Mr. H . M . Edels

ten.

Mar . 5. Namaria viridata Rev . C . R. N.

Burrows.

19. Polyommatus corydon and P. thetts Dr. G . G. 0.

Hodgson.

Nov . 5. ExchangeNight.19. Special Exhibit—Zygaenidae

Dec. 3 . Annual Meeting PresidentialAddress Mr. A . W. Mere.

A yearor two ago the lack of new names on our programmewasa sourceof anxiety ; in the last report wewere able topoint toonerecruit, and during the past year wehave secured thesupport of twomemberswhohave not hithertofigured in the annual syllabus—yetanother instanceof progress made.

It is with feelingsof regret—that are shared by his co-secretarythat Mr. E . Harri s announces his enforced retirement from activeduty owing to ill health . We are confident, however, that hissuccessor, Mr. T. H . L . Grosvenor, will both deserve and receivethe same cordial support as has been accorded in the past totheretiring secretary.

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16

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS .

By A . W. MERA .

After the Secretary’

s report, which has just been read, it appearsunnecessary for me togointoany details concerning our Society,beyond expressing satisfaction at the general progress we havemade.

Considering the unusually poor season that we have just passedthrough , I think wemust agree that theamount of work done by theSociety hasbeen most satisfactory .

I haveoften heard it remarked that a season is considered goodorbad according tothe amount of work each individual has done, andconsequently, what one Entomologist may consider a bad season,another, whohasworked harder, w ill consider very good ; but be thatas it may, I cannot help coming tothe conclusion that the seasonof1907 hasnot been a good one. There is nodoubt that the summerhas been abnormally cold , and tomy knowledge there were nightfrostswell intoJune in the neighbourhood of Brentwood in Essex,where I then saw the young oak leaves blackened by frost ; and Ishould think probably that not a month during the whole summerpassed w ithout somenight frosts.

It w ill beremembered that in thevery early Spring there wereafew unusually hot days, which gave promiseof a fine and earlysummer, which , however, was quite delusive. During that earlyburstof heat , I saw several hybernated Vanessi daeon the w ing, andalsoa few Pieris rapae, which occurred as early as March the

29th and 31st. This isonly the second time that I haveever seenrapaeasearly asMarch , although I know it frequently does occur bythen ; but w 1th my limited Opportunities for observation (having tospend most of my time when the sun is shining in the reg ionofThreadneedleStreet), it wassomething like40 yearssinceI saw rapae

in March , and, strangely enough ,on bothoccasions it wason a GoodFriday . After that short spaceof premature summer most of usknow what an unsatisfactory turn theweather took .

On June 15th, in most unpropitious weather, our first excursion,led by Mr . Edlesten, toWarley Common , was joined by a handfulofmembers, the party being well protected w ith water- boots, leggings,andovercoats; however, in spiteof everything, wemanaged tohavea most enjoyableouting. Although our captures were naturally few,

somevery interesting species were taken, including a black specimenof Stauropusfag i .

On July 6th, under rather better climatic conditions,our second

excursion, toChalfont Road, wasled by Mr . Pickett . We were takenthrough somemagnificent country for collecting, but the day was toodullfor day flying insects, and theonlyoneseen by mewas a solitaryspecimenof Lycaena icarus. Nevertheless, the weather was not badenough toprevent moths from emerging , and a large number ofSpilote ulmata wereseen, this being the insectof the day. For somereason thisspecies appeared tobemore uniform in markings than it

17

wastheyear before, and I wasled tounderstand that it was not sonumerous as formerly . Moreover, as far as I saw , noneof thesmoky leaden -coloured specimens were taken, as they were the yearbefore; this form hithertowas considered tobe confined toa certaindistrict in Yorkshire, where for several years it was taken in someabundance, but now I am told that both the var . and type havedisappeared from this spot .Our third excursion, which was conducted by Mr . Grosvenor, to

the Reigate district , was also favoured w ith only very moderateweather, and although I wasunabletojoin theparty, I believe only avery moderatenumberof species weretaken.

Perhaps it would not beout of place for me to emphasizethedesirabilityof members joining theseoutings , as I believemanyof usoften neglect them . I havegenerally found that, if theday’s outinghasnot added very considerably tothe season’

s total captures, it isusually a most pleasant social gathering, besides frequently openingupunfamiliar country , which toa collector is always interesting and

instructive.

Asmight beexpected w ith such a remarkably cold summer, someinsects delayed the timeof their appearancetounusually latedates.

Among those that have come under my notice,or havebeen taken bymyself, are Smer inthus tiliaeon July 25th, at Forest Gate, anotherbeing taken as lateas September 15th, by Mr . Riches, in thenorthofLondon. This, in anordinary season, would havebeen put down fora second brood , but follow ing my recordof theendof July it seemsmore than probable that there has been only one brood . Argynnis

paphia was seen by Mr . Willsdon on September 3oth, in South Devon ;some yearsagoI used totakethis insect in somewoods near Ipswich

,

during thefirst halfof July. Spiloteg rossulariata on September 18th ,alsofrom South Devon,

isanother very late date, being a good threemonthsafterour London garden specimenshadmadetheir appearance;but

,doubtless, most of us have noticed that in normal seasons the

garden S . g rossulari ata areusually a month in advanceof country -bredspecimens. H. semele, in South Devon, was quite freshon September18th ; this is an insect which runswell intothe autumn, but it isseldom tobefound in good condition during thelatter partof September.

Pyrami deawasalso freshonSeptember 19th,and B muralisandO.elingu

aria, bothon September 18th, all from South Devon. Thesetwolatterspeciesareperhaps not quitesoremarkable, for although late, they areboth sometlmesgiven toholdout for a very long time. Ag rotiscinereawastaken at Freshwateron July 24th , which is a good six weeks late,and A rctia villi ca on July 23rd, which is alsolong after thenormaltime; in theWillesden di strict, whereIusedtotakethelatter freely someyears ago, I always expected tofind it fully out by June 8th , andfrequently it was tobe seen some time before that date. E remobiaochroleuca,on September 2lst, at Hazeleigh , Essex , isanother belatedappearance. This may be considered twomonths late, and finallywecome to Catocala nupta, which I sawon October 6th, at Leytonstone,while twoothers were taken in good condition at Woodford onOctober 11th,

'

which is certainly very late.

Another striking feature of the season has been that a largenumberof insects that havebeen kept for ova, have proved infertile,showing clearly that insects will not pair when the temperature is

18

abnormally cold. Therehasbeen somecorrespondence in someof thejournals remarkingon the fact that insects havebeen seen remaininginoneposition w ithout moving for severalnights in succession, and

it seems that w ith a low temperature mothsof both sexes have noinclination tomove. I myself havenoticed Spilosoma menthastri doingthesamething . I havealso tethered up a femaleA . prodromar ia , whichremainedout a whole week w ithout pairing,owing toa spellof coldweather, andon another occasion in almost the same locali ty underbetter climatic conditions, the looked - for result was brought aboutalmost immediately .

The interest taken in thecaptureof our rarer speciesoroccasionalvisitors is, perhaps, not sogreat as it used tobe, but even allow ing forthis

, the number of specimens recorded this season still seems verysmall . Thereisonenoticeof D . li rorm'

ca being taken in theearly partof theyear, and my friend , Mr . Willsdon, took a coupleof L . ritellina in

South Devon in September, but theother rareties which were in suchevidencelast year , particularly L . ex ig ua , haveentirely failed toestablishthemselves, and H peln

’

gera, which last year wasin great abundance inDevonshire, hasonly turned up very sparingly . It is seldom that ayear goesby wi thout somespecial insect being in extra abundance, butit would appear that this year , both rare and common insects havebeen adversely affected w ith but very few exceptions. Perhapsoneof theexceptions has been thatof Mania maura, whi ch at any rate insomeplaces has been unusually plentiful .

In thematterof rearing larvaeI havealwaysbeen inclined tothinkthat cool weather is rather beneficialthanotherwise, moreparticularlywhen the larvaeare kept indoors, asI havefrequently noticed that aburstof heat hasproved most disastroustomany species; but I learnfrom someof the large breedersof insects in our society , that theresultof theyear’s work hasbeen anything but satisfactory . Myownexperience has been very varied, commencing w ith an almostcomplete failurewith broodsof Oporabia autunmaria and 0. Chr istyi ,wi th which genus I had hithertobeen very successful , and themannerof treatmentof which was the same as before. Ou theother hand,w ith that troublesomespeciesT. opima , I was successful in getting about100 topupate. A little later on I was again unsuccessful w ith anumberof D . fascelina and N . zonar ia larvae, which weresent mefromLancashire. These species are well - known tobe di fficult when sentaway from their nativeair, but asthe fascelr

’

na were nearly fullg rownwhen I received them , I reasonably hoped for better results. Ioncebeforehad an exampleof what appeared tobe thechangeof -air upsetting larvae. I had been collecting some numbersof Heliothisdipsaceae larvaeon the Suffolk coast, and whilst staying there mylarvaewere doing perfectly well , and somewerepupating ; buton myreturn hometoLondon air the larvae began to sicken at once, andscarcely another larva pupated . I had a few eggs of N . lapponaria andI don’t think I lost a single larva , yet in some other years they havebeen almost complete failures. With other commoner species,T. consonar ia sofar has been a completesuccess, and D . falcula didfairly wellalso but thesetwospeciesaregenerally easy tomanage.

Asmight be expected this has not been a year for any generallysingle-brooded species todevelop a second brood, but rather for doublebrooded species tolayover until the spring. This has been pointed

19

out tomeas particularly noticeable in Pierz‘

snapi , which someofourmembers have been breeding largely . Doubtless the weather againhas been responsible for the absenceof our occasional visitors, orperhapshasprevented thepossibilityof a solitarymigrant perpetuatingthespeciesfor a time. In supportof that, I may say that a friendofminehad putoutsomeforeign larvaeof V. antiopa inNorfolk during theearly summer , and as far as I know noneof the imagineshavebeenseen. It may havebeen an interesting experiment in someways, butfrom a collector’

s point of view the advisabilityof theexperiment issomewhat doubtful .Theresultof endeavouring toestablish insects in new localities is

by nomeans uniformly successful , even in cases where environmentand climateseem allthat can bedesired . I havebeen told that manyattempts have been made tocolonize E . eespertam

’

a in positions in

Yorkshiresimilar totheoriginal habitat , but in allcasestheattemptshave proved useless. Personally, I never remember having the

satisfaction of seeing a new colony established by myown planting.

Ionceputout a largenumberof Z filipendulaeon what seemed tomea likely spot , but I havenever seen thesignof another sincetheday Iput them out. And I havealsoputout Lipar is dispar , and thesealsoneveroccurred again. Perhapsoneof the most successful results atcolonization that I have ever heard of was that of L imeni tis sibyllahaving been taken from St. Osyth , in Essex, tothewoodsa few milestothe west of Ipsw ich , byoneof theold Ipsw ich collectors namedSeaman. I never knew Seaman personally, for his collecting wasabout finished when mine began,

but 1t wasa tradition handed downthat he brought si bylla tothese woods, and certainly the insect wassteadily increasing for many yearswhen I used towork thedistrict.I first took it there in the Sixties, when, if we saw half-a- dozenspecimensduring theday, wethought them fairly numerous. By 1885

the insect simply swarmed , and in 1894 , when I was last there, it wasstill tobe found in largenumbers, and now , I am told , it hasextendedits range considerably beyond where I used totake i t. Strangely

.

enough , thisseemstobetheonly insect which , tomy knowledge, hasincreased in numberswithin the last forty years in that locality. Myold companion, the late G . Garrett,of Ipsw ich , whowas nearly fortyyearsmy senior,often used tosigh over the lost speciesof hisearlydays , whichoccurred in thisfavoured spot , someof them being sinapz’s,athalia, promissa ,

sponsa, quadra, and versi color,while I have seen

disappear , or almost so, i r is, paphia, and adippe. It may be thatwhen an insect isnewly introduced intoa locali ty which is favourabletoitswell - being, that therateof increase isaugmented by theabsenceof its parasite, which might explain the increaseof sibylla, whilesomanyother speciesdisappeared from thesamedistrict. Itseemsas ifCallimorpha hem was a parallel example, although I have noveryreliabledata togoon. It is believed by many entomologists that hemwasartificially introduced intoDevonshire, and I think that therecanbenodoubt that it hasconsiderably increased in numbersof lateyears ,and also that it has extended its range very considerably . I believeour friendMr .Burrowshas, tosomeextent,succeeded in introducing bothC . hemand A . sulphumlistohisown district, ascertainlyonewild herahas been seen, and last year twosulphuralz

’

sweretaken at light a shortdistancefrom wherethe larvaewere putout twoyears before. Thi

20

seems to me to be a very remarkable caseof colonization, as the

difi'

erenceof soil and surroundings totheusualhabitatof sulphuraliaisvery great. It would seem feasible that a species new ly arriving ina strange locality might well escape its natural exterminators for a

good many years, and increase and multiply at a far g reater rateforsomeconsiderabletime, until its enemies, in theform of parasites, hadfound themout, and thebalanceof Naturewasoncemoreadjusted .

Touchingon the increase of parasites in carta1n districts, I maymention that forty yearsagothe larvae of Spilote g rossalariata, whichI collected in theLondon district, wereentirely free from any parasitewhatever, but some years later they began tobeattacked. Last yearI gathered some 150 larvaeand I should say certainly two- thirds ofthem were stung byoneorother of four different speciesof parasites.It hasoften struck me, that many London insects aremuch more

given tobe stung by parasites than the same species are in lessinhabited districts. Theonly reason that has ever suggested itself tomy mind , that might possibly produce that effect , is that there are sofew purely insectivorous birds frequentingour London gardens, whichwould probably tend tokeep down the ichneumons tosome extent.In country districts ,oneor twospecies that appear tobe most frequently stung, in and around London, areAcronycta psi and Acronyctaacem

'

s. With thesespecies it is quitea rare thing tofind a larva thatisnot stung, and yet in the country districts it is qui te the reverse,perhaps more particularly with psi . Smem

’

nthusocellatus is anotherinstance, and formerly Saturm

’

a carpim’

was a most striking case; butthat insect is nolonger abletolivein itsold habitat as theplaceisnowcovered with houses .

Beforeconcluding, I should like to express my sincere thanks totheofficersof thesociety for the interest they have taken in carryingout theworkof the society . Manyof the duties entai l considerablework and ability, and I think I am expressing not only my ownfeeling s , but thoseof all themembers , when I tenderour most sincerethanks.

And lastly, I haveagain tothank you, gentlemen, for theconfidenceyou havereposed in me, in oncemore electing meas your President.I trust that thecoming year will show nobackward movement inoursociety , and that the many interesting phases of entomology will bepursued askeenly as ever.

21

PAPERS READ BEFORETHE SOCIETY .

THE VARIATlON OF ENTEPHRlA CIESIATA.*

(Read December 18th , 1906, by LOU IS B . PROUT,In a paper published in the Entomolog ist twoor three years ago,

on SomeRecurrent Phasesof Variation in theLarenti idw, (Entomxxxvii . , pp. 151 I briefly referred— amongst manyother illustrations— totwoof the named forms of Entephri a (Larentia) caesiata ;the first, on page 152, as ah. glaciata, Germ .

, and theotheg° onpage156, as ah. gelata, Guen. (misprinted I was not atthat timeworking at thevariation of thisspecies in particular , but Itook it in hand very shortly afterwards, and soon discovered thatStaudinger had been playing fast and loose w ith the varietalnomenclature, in thisas in someother cases. I shall show presentlythat thenameah. gelata isnot possibly tenable for the form towhich— follow ing Staudinger— I applied it. PerhapsI shall be blamed fornot having verified it from original sources before having mademyself responsiblefor itsuse; but while I hold, as strongly as anyone, that norevision of nomenclature should be undertaken w ithoutfirst-hand consultationof theentire literature involved , I would pointout that general papers such as theone in question would hardly everget written at all , if it were not considered allowable touse the

standard listsor referenceworkspending further revisions. However,assoon asI found that therewereerrorstobe corrected , I determinedtorev ise this interesting species as thoroughly as possible, and thisevening’s contribution is a partial result . My interest in thesubject,onother and more important aspects than that of nomenclature, hasbeen continuously enhanced by theaccessions of new material in mycollection ; and although a certain amount of this has been acquiredby purchaseor exchange, yet it ison occasions such as the present,when I am surveying an extensive seriesof some variable species,that I feel most keenly the magnitudeof my indebtedness tosuchkind friends as Dr . Chapman, Messrs. A . H . Jones, H . RowlandBrown , A . Bacot , and others, whoso liberally makemy collection areceptaclefor Geometridescollectedon their travels.

Entephria , Eh Verz . , p. 331 Warr , Nov . Zool. , x11. , p. 332 (1905)type flavicinctata , Eh Glaucopteryx , Hb . , l. c. , p. 332 PackMonog r . , p. 66 type caesium, Hb . ; = Larentia , [Tr . Schmett. Eur . v . , 2 ,

p. 440 non sect. typ .] Guen U r . etPhat. x . , p. 266 type caesiata ,

E h. Aplocera , Stph . , Cat. Bri t. Ina , p. 141 typecaesiata , Hb . Thetrue typeof Larentia , Tr . , is clavar ia , Haw . (cervinata , Schifi.)as declared byStephens in 1831 (Ill. Haust. , i i i . , p. Duponchelhad in 1829 (H ist. Natvi i 2 , p. 112) chosen dubi tata , L but thiswas invalid , not being in Treitschke’sorig inalgenus and beforehehad published hisnext volume containing afurther revision of the genus, Stephens (Cat. Bri t. Ins i i . , p. 129, 1829) hadrestricted it tofour species, only threeof them Treitschkian, namely clavaria ,

chenopodiata limi tata) and bipunctaria .

22

It will, nodoubt, berightly assumed that it isthevariationof the

image of which I intend principally tospeak ; but it may beof someinterest—and thetitleof my paper certainly does not preclude it—toremark that The Variation of Entephria cacciata is by nomeansconfined toits final stage. The larva also is very variable, and

most of its forms are very gay. It seems tohave been first madeknown by Freyer, isbriefly described by Guenes, and hasmorerecentlybeen figured and described by M illiére (Nat. S icil., vi . , p. 8, pl. i . ,

fig . 16, 1886) and by Buckler (Larvae, vii . , p. 166, pl. cxxvii . , fig . 3,

Thedescription in Buckler was supplied him by Hellins (Em.

Mo. Mam,xii . , p. and gives twoprincipal formsof thelarva, thefirst

deep red-chocolate," the second a deep bright green, both havingthe distinct dorsal ornamentation which makes it such a handsomecreature. Buckler figurestwoof the former main variety,one(fig . 3b)being green at the segment incisions. The food -plants, as recordedby Hellins, by Staudinger, Frey , Hoffmann (Stett. Em. Zei t. , xlix. ,

p. andothers, are chiefly the speciesof Vaccinium and Calluna,though Frey (Lep . Schwei z , p. 231) alsogives willow and, with a

query, young firs, while M illiére (Nat. Si cil. , vi . , p. 9) says that inconfinement it eats Prunus, C rataegus, Cistus, and Geranium,

but

prefers Convolvulus arvensis is partially polyphagous. My ownacquaintancew ith the larva isbased solelyon somewhich Dr. Chapmankindly sent me, fullfed, in July, 1900, from Pontresina, where hefound them feeding on rhododendron— anotherwiseunrecorded foodplant , I believe, though related toi tsfavouritepabula. They seemedtobe mostly of the purplish - brown form , chang ing togreen when

about topupate, but it struckmethat they had been definitely variable,and someprobably g reen throughout , at least, thefinalinstar .

Sofar as is at present known, Entephria caesiata wasfirst detectedasa species by Denis and Schifi

'

ermiiller , whopublished it in 1775(Schmett. Wien. , p. under thenameof Geometra caesiata, placingit in Fam ily L (subsequently named Larentia by Treitschke,Schmett. 71m , V . , 2, p. 440, W ith the fami ly (generic)charactersasfollow : Geometrae, Mediofasciatae— upper w ings almostas in thepreceding “marked transverselyon theuppersidewithparallel , clustered , wavy lines marked w ith curvedor waved transverse lines, yet w i th those in thecentral areaof thew ing moremassedtogether and darkened , soastoform a transversebandof almost equalbreadth throughout . Thespecies (No. 6, p. 112) comes in sectionforewings grey , and is diagnosed as the “ blue- grey , dark -stripedgeometer, the locality given being Styria. These particulars, takenin conjunction w ith the testimony of Schifierm iiller ’

s contemporaries,areamply sufficient for the recognitionof thespecies, and Staudingershould not have cited Lang, Vere. (1789) as theearliest authority forthename.

Leaving outof consideration the varietal names, there are reallyremarkably few synonyms for this species. It is, indeed, hard tobelieve that Schrank, in his studiesof the fauna of Bavaria, can haveremained unacquainted w ith it, especially ashe clearly did not neglectmountain collecting,* but a careful examination of the diagnosesof

See, for instance, h isFauna Boica , i i . , 2 , pp. 51-52 , alpinata ( a quadrifaria,Sulz .) and carbonate (=alpinata ,

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

24

In CentralEurope, E . can tata is not nearly sovariable as in thefar

North , or in many parts of Britain ; Frey, for instance (Lap. der

Schwei z, p. says definitely that“ compared with high -northern

examples (Norway and Iceland) the Swiss caesiata varies li ttle.

”

Someof the earliest references to supposed varieties were due toconfusion of the allied species with it. Thus several of theolderentomologists , even including Staudinger in hisearlier days (ctr . Stett.

Em. Zei t. , xxii., p. Speyer (Stett. Eat. Zefa, xx. , p. and

Guenes at first (U r . ar.’

Phal. , ii . , p. confused either E . fluvicinctata, Eh. , as a whole (Staudinger, Speyer), or in its darkenedScotch form (Guenée), with thepresent species , calling it caesiata var .

flavicinctata ; whileone(Freyer, Beytr . , v. , p. 14 , pl. 390, fig . 4) figuresas a var . of caesiuman examplewhich is certainly in reality infidaria ,

Lab . Even one qui te modern writer, Gumppenberg (Nova Acta

Acad. Ga mma,liv. , p. has attempted toextend the limitsof

the variationof E . caesiata by merging into it a form which hasbyothers been regarded as a distinct species ; this is theAsiatic ravaria ,

Lah. (Verh. Zool.-bot. Ver . Wien, iii . , p. 381, pl. vi . , fig . which Ishall have tomention later on, but which I may say atonce isqui teevidently a good species.

Thefirst genuine varietiesor aberrationsof Entephr ia caesiata toattract attention were apparently those which were brought fromIceland towards themiddleof thelast century, and thosestudied byZetterstedt in Lapland about the same period ; and thesedifi

'

ered somuch from thetypical form that it wasnotunnatural that—consideringthesmall amountof thematerial then availablefor comparison— theywereconsidered tobenew speciesand named assuch .

First , in chronological order , came Germar’s glaciata (Faun. Ins.

Emu, xv . , £01. 18, pl. 18, described and figured from Iceland ,and later recorded from Lapland by Zetterstedt (Ins. Lap .

, p. 959,

whonotes its similarity tocaesiata and tohis annosata . But

Staudinger was thefirst topoint out (Stett. Em. Zeit. , xviii . , p. 257)that it w ith certainty belongs here to caesiata) as darkvariety. He, however, there diagnoses it as var . a . Alis anticis

nig ricantibus, 3‘ S2 which suggeststhemoreextremeform (“ caesiata

var . A of Guenée), and remarks that it is led up toby a series ofaberrationsdiffering in the degreeof the darkening . Germar

’

sowndi agnosisof his form , was as fuscous grey, show ing the intermediatepaler fasciae as “ hoary, or more whitish that is, it wasan average darkened form , and not thevery extreme thing which issometimes met wi th , ay. , in Britain, and which is the caesiata var.

A of Guenée ( U r . et Phal i i . , p.

Next Zetterstedt (Ins. Lapp. , p. 962 , 1839) introduced us toamcosata, likew ise assumed tobe a new species, although comparedw ith caesiata, towhich he had evidently noticed its resemblance.

Probably, likeylaciata, it was described from a singlespecimen only ;he says : Hab. in Lapponia rarissime and that it wasdiscovered inthe mountainsof Dalecarli a by Boheman, and kindly sent him fordescribing . He distinguishes it from caesi ata by its rather smaller

It willberemembered thatlater in thesamevolume(p. 544)Guenes, havingreceived further materialfrom Doubleday , re-described thisScotch flavicinctata as

mficinctata , n.sp. , which name (as varietal) has priorityover var.obscurata , Stgr .

(Cat. , p. 299,

25

size, thew ingsnot glaucescent, themedial band entire, not bifid at itsextrem ity , etc. Typical caesiata, ashe rightly pointsout, has thedark medial band bipartiteon the costa (lac. ci t. , p. Theg round colourof annosata is said tobe hoary, the forew ings irroratedw i th cinereous, the hindwings hoary whitish . Except at the first,when Staudinger (S tett. Ent Zei t. , xxii . , p. 396) erroneously gave itfor an extremephaseof ah. glaci ata, thename hasalwaysbeen rightlyapplied to the aberrations w ith the central area more strongly anduni formly darkened, but (likeglaciata in another di rection) it gradesoff intothe typical forms through intermediates.

Several years later, Guenes (Dr . at Phal. , ii . , p. 271, 1858)published another species, under the name of gelata . It was

obtained from Iceland , and, as I shall show , was practically identicalw i th glaciata, Germ towhichof course it must sink . But asGuenesexami ned a larger material than his predecessor, it isnot surprisingthat theseries should have included an interesting aberration, which ,according tohiswont, he describes as var. A ,

”

but does not name;nor is it surprising , considering thebeautyof thisform, that heshouldhave selected it for figuring (pl. 14 , fig . What is surprising—orwould beso, but that thecapriceand vagariesof nomenclatorsareonlytoofamiliar— is that Staudinger (Cat. , ed. i i . , p. 187 , 1871) shouldhave chosen toemploy the name of ah. gelata, Guen, for the

aberration A insteadof for theform for which it was invented . ThatGuenée

’

sgelata is , for all practical purposes , a synonym of glaciata,Germ . ,

is shown by his description of it as dull , fuliginous brownblack , with the fascia; which border the central area hardly lighter

g rey than theground colour . Germar, ashisfigureand descriptionshow , happened upon a specimen w ith rather whiter hindw ings thanusual ; Guenée

’

sform had them silky pale grey.

”

On the whole,then, aswill be seen by comparing the twosummarieswhich I haveg iven , gelata issimply a rather extremephaseof thedarkened Icelandaberration glaciata , Germ.

Thebeautifulextreme form , gelata. var . A of Guenes, w ith theg round colour nearly white, andwith practically nomarkingsexcept ingthe dark central fascia, has never yet been named . Staudinger firstcalled attention toit in his Reise nach Island (Stett. Ent. Zei t. ,xvi i i . , p. indi cating it as var . b . al. aht. niveis, area basalimediaque grisea nigris 8‘ 9 but not naming it. It is certainlyrecurrent in Iceland, though probably not frequent even there;S taudinger obtained two of the extremes (6‘ and 9) in his visit tothat country, and says (loc. ci t , p. 258) that they were

“ from thenorthof Siglufjordr, as in general this inclination towhitening is shownalmost exclusively in examples from the north . In the lightestspecimen from the south , the dusting is especially yellowish , particularlyon the nervures . Guenes seems only tohave regarded twoofthe Iceland specimens which hehad seen asgelata , for hegivesIcelandamong the locali ties for caesiata also, and says of his new species:Island 0011. Mus. une 9 provenant du voyage de la Recherche,

and of var . A :“Memes provenanceet collection. Hedescribesthe

latter as grey almost white, and without lines or atoms, w ith thebasal and medial areasof a fuliginousblack as in the type. Interiorsw i th a single line.

”Hisfigureagrees, show ing precisely thesameform

asone Iceland example in the British Museum collection, and

26

specimen sent to meby Staudinger and Bang-Haas as“ah. gelata .

The locality given me for this, by the way , was “Greenland ,but this was probably by a mere oversight ; at any rate, Ishould not feel sufi cient faith in a dealer’s locality to make useof itfor a faunistic record . E . caesiata isnot supposed to occur in Greenland at all; see, for instance, Aurivillius’ Gr6nlandsInsektsfauna I.

”

(B ile. S vensk. l'

et. Ak. Handl. , xv . , Afd. iv . , No. 1, which givesof Geometridae, only Dasyuris polata, Hb . , a doubtful Eupi thecia(7 nanata, Hb . , Operophtera. bramata, L .

, and Psychophora sabini ,

Kirh. One fine specimen of the form in question (“ ah. gelata

recorded by Schneider from Tromso(Trams. Mus. Aarsh. , xv . , p.

Asthisform (gelata var . A of Guenes) is still w ithout a name, I

prOpose toname it ah. prospicuata , since it is certainly the mostoutstanding formof thespecies in a sense it may besaid tocontinuethe lineof variation suggested in ab . annosata, Zett but it is incomparably moreextreme.

Thenext form named wasinventam ia, Grote(Bull. U . S . Geol. andGeog r . Sum ,

vi . , p. 591, which may really be, asGrotebelieved ,a distinct species. I can say very little about it at present, havingfailed totrace, inour museum ,

the specimenswhich w ill serveas itstypes. The history of the name is as follows. In 1881, Dr . A . G .

Butler received for the British Museum, some examples of NorthAmerican Geometr ides from Mr . H . Edwards, andon thesehepublishedsomenotes in theAmerican periodical Papilio, vol. i . . pp. 220-223

(December , Amongst the notes we read (p.

‘ Glau

copterya; caesiata, H iibner .

’ Twospecimens , Havilah , California.

This isnot the European G . caesz’

ata, the latter hastheouter edgeof

thebroad belt acrosstheprimariesregular and dentated , whereas thisspecies is more likeG . kollar iari a w ith a regular sinuated band . Idoubt theoccurrenceof G . caesiata in America, although Packard ’

s

figurelooksrather likethespecies; i t isprobable that theinsect beforeme is undescribed .

”

Next year, Grotecametothe sameconclusionhewr ites (loc. ci t.) After comparing European spec imens w ithourown, I have made the twofollow ing changes in our lists, and the

first of these changes is: Glaucopterya: inventaraia , Gr ., for Gl.

caesiata i Butler , Papilio, i . , 222 [the1 indicatestheinvalidityof thename

,i .e.

, caesiata , Butler , nec Lang ,”

asthe Zoolog ical Recordenters it] Grote probably meant towrite inventaria , and has his

printer tothank for the ungainly name, as well as for severalothermisprints; butof coursethe published form must be followed . As Ihavenot found Butler ’

s Havilah specimens in the museum seriesofcaesiata, I suspect they turnedout tobesome entirely different speciesand have been removed toa more appropriate position, though Mr.

Warren tellsmehehasnorecollectionof them ; I shall hopetolightupon them someday. Although it is by nomeans certain, perhapshardly even probable— that Grete’s American examples which he

compared w ith European were really the same thing asButler’s,yet ashehasg iven notraceof description, and has expressly erectedthe n . nom .

” on a reference toButler, it is quite clear that itsapplication w ill necessarily be tothespecimens partially described in

S ince reading this paper I have published it under this name, Ent. Rec. ,

xix . , p. 22 .

27

Papilio. Of the other American formsor representative species Ishall speak lateron, as they haveasyet (w ith one possible exception)received nonames.

Thenext namein chronologicalorder wasvar. impallescens, Christdescribed from Kurusch , Caucasus, as follows Minor. Alis angustioribus, anticis albidi s, dense fusco-eonspersis, lineis transversis

undulatism inusexpressis Lepidoptera Nova FauntePalwarcticae,"Ir1

'

s. , vi . , p. 95, It w ill beobserved that Christoph rightlyerected this as a var . of caesiata, not as a new species . Staudinger(Cat , ed. 3 , p. 299) indicates that itoccurs alsoin Labrador asa var . ,

but considers it an unimportant oneg “ vix nominanda.

”His

diagnosisdoesnot giveprecisely the same impression asChristoph ’

s;

it runs: alis m inus dense squamatis, sem idiaphanis. I havenotseen specimens from either locality, sow ill not hazard further cement.Of theLabrador form , M(

‘

ischler writes I possess four examplesofthis species from different localities in Labrador. They vary verylittleinter se, areof theordinary size, and thecolour israther dull anduniform , butmuch more like that of theGerman caesiata than thatwhich isexhibited by my Finmark examples, towhich , however , theycomenear in respectof theslight darkeningof their markings (Stett.Em. Zei t.

, xliv. , p. In theVienna Verhandlungen (xxxiv. ,

p. 304) hegivesnearly the samedescription, making them agreew iththeGerman form in the greenish colorationof theforew ings.

The most recent addition tothe varietal nomenclature is var.

norveg ica, Strand (Nyt. Mag . Nat XL, p. 165, erected for theNorweg ian forms in a paper on the Lepidoptera of (chiefly) ArcticNorway, and which might be diagnosed as: minor (24-31 alisanticismag is unicoloribus, griseis. Strand ’

s actual description of itg ives more detailed measurements, taken from 33 specimens, and

somecomparison w ithother forms, but thewholegistof it i s containedin thediagnosisI have suggested here; he says they areof smallersize (than thoseof central Europe), and of a much moreuniformgrey colour . Ab. norveg ica is not confined tothe arctic regions,individuals from southern Norway must alsobe referred thereto.”Itsauthor mentions this form again twoyears later (Nyt. M ag . Nat. ,

xlii . , p. 140, 1904) and records somelocalitiesfrom southernNorwaywhere it seemsfar scarcer than in the north— but adds nothing elsetoour know ledgeof it.The only other forms which it appears tome convenient to

designate by special names , are tworather extreme aberrations,namely, the most extreme dark form (caesiata var. A of Guenée),which , after Staudinger, has been passing as ah. glaciate, Germ . and

the form whichoccasionally turnsup in thisspecies , as in somanyofits allies, w i th thecentral band extremely narrow , and incomplete,orbroken. The former I w ill call

ah. niynlcans, mihi , n. ab.= caesi ata var. A , Gn. , U r. et Phal. , ii . p.

272= caesiata var . a, Stg r. , Stett. Ent. Zett , xviii . , p. 257 (“alisanticis

nig ricantibus )= caesi ata ah. glaciata , Stg r . , Cat. (proparte)= caes1'

ata

var . ,Barr . ,

Lap . Br i t , viii . , pl. cccxlviii . , fig . 1 g . This aberration hasthe wings blackish and moreor less glossy, whereas ah. glaciata,

Germ.=gelata, Gn. is much less extreme, being rather of a fuscous

grey,or at the darkest, of a dead mate fuliginous colour.

That I am justfied in separating thetwois shown not only bymyown

28

materi al asexhi bited this evening , but alsoby Guenée’

swork ; for , asthe above synonymy shows, hedid not even recognize them as cospecific, much less asvarietally equivalent .The other new form may be known asah. comtri cta, mihi , n . ah.

caesi ata var. ,Barr. , Lep. Brit ,

viii . , p. 153, pl. cccxlviii . , fig . 10, 1d.

Central fascia extremely narrowed , and moreor less broken on the

inner marginal half of the wing. This is, of course, the phaseofrecurrent variation in theLarenti idae discussed by meon pp. 153-5

of my paper in the Entomolog ist (vol. and I have followedS trand

’s lead , as therealluded to (p. by employing the nameofconstri cta for it.It w ill be worth while, in viewof theadditions and corrections

proposed above, totabulate the named varieties and aberrationsofE ntephm

’

a. caesi ata, before concluding with someremarkson its geographical variation in general and on the question of its Americanrepresentatives .

ENTEPHRIA oansnm , Scamp .

1. caesiata, Lang, Eh. Blueish -grey, w ith well -defined darkcentral band enclosing a paleareaon costa .

2 . ah. infrequentata, Haw . Inclining tocinereous, w ith thefuscousband as in the type. This may be used , after Guenée, for thesomewhat paler forms which are fairly frequent in Britain, though it isreally almost synonymous w ith the type form .

3 . ah. annosata, Zett . Central band entire, t.e. , not enclosing apaleareaon thecosta .

4 . ah. (var . 7)glaciata (Keferstein M .S .)Germ .= gelata Gn. Darker(brownor more fuscous) than the type, generally weakly marked , andnotbrightly glossy . In spiteof thevariabilityof thespeciesin Iceland,I believe this description applies toa very great majority of thespecimensfrom that country, and that itought toberegarded as var.

”

rather than “ah.

5. ah. prospicuata, mihi z gelata var. A, Gn.=gelata, Stg r. Ground

colour whitish , central band dark .

6. ah. m’

g ricans, mihi = caesiata var . A , Stg r . Moreor less uniform blackishor deep fuscous , darker and more glossy thanah. (var. 7) glaciata Germ .

7 . ab . const'

ricta, mihi . Central fascia much narrowed and more

or less broken (vi desupra).8 . var . impallesce

'ns, Christ. (Caucasus). Smaller and narrowerthan the type, w ings whitish , densely sprinkled with fuscous , wavytransverse lines indistinct .

9. var . norveg i ca, Strand (Nerway). Smaller than thetype, w ingsmuch moreuniform in their tone, theprevailing colour grey .

710. var. (7) inventaraia, Grote (California). Said todiffer in the

contourof thecentral fascia ; perhaps a distinct species (videsupra).In theBritish Islands, Entephi i a caesiata is subject toa good deal

of variation, though alltheexamples known tomewould have to becatalogued under Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7of theabove-enumerated forms,unless, perhaps, someof the Shetland specimens are true glaciata.

Most of the forms could probably beobtained in almost any localitywherethespeciesoccursat all fully, provided suflicient material werecollected . Certainly my friend Mr . Arthur Horne,of Aberdeen, got

29

together a very finevariable lot, by taking it in largenumbers at theHill of Scolty. The pretty , light -grey formswith distinct markings(infrequentata, which generally turn up amongst a Briti shseriesmust , I think, berarer on theContinent, though I haveoneortwofrom Simplon and Arolla running towards them. I have saidthat I donot consider this a thoroughly _well-difierentiated ah nordo I feel certain that Haworth’

s subcinereis quite represents it,though his citation tohis infrequentata of ?cyanata, Eh.

” favoursGuenée

’

s idea that hemust have been dealing wi th a pale form, and

as Guenée’

s interpretation seems tohavepriority, it is best tofollowit. Stephens (Cat. Br it. Ina , p. 141 List Brit. Anim. , v. , p. 194)also cites infrequentata as a var.

" of caesi ata , but gives nodiagnosis .On thewhole, British examples averagesomewhat smaller than thosefrom central Europe, the normal measurements, as taken from myseries, being respectively 30-33mm . and 32 - 35mm . I haveseen theverydark forms (nig ricam , mihi), from several localities, such asShetland ,Paisley , North Wales (Leech Yorkshire, etc. Possibly a betterpercentageareobtainable from theShetlands than elsewhere, thoughHoifmann (S tett. Em. Zeta, xlv . , p. assumes that Shetlandspecimensdonot differ from therestof theScotch , sinceJenner Weirdoes not particularly mention thespecies; and he (Hoflmann) adds afoot note that he has seen caesi ata from Arran w ith deep black -

gwyforewings,only shot with whiteon thenervures ah. nign

’

cans), thusforming a sharp contrast tothewashed -out grey forms whi ch be hseen from Iceland (7glaciate) and thenorthof Norway (norveg ica).few Shetland specimenswhich I haveseen show the brownish colourof ah. (var . 7) glaciata, but it is di fficult tojudgeof theexact status ofthis form without access to fresh bred specimens , as both wear and

fading areapt to makethem appearmorebrownish . Barrett mentions,in addition tovarious aberrations, what may possibly bea local race,but as I have not been able tostudy i t, I can say nothing on the

subject at first hand . H is words are: Lastly, specimens fromNorth Wales seem to show a faint tingeof green, and areotherw isedull and shaded 011. For the most part, as he says, the colourvariations in thisspecies do not appear tobelocal toany materialextent .Thegeneral run of European forms (excluding theArctic)may be

treated together . They belong mainly tothe type form and ab.

annosata , w ith an occasional ah. niqm’

cans. The British Museumcollection has fairly defini te examplesof the latter from the Mutzell

collection (one, 7 locali ty), and theZeller collection (onefrom Freyer,?locality , and another from Stelzing), but these are pretty uniformlydark , wi thout such distinct whitedots as are inclined to appearonourBri tish ah. nigri cam . There is also a curiousdark specimen from the

Frey collection (Engadine) which looks almost as if it might beaa melanic eM pleof someother species of Entephn

‘

a, perhaps onaccount of the distinct double rowof white dots, the depth of thearches in thesubterminal, and thedarkened hind -w ings, recalling thoseof caeruleata, Guen. (7flavict

’

nctata , van), but which I have decided isveritable caesiata : this is presumably thespecimen recorded by Frey(Lep. Schwei z, p. 231) as taken in 1853. Totheill -defined ah. amwsata

may bereferred two from theZeller collection (one Schlucken-Alp,

”

from Freyer, theotherRaibl),onefrom theLeech collect10n (Denmark)

30

and possibly others . I possess two which have been sent meunderthis name, but which are only moderately representativeof the form,

onefrom Finland , andonefromHochscbwab . Most of thecontinentallocal lists record it as more or less general , but this does notnecessarily imply extreme phases of it. My only specimen fromAlsace is largeand rather light, w ith moreof a yellow ish tlnge thanthe rest of my series. Among thosewhich I bred from Pontresinaareoneor twoof the form of which Barrett speaks admiringly, andwhich might almost beworth naming , in which thepale area ofthe ground colour) in the middleof the central fascia iscontinuedright across the w ing , leaving only quite narrow bars,or boundarylines darkened . Oi the Esthonian form Petersen writes (Lep. Estl. ,

p. 130) In generalour examples aredarker than thoseof centralEurope but thetwo which he kindly sent me hardly bearout thisimpression.

Arcticor h igh northern specimens aregenerally smaller* , and lesssharply marked than thoseof central Europe, and this applies in a

general way tothoseof both northern Scandinavia (var. norveg ica)andof Iceland (ah. or var. glaciata, etc.) yet there are definite differencesobservablebetween thetworaces. TheIcelandic seem ,on thewhole,tobeabout thesizeof theBri tish, theNorweg ian,on thewhole, smallerstill (see Strand

’

s description of var . norveg ica, supra). The former,though very inconstant , and abounding in interesting aberrations,favour a brownish tone: the latter, with really extreme aberrationscomparatively rare, tend much moretogreys . The former areverygenerally darker than thetype, the latteroften hardly darkened at allthough Schneider (Trams. Mus. Aa.rsh. , xv . , p. 82) calls his race“melanotic ,” and Wocke (Stett. Ent. Zett , xxv. , p. 188) says thatexamples from Dovrefjeld are mostly very dark grey, entirely w ithoutyellow dusting . Iceland, as already mentioned , is the homeof thebeautiful ah. prospi ruata, and my series from that country alsocontains twoof the most decided ah. annosata I possess (both fromThingvellir),oneof them with theground colour becoming pale, i .a. ,

making someapproach toah. prospicuata. Sometimes , on the contrary,thedarkeningof thewholew ing issoextremeas toproducepracticallyah. nigm

’

cans, differing chiefly from theBritish in itsbrowner hue.

As regards the North American forms or representatives , thereis still much work tobe done. I can add nothing towhat I havesaidon the Labrador form ; but Moschler was such a good entomolegist , that I am satisfied toaccept his dictum as to its Specific identityw ith ours. Nevertheless, it by nomeans follows from this that theforms recorded from Alberta, Colorado, California, etc or even fromNew Hampshire and Massachusetts arethesame; Labrador i s wellknown tohave a fauna which is essentially Arctic

, and, we mightsay, essent1ally European. Packard, to besure, introduces , E . caesiata

as American on an apparently abundant materi al ; for he describes(Monog r. , p. 67) from 40 3

‘and 40 9 But themajority of those

seem tohave been from Labrador (seep. and theexamples senthim from Iceland and theAustrian Alps (p. 69)may alsohave beenpressed into the service for describing, as his American specimens

Large specimensoccur occasionally as an ah.

”at Bossekop ; twog iven

meby Mr . H . Bowland-Brownmeasure36and 34mm .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

82

the Laggan form may be distinct , and I haveseen what looks tomelike the Calgary species (twospecimens only taken) at the coast ascaesium. I donot think I have yet sent European caesiata tomyvalued correspondent theRev. G . W. Taylor, nor can I find

’

that Ihavehad any correSpondence w ith himon the species. I sent it totheother chief student of Geometridae across theAtlantic , Mr. R. F.

Pearsall of Brooklyn, and he wrote'

me: Your caesiata I havenotcritically compared as yet, but it looks just like specimensI takeintheCatskill Mountains . I have seen another series taken in WhiteMountains near Hampshire, with the yellow markings of caesiata abright golden, and heavier . Does this correspond toyour speciesflavi cinctata (in li tt December 26th, Later (Jannary 14th,

he added : I think I wrote you that your caesiata andoursarethesame.

” Thematter has not yet proceeded further.

The British Museum only possesses one American example, andthis is in very bad condition. It was sent by Mr. Cockerell fromColorado , as caesiata, 1. minor, and looks , as far ascan bemadeout,a trueraesiata, though— liketheLaggan species , and Packard

’s figure— it seemstohavethediscal dotof thehindw ing obsolescent.A photograph of Hulst

’

e type of Philereme multi vagata (Bull.Brookl. E’

nt. Soc. , iv . , p. 26, very kindly sent mebyMr . Taylor,alsolooksextremely likea large specimen of Entephria caesiata,onlywith a dark margin tothe hindwing ; yet it is difficult toseehowDr. Hulst could, in ‘this case, have placed it in thegenus Philereme

(Scotosia)On thewhole, it seems best toconclude that the true caesiata,or

something extremely near it, does occur in several parts of NorthAmerica, but that another species is mixed up w ith it—perhapsmorethan one— and awaiting further study and differentiation. Thepresent would not be a suitable place for naming the ravan

’

a - likeLaggan species, which , on my assumption of its distinctness, hasreally noplace in a paper on thevariationof Entephr ia caesiata. Mytask for this evening is therefore accomplished , although youwill seethat there is still need for further sorting -outof thenumerous cognateforms in this interesting group .

Sincewriting thispaper I havereceived a finespecimenof multivagata , andfind it isa trueEntephria , closely related tocaeeiata, but distinct.

38

NOTES FROM NORTH SUTHERLAND.*

(Bead January 15th , 1907, by E . A . COCKAYNE .)

Thenorth -west corner of Sutherland , lying midway between theOrkneysand Shetlandstotheeast and theHebridestothewest, oughttobeinteresting from theentomological pointof view . The positionof thecountry, and thefact that littlehasbeen written about its largerinsects, aremy excusesfor reading these notes

,madeduring a visit of

only fourteen days, and therefore necessarily very incomplete. U nfortunately I have not had time tolook up recent records in the

magazines, and whereI mention that an insecthas not been taken inSutherland before, I mean that such record is not tobe found inMeyrick

’

s handbook or Barrett’s British Lepidoptera. Notes in

bracketson the northern limitof rangepreviously recorded are thosegiven by Barrett , whosenomenclature is alsoused .

I will begin w ith a brief description of the district . Tongue, myheadquarters, is a small village forty miles from the nearest railwaystation, from whichone has totravel through a bleak and cheerlesscountryof grassy hills, which rise gentlyon thewestern sideand fallabruptlyon theeast . One travelsfor mileswithout seeing a singletree.TheKyleofTongue,on which thevillage issituated, is a shallow

inletof thesea, intowhich theKinloch river, theAlltRhian andotherstreams pour their waters. It is protected at the month by thepicturesqueRabbit Islands, and half way up is almost bridged by along strip of sand which runsout from theTongue woods. Thewestern side is low , bareand rocky ; theeastern rises steeply from the

water toa height of 400 to500 feet , and is in places clothed w ithstunted lichen -covered birch trees and, here and there, a rowan oraspen. Past themouthof theRhian the land isflat and cultivated asfar astheTonguewoods.

Theseare fairly extensive, and the trees arelarge. The lower partislevel and grassy , and consists chieflyof beech , wych elm and lime.

Further back it runs up a steep slope, on which many pines and

mountain -ashesgrow , and culminatesat about 900 feet in a growthofsmall pinesandopen heathery moor . TheRhian is bordered by lowelders, rowansand sallows, and in placesruns through woodsof smallbitches. On the side farthest from the village are meadows w ithbracken and coarsegrasses, and between these and thesea isa wood ,Ah -

garbh -chnoc, w ith pine, spruce, larch , rowan, birch , beech and

alder,on a hill about 400 feet high . Owing toour limited timewe

almost confined our search tothe district described , which includesthemost fertile, and someof thew ilder partsof the neighbourhood.

Onour first day , J11119 3oth, wefound numbersof larvwof Cleocer isviminalison sallowsnear theRhian, and took someof thelargest , fromwhich webred 27 imagineson July 29th, and thetwofollowing days .Compared with my Rannoch specimens the number of dark forms

With platepresented by theauthor.

34

(6outof 27) is somewhat less than from that district (19outofand they emerged just 20 days later than these. One isa nicedark

g rey specimen withorbicular and reniform encircled wi th white. Wethenclimbed a hill overlooking theKyle, and had a good viewof thebirchwoodsbelow . Thetreeswere thinly covered with leaves and in placeswerealmost as brown and bareasinwinter . Whilewewerelooking , aparty of about twenty black -headed gulls (Larus r idibundus)flew overand made their way tothe barest part of the wood . Here theydropped toa level with the topmost twigs, and then each in turn keptchecking itsflight , hovering for a moment and appearing as if abouttosettle, then flying on toanother tree, where it would repeat thesamemanoeuvre.

It wasquiteevident they wereobtaining food, and our curiosi tywasaroused . When wehad climbed down to thewood , wewerein nodoubt as tothe natureof the attraction. Every birch wascoveredw ith thousands and thousandsof fullgrown ‘

larveeof Hybem ia progemmaria of every shadefrom paletodarkestbrown. Threadsofmattedsilk hung from treetotree, and tangled groups of hanging larvae clungtoour clothes as wewalked under thebranches . Amongst thehostoflarvzewerea few of H . defoliar ia, Cheimatobia boreata and C . bramata.

Curiously enough , I find norecord for thecountyof anyof the firstthree of these. Barrett states that H . progemmaria is scarce inAberdeenshire, for H defoliarz

’

a hegives Argyleand Perth , and for C .

boreata, Ross and Moray astheNorthern limit.For thenext few days wesaw partiesof gulls feeding in thisway,

sometimes'only twotogether, usually fouror five, buton July 3rd wesaw quitefifty or sixty together, steadily working from end toend ofthewood .

A dayor twolater therewas scarcelyone, and,on looking at thetrees, I found that almost allthevast multitudeof larvaehad vanished.

The trees, many without a singleleaf, and only theleaf stalkstoshowwhere they had been, alone bore testimony to their recent presence.

Thesewoods appeartohavefew moths in them : Cymatophora duplar is,Platypterya: lacertinar ia (new , very locally Clydesdale, Argyleand Ross)and Coremia pectinatari a werecaptured . In theafternoon wemetwi thmore success in the wood , An-garbh -chnoc. Here we saw Ephyra

pendularia (new tocounty, Ross and Moray), Coremia montanata,Fidom’

a piniaria, Venusia cambri ca (new : Argyle), Melanippe tr istata.

(theusual brown and whiteScottish form), M . subtr istata (a clear blackand white form), Them variata (new : Moray in east toHebrides inwest), Eupt

'

thect'

a lari ciata (7 new), E . satyrata, and several Cidan'

a

corylata (new : Moray and W. Ross).The last species was past its best . The variety albocrenata

was far commoner than at Rannoch , and I should think about30% were of this form instead of about The majori ty ofthe corylata wereof the broken- barred form

, but a good manyexhibit a complete central band . In one specimen,

a fine female,thecostal half only is present, and very clearly defined . I have notseen any description of a similar specimen. The series of var . alba

crenata—I include under this term , those specimens in whi ch thecentral band is moreor less frosted w ith whitescales, and not limitedby black outer and inner lines— show a completeparallelism w i th theordinary forms. In most the central band is interrupted, but in a

35

good many i t is complete, and in oneor twoeven broad ; in a fewnothingof i t remains but the black d iscoidal spot , in others only thecostal half isseen. One israther a rich cream colour.

In contrast w ith this, I have only met w ith broken-barred formsboth in ordinary corylata, and in var. albocrenata. in the Rannochdistrict. The lines, too, in the submarginal region aremuch blackerinRannoch albocrenata, and the transverse linebetween thebasal areaand the central band is darker . TheTongue specimens are moreuniformly pale.

Near thiswood we found larvaeof Coremia didymata, from whicha.normal female imagewasbred ,of Cidar ia testata and Poecilocampapopuli (new Moray and Argyle).At night I sugared some birch trees, but theonly visitor was

another poputi larva, which wasenjoying a comfortablesupperof rumand treacle. From theseandothersI bred a pale maleand a darkfemale imago. Wi th the lantern I found a Coremia propug nata and

Cabera pasaria ,of which Barrett says toMoray if not beyond .

”

It

proved tobevery common, and I tookoneslightly damaged specimeninwhich the first and central lines are approximated , as in thevar.

rotundaria (a formonly recordedonce from Scotland), but moresoontheright thanon the left .Next day July lst, was dull and cold , and we found little exceptoneworn U i daria suy

'

umata. (new : Moray and Hebrides), Phytometraanea (new : Moray and Argyle), Melanthia ocellata, Hepialus velleda

,

andone Emmelesia blandiata, the last named on theundersideof abeech branch . Doubtless the insect was common near the river,where its foodplant was plentiful , but in my experience it is veryhard tofind in thedaytime. In theRannoch district, though flyingabundantly at dusk, I haveonly foundone at reston a rock , and twoor threeon tree- trunks .On a stripof damp ground near theriver E . albalate (typical)was

abundant, and Tanag ra. chaerophyllata occurred, the latter new

(Aberdeen and Moray). I found it in manyother places later .

Herewe found a dozen nearly fullfed larvaeof Tr i chiura crataeg i

(new : Aberdeen, Argyle, and Inverness). They were feeding exclusivelyon small mountain ash treesgrowing amongst birch bushes.

After dinner I strolledout and saw in a rough field,on theothersideof the river, fouror fiveblack-headed gulls. Standing apart

,first

one and then another kept making a sudden dash , flying quicklyalong the ground , and then settling again. I crossed theriver andfound a sparsegrowth of bracken where they had been, and I saw a

good many H . velleda flying sw iftly amongst it. Almost every nightafterwards I saw someof these gulls take up their positions asthe

hight- timeof velleda arrived, and depart assoon as it ended . Outoftwodozen velleda, varying much in size and colour, therewere onlytwoof thevariety galli cus.

Nearer theriver I took a series of Hydrilla arcacea (new : AberdeenandPerth).Thenight waswonderfully light—at this time of year there isno

real darkness in these latitudes—andon the way home, about eleveno’clock, I wasleaningover a gate, standing quitestill, and watching aO. montanata flitting up and down over the grassabout three yardsaway. Suddenly a gullflew up behind , checked itself abruptly,openeditsmouth , and themoth was gone. Thebird never saw me and flew

86

away leisurely across thefield, catching anotheron its way. A quarterof an hour later therewere still twogulls moth-catching, and, tojadgeby their movements , they enjoyed a good meal. These black -headedgullsappear tobemost ardent and successful entomolog ists. Theirmethodsof capturing H . humuli , which I watched at Rannoch lastyear , and i ts ally H . velleda, weremost cleverly adapted tothedifferentflightsof themales of these twoinsects. For theswift and erraticvelleda they stood still , and only made a sudden flying dash asonewent past ; whilefor thehovering ghost moth they flew steadily backwardsand forwards, catching them as they went. In both cases theyseemed to know exactly what time the insects werebeginning theirevening flight.Twoof thenext threedays wespent in TongueWoods, and took

a fineseriesof Fidonia piniam’

a, which was very abundant . Amongstthemales I looked out carefully for cream -coloured forms, butonlysucceeded in catching four, allsmaller,of a paler, dingier colour, andwith more blackon thewings, than thosefrom thesouthof England .

The females vary in ground colour from whiteor cream colour ,through various shades of yellow ish -brown todrab : someof the lastare almost unicolorous. In oneof the pale ones, the usually darkcostal and apical areas are pale yellowish -brown, giving it a fadedappearance. In theforewings, some have the basal stripe along thenervures well marked, some the transverse bar, while inothers bothare almost obsolete. In several there is a very distinct approach tomalecolouration.

Above the wood we,took twoCoenonympha davas, which was

unexpectedly scarce, a male Chelonia plantag inis, Ag rotis porphyrea ,

and F idante atomart'a.

In thewood itself wecameacrossE . lari ciata, V. cambri ca, Macaria

li tum ta (new : Invernessand Ross), Rumia crataegata (a pale specimenwith red markings almost obsolete), Coremi a ferrugata (the last twonew Moray) and E . nanata.

On July 3rd, I took several very bright males of Polyommatusalezvisand twofemales, neither soblueas some Rannochones, and a

largebattered femaleof Vanessa cardml. I alsofound a female A rctz’afulig inosa var. borealis w ith a complete black abdominal stripe, a

marking I havepreviously only seen in males.During the next few days V. cambri ca was at its best— I saw

thirteenon twotreeson the4th— and contrary toexpectation I foundit very unw illing tofly. They areall paler than my Yorkshireones.Thenext day was bright and sunny

, and we saw Xylophasia w rea

flying at saxifrage, and Apamea basilinea at raspberry blossom . Nearthevillagetherewereseveral coloniesof Vanessa urticaelarvae.

In the evening I went tosomemarshy ground where1 had seengreat numbers of flower spikes of the butterfly orchis, with a fewH abenaria albi da, marsh and spotted orchids , hoping they would beVisited byoneof thePlusias.

Very few moths visited them , and I only took five faded Plusiagamma ,onlyoneof which had pollinia of this orchid attached toitseye. Plusia. bractea undoubtedly visits th i s flower, asI haveonewitha disc firmly attached toeach eye, but I suppose it was tooearly forthis insect . Twoof thegamma had polliniaofoneof theother orchidson their tongues, and I noticed someon a Hadena. dmtina foundon a

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If thesebutterfliesdo choose a resting place tomatch their owncolour, definite evidence of it is most likely to beobtained in theselatitudes, wherethemuch longer period of light, while the insect isstill at rest, makes their selectionof a suitablesleeping-placesomuchmore important .With regard to theother whites, P. napi was tobe seen in the

g rassy hollows near the river. This is a new record : South in his

recent book states that it has not been recorded from further norththan Rossand Moray . P. rapae was abundant later in the village,evidently just emerging.

During the remainder of the time we took Larentia caesi ata

commonly, even at sea-level ,on the tree trunks and rocks, and twoAm

’

dalia fumata (new : W. Ross). We also took a few B . repandata ,

rather darker and moreuniformly grey thanRannochones ,on rocks inthewoods, and with them three Dasydt

'

aobfuscata (new : On

the moors larva} of Lasiocampa querci is and Satum ia carpimlwerenoticed . On the last day of our visit, numbers of A rgynnis aglai a

suddenly appeared .

We devoted a good deal of time to looking for Camptog rammabilineata in the woods near the Kyle, and most of those taken werefound on the rocks, often under a ledge. A total of 98 males and

18 females were examined ; of the males 22 were quite normal ,55 showed five dark spots on the forewings toa fairly markeddegree,of theremainder, someshowed general darkeningof thegroundcolouror unusally distinct stries. In someof the spotted examplesthespotsarevery conspicuous, and inone they meet acrossthecentralband . Oi the 18 females , only three were without black spotsordarkened strife, and onehasthestrieemuch blackened , and a strongblack band running along the inner sideof the second line, whichgives it a very striking appearance. Another point broughtout by myspecimens is a certain degreeof sexual dimorphism. In every femaletheground colourof theforew ingsisof a soft brown,

contrasting w iththeorange colour of the hindw ings . In themales, theupper wingsareyellow , and even in the darker specimens, the colour is alwaysdifferent from the brown of the females . In Aberdeenshire I havetaken similar brown forms with the commoner yellow ones. In

England , this species usually sits amongst the leaves of bushes,whereas here they were frequently exposed on the faceof therocks

,

and nearly alwayson the rocks, even though they wereoften under aledge. Thisdifferenceof habitmay account for thedarker , and lessconspicuouscolourof theSutherland form and especially for thebrownerfemales.

Asa wholethespecies which show a tendency tomelanism arenotnumerous, and someareactually paler than moresouthern races.

Tosum up, we took a totalof 85 species , nearly all in the imagostage, 28 are probably new tothe county list , and 3 doubtful. Ofthese31, twoarenoctuaaand 25 geometridae.

Lls'r .—Pier1

'

s brassicae, P . rapua, P. napi , Polyonnnatus alezris,

V. artied a (larvae), V. cardai , A rgynnis aglaia, Coenmzympha dams,

Poeciloca 'mpa populi (larvw), Tri chium crataeg i (larvae), Lasiocampaque'rci/s (larvae), Saturm

’

a carpini (larvae), Platypteryw lacertinafla,*

Hepi'

alus velleda, H . humult’

, Nemeophila plantag ims, Phragmatobiafulig inosa, Demas coryli , Cymatophora duplaris, Acronycta leporina,

39

Ag rotisporphyrea, Noctua plecta, N c-m’

yrum, Hadena pisi , H dentina,Cleocerisviminalis(larva), Xylophasia rurea, Apamea gemina, A . basilinea,

’

Taeniocampa gothica (larva), T instabilis (larva), Hydrilla arenosa,*Cd radr ina cubicularis, Plust

'

apulchrina, P. gamma, H abrostola tr iparti te,Phytometra amea .

* Rumia Cabera pasaria,* C. ewanthe

mar ia ,

* Macaria li turata,* Fidoni a atamaria, F piniam

’

a, Ellopia

fasci ar ia,* Dasydz

'

a obfuscata,* Boarmia repandata, Hyberm’

a pregam

mar i afi‘ H defoliaria,

’k Ephyrapendulam’

a ,

* Acidaliafumata ,

*Melanippe

tristata ,M subtristata,Melanthiaocellata , Coremiafluctuata, C .montanata ,

C . d idymata, C . pectinataria, C . muni tata , C . propugnata, C . ferrugata,*

Larentia caesiata,Venusia cambrica ,

* Emmelesia albulata, E . alche

millatafi‘ E . blandiata, Oidar ia corylata,* 0. truncata, C . p runata

C . suffw nata,>l< C . testata (larva), Camptog ramma bilineata,Them vari ata,

H ypsipetes impluviata, Cheimatobia barcata,* C . bramata, Eupi thect

'

a

nanata , E . lar iciata E . castigata,* E

'

. subfulvata var. cognata,* E .

pulchellata,E . pumilata, E . assimilata,

* E . satyrata, E . fraan'

nata,* E .

constr ictata,* Tanag ra chaerophyllata .

*

New .

NOTES ON THE WAINSCOTS.

(Read February 19th , 1907, by H . M . EDELSTEN .)

The subject of our exhibition and discussion this evening, TheWainscots , is a fami ly which has always appealed tome verystrongly . I am afraid I cannot tell you very much about this subject,aseach year I find I know lessand less about them, and my attentionhas been chicfly devoted to oneor twospecies . Perhapsof all thegenera of British lepidoptera thefami ly Leucanie contains more rareand casual visitors than any other, as the blanks in our cabinetdrawersshow. Taking the Wainscots asa whole, theymay bedividedup as follows —The moreor less dry- land species, comprising,pallms, impura, comma, turca, li thargyr ia and conigem . The waterloving species —obsoleta, straminea pudorina, brevilinea , M . flammea,

S . mar i tima, C . phragmi ti dis and lutosa,and the Nonag rias—typhae,

cannae, spargamt, dissoluta, geminipuncta, and T. fulva, concolor and

helmanni ; the coast species comprising elymi , li ttoralis, favi color ,putrescens, T. bandit, and our rare visitors S . musculosa, L . extranea,

loryi , l-album, vi tellina and albipuncta. I include the twolatteramong thevi sitors, asI feel sure they arenot trueBritish species ; butthere isan importation every few yearswhich just keeps them going,and anyone whohasworked the coast, w ill , I think, agreewith me,that a cycleof

'

warm summers generally produces some of ourrarities.

Now ,as regards thelife-history of the Wainscots

40

Theegg -laying is practically thesomeall through. Theovipositoris pointed and flat sothat it can be thrust within the sheathingleaves of reed and grass stems and grass blooms. The eggs themselves in their natural position are generally flattened spheres , thoseof the nonag rias being moreflattened than those of the Leucanids.

The eggsof the internal feeders and these external feeders whichrequire the growing stems tofeed in and ou, do not hatch till theSpring , and are covered with a glutinous substance whi ch protectsthem from the

‘

water, as they areoften submerged during thewinterthoseof therest hatch in thesummer, and thelarvaemostly hibernatesmall , though someare full -fed before thewinter but donot pupatetill the spring. The only species I know which pupates in the

autumn is M . flammea.

I do not propose todeal with all the larva; separately, thelarval habits of most of the Wainscots are well -known to youall

,I expect . Perhaps a few notes on one or twomay be

interesting. Obsoleta and straminea larvaealways strikeme as beingdifferent from the restof theLeucanids, though this mayonly be fromforceof circumstances . Their long flattened bodies are sodifi'

erent

from the usual cylindrical Leucania larvae; but when one comes tothink thematter out, it is necessary they should beso, as they hidewithin dead reed stemsin the day time, as they areinhabitantsof theold reed beds growing in the wetter portions of the tens ; and theyhave nowhere else togo, or the birds would soon find them out.

Brevilinea has a most curious larval existence; when small, it is an

internal feeder as it grows larger, i t comesout to feedon theleaveswhen it has finished itssupper, i t bites a holein thereed- stem, justbelow the terminal leaf, and enters the stem tohide during theday ;the reeds grow sofast at this season, that by the,

next morning thesheathing leaf hasgrown over thehole and the larva is quitehidden ,

hence it isvery rarely ichneumoned. In its last stages i t is purelyan external feeder, and it pupateson the surfaceof the fen. Cannae,again, is another curious example; it starts feeding in scirpus, and

sometimes i ris and spargam'

um, as also spargani t

'

does; then,as i t

grows, it enters typha stems, both latifolia and angustifolia, and

pupates in the interior of the stem, head upwards , as against typhus,which always pupates head downwards . I have sometimes foundpupaeof cannae in stems of sci rpus, sparganium, flower stems of Ir ispseudacorus, andonce in the hollow stem of C i c uta ei rosa,

though thisonlyoccurs, I think, when the stem in whi ch they fed wasunsui tablefor pupation. The moor-hens are great enemies of cannae and

spargani i , asthepupaearealways below theemergence hole, and theypeck downwardsand eat them but typhaeescapes , as i t is abovethehole. The larvaeof many of our rare species, when we get a hotautumn aswe had last year, feed up rapidly, and Spin a puparium ,

and, I think, arethusenabled tostandour climate, whereas they wouldbekilled as small larvae.The pupaeof the Nonagn

‘

as are interesting in possessing a

pointed headpiece or beak, with which they break through the

outer cuticleof thestem toenablethemoth tohatch .

Now , to goon toanother subject , Santa mari tima, in which genusshould this speciesbeplaced? I believeit is a macro

,though thelarva

is very like a tortrix, and does not resembleany of the wainscots in

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SOME NOTES ON A. BELLARGUS, Wl'

l'

ll REFERENCES TOALLIED SPECIES.

(Bead March 19111, 1907, by Da. 0. e. c. HODGSON.)

With a view to filling up the gap in the absenceof advertisedpaper, these few notes are hurriedly put together— in remainly A .

bellargus, and theclosely approximating 9 of A . corydonand P. arg ue

(aegmz), and in less degree the species most closely allied totheseasoccurring in England .

Beginning with Adonis (with which solely these notes first setouttodeal), thedates in general for this species occur tome, and in thisconnection, in passing, one cannot refrain from commenting on a

phasewhich must have puzzled i1s all, viz. , the datesonefindsg ivenby authorities for various events extraordinarily at variance w ithexperienceof present time, ay. , theblooming of plants— Beeorchisg iven as flowering in May ”

(not exclusively one isonly left toinfer) ; Bellargus, timeof appearance May and August , Newman,

though the first specimens donot invariably emerge till June and

September, and if in May'quiteoneof thelatter days isthefirst date.

Andonly by quiteartificialmeanshaveI ever been abletoobtain Beeorchisblossom in May.

Only in three years have I noticed Bellargus in May. In twoconsecutiveyears, 1905 and 1906, Bellargus 3‘ s seen in May,on 27thand 29th respectively, giving fivedays and threedaysof flig ht for thisspec1es.

Inoneother year (earliest record noted— in diary w ithout year date)May 24th isonlyother record madeearlier than June.

Theseremarks would beonly lessemphatic asregards second- broodthat it ismainly a September phenomenon in most years. Towhat isduethisdiscrepancy in statementsof competent observers might beafrui tful sourceof discussion. It isnoteworthy that in connection withthese we cannot be indebted for unusual records tothe artificeofother human beings , with their cuckooclocksandother devices.

These remarks by nomeans touch the limits where perhaps liesuch records as (7 at Selborne) of M . cinan

’

a in August . (White,NaturalH istoryof Selborne.)

A proposof A . bellargus the follow ing dates collected are perhapsof interestz—Twoyears , 1877 and 1879, gives us dates November5th and November 6th ; 1889 gives end of October , possibly alsoNovember (for these I am indebted toMr. Sidney Webb); one year ,1903, Surrey North Downsdaily in October till loth.

In connection with this falls the consideration of the extent ofthedurationof imaginal state in both broods. I believe it used tobeconsidered that as a rulefive weeks would fairly cover the combinedperiodsof both broods in imaginal condition.

Thus in 1888, collecting at Bevingdean (Sussex), firstbellaryuswasseenon September 13th , and thefirst dayon which none

43

were.

seen was 25thof samemonth . Notonewas seen subsequently1n th1s year. Between these dates it was fairly abundant , and thiswas a year for a species tolinger rather than behurried in itscourses.

From twotothreeweeks usually averaged each brood’s days. Andonly by collecting in a seriesof localities (seven) could one calculateon working bellargus in second brood for fiveweeks round Brighton.

In theearliest locality it would beover (or more thanover) before itsappearance in the last. This refers toyears prior to1899, and toS . Downs. But in 1903, 1904 , 1905, 1906, a new experiencehasbeenone’

slot.

The dates for thesefour consecutiveyears (towhich 1907 isaddedsince readingof paper) are

‘ 1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

The days on which bellargus wason the w ing in these yearscovered over 22 per cent . , 18 per cent . , 30 per cent 24 per cent . ,27 per cent .of theseyearsrespectively .

Leaving theperiodsof emergence, etc. , and diverging tovariation1n special years— and taking in corydon as well— theobservation of1887 and 1888 , when I visited regularly twolocalities, I was firmlyconvinced that these twoyears showed as regards themselves as

follows1887 very hot, sunny, dry summer ; exaggeration of sexual

dimorphism , 8“

sbri lliant, 9 s noblue.

1888 : Late, wet, mostly wretched summer ; most of 9 s w ithbluetaken thissummer, and all the darkest 3‘ 8 taken previously to1904 wereof this year ’s capture. The comparison of long seriesofthesetwoyearsespeciallyof corydon,

taken in an endeavour toget allpossible variation, was most striking in themanner above indicated .

Possibly a further remarkor twoon other variation in imagoofcorydon w i ll not be quite useless, especially considering that, as

regardsthe difi'

erentiatlon of 9 of bellargus from corydon, there is, Ibelieve, nowritten description which precludesthepossibilityof errorin identification, however easily famiharity may enableonetoreadilydistinguish every individual .

In my former collection I had a corydon taken in last weekof July,1888 . Th isverbally (setosay) was indistinguishablefrom bellargusas

tocolour , shape, fr1nges, markingsof upper and under - sides, with alltheadm irableneatnessand cleanly marked detailof thelatter , exceptfor one character not, tomy knowledge, anywhere described as a

markof identification, 21 pramsof which character a series is shown.

Not that i t never fails, doesone suggest but sooften markedlypresent in corydon, it is, I think, finalwhen well -marked .

On themargins of thewings,on the undersides, where the darklinecutsofi‘

the fringes from the wing , and where the nervuresend

In thistableoneand thesamesinglelocality allthrough .

44

on this line, there is an increase of the thickness of this line and

each nervure at the junction in all the following Lycaenidsz—arg us

(aegon) astwflmche, i carus, bellargus, am’on.

In corydon—usually—this results in the wing rays terminatingin a longish triang lewith theapex well upon thewing rays, a triangleof thesamecolour astheground colour of thewing, therefore, in the

female, brownof some tint . Present in all wings , usually much lessmarked in the 3 than in the 9 ,

tending also less in 6‘ toany ex

aggeration, and, if unequally marked (except very rarely)on hindwing smore marked than on forewings °

in corydon on the average th ispresentsa great contrast tobellargus.

In bellamus, the sexual difference is merely less marked ; but

otherwisesimilar statement tothat i n re corydon holds good in muchlessdeg ree. Usually the increase from the little junction triangle isvery slight, and of colour of marginal line. Occasionally in 3

‘

bellarg us there is marked running of ground colou1° down w ing raysbetween the peacock spots .”

Asregards theother four species mentioned, except merely givingstatistics in tableshown, I let them entirely standover.

In comparing corydon and bellargus (by means of very limi tedstatistics)— (in 9Theforewing ing used for comparisonThe triangular markingon thediscof thisw ing being noted and

distinguished from merecircumferential thickening at theedgeWegetIn cmydon, A swell marked inIn bellargus,In corydon, A srather morethan slightIn bellargus,In corydon, A sslightor very slightIn bellmgus,Specimenof cmydon comparedand specimensof bellmgus compared

.

In corydon, the chief rangeof differences occurs in those classedaswell marked , 110outof 125.

In bellargus, thech ief rangeof difi'

erencessimilarly is in the131,

not paralleled by cor °

ydon butmuch less differenceof degree occursherethan in thewell marked corydon, which proportionately shouldbedifferentiated intomany classes.

Compared with thedifficultyof a verbal description discriminatingthesespecies in the female sex, and habitual (7 invariable) easy confidenceof thecorrectexpert , and unanimous agreement i f requiredofexperts , and compared w ith thefacileand early acquisition of this skillas regards these twoinsectswhose resemblance (much exploited in a

comparatively popular sense) is such a difiiculty to the beg inner, aridiculous contrast is afi

'orded by thelittle mentioned resemblanceof9sof i carusand bellargus in the case of really puzzling specimens ;and here—with these species—this test of the nervure- triangles (ifI may sodesignate them), strangely enough , may I think beexpectedtofail .

At this point one is reminded of one’s intention toclaim for

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46

of these exceptions seem tobe somewhat, at least , local in Kent 0 1:

Sussex as at all common,viz.

, thepale blue, very pale, and very darkblue.

And still left to be mentioned are the variationsof borders ofprimaries, thewhiteedgew ithin the fringe, the black spots tobindw ings, w ith and without white edges , and the rare, though slight,markings similarly toupperw ings. These and theamountof blackon nervures,onmargin, in fringes, transversely, longitudinally, and thedusky togrey and almost black fringes. Thelattermatters, relating i ttohylas, are all deserving, and needing, too , still a great amountof work .

And, finally,on theundersidesprobably noother English “Blueis more variableon underside, or more interesting as toamount ofsexual variation, and resemblance by variation in colour, thanbellargus.

Finally , to bring toa close these disjointed and rambling remarks,an apology is needed for their superficiality, whi ch would have beensomewhat mended but for their hurried concoction, owing tothisbeing nospecially prepared , noforeseen paper, which facts, I hope, w i llpartially justify theotfering of remarks , based, as youwill understand ,

on such ignoranceas leadsone toconsider such blues as corydon andaegon tobeallied much moreclosely than mostofour blues.

This arises ,of course, from aforesaid superficiality, which judgesfrom the imagines w ith undersidesshowing (1) sometimesor oftenblue studs in marginal spots of secondaries ; (2) tendency to

white nervures on discs ; (3) tendency for the g roundcolour torun

down nervures broadly tomargin, spreading therein a triang le—andw ith uppersides in 3

‘ with variation from a plain marginal line tow ings, through a row of spotsof varying sizes w ith and w i thoutvarying amount of white toa broad homogeneous black band—thew ing raysvarying from blue ground colour through varying amountof black pigment tomarked black wedges on upper wings; the blackdiscoidal spot sooften present in both , evenon hindw ingsIt must beallowed, however , that these points of resemblanceare

fairly closely confined to these species . Nevertheless, parallel arguments probably exaggerate alsothe nearness of z

'

carus and bellargusin relationship, through theclose parallelism of the 3 s (colouronly,and not toounreservedly excepted), and, indeed , also, only less soofS?s, and including the underside marking, where the “

nervuretriangle seldom is well marked , and increased chiefly (though , evenhere, rarely) in 8

‘ s by ground colour spreading between peacockspots .”Based entirely on points like these, one fully recognises the

superficiality of the argument ; but this feeling is, nevertheless,strong enough , in contrast with any appreciationof a close relationship between corydon and adam

’

s, to lead toone’s arrangements

placing argueand corydon alongside, and adonis and teams alongside,even though this should necessitate separating corydon and adom’

s

from juxta -position.

Tothese notes (and accidentally omitted from them when read)

(Also, aswell-known now , both hybernateinova ; a much less superficialresemblance, perhaps. October 2nd,

47

may be added tovariations common tocorydon and aegon, and not tofoam s and bellargus, an occasional aberration in aegon and corydon,

show ing a few black spots additional tothe d iscoidal spot on upperwing s , and, perhaps,

°

1n bothon hindwings,°

1n much same position as

in a ri .mz This is quite distinct , probably from the variation in

scal i ng allowing some reproduction of markings of undersidesonuppersides, probably most commonly in i carus.

A . Bm anons 01sWmo.First-brood , June2 toJuly 8 36 days lSecond brood, August 24 toOctober 9 47 days I 2236Of year .

(W ith interval47 days) Total 11?weeks.

1904F irst-brood , June6 toJuly 4 . 29days

Second brood , August 20 toSeptember 25 37 days(With interval46days) Total93) weeks.

1905First brood , May 27 toJuly 29 64 daysSecond brood , August 12 toSeptember 27 47 days(W ith interval14 days) Total159weeks.

First brood , May 29 toJuly 7 40 daysSecond brood , August 8 toSeptember 13 48 days

(W ith interval31 days) Total123weeks.

1907First- brood , May 26 toJuly 23 59 daysSecond brood, August 24 toOctober 13 51 days

added after . (W ith interval31 days) Total15?weeks.

Nnnvm -Tuw am or 9 m 811: Srncmsor Bums.

Nome° Smear VERY SMALL MARKED Goon Exczssrvs

A rg us (125) 1 15 51 45 13

Corydon (125) 4 11 39

Bellargus (146) 12 3

Icarus (155) 35 5

Astrarche 84) 20 1‘ An

'on 13)

asaswellas ? s.

48

DESIDERATA FOR THE SOCIETY ’

S CABINET.

LEPIDOPTERB .

1. In JIicros.—Many species are not represented by a single specimen, and in

only a few speciesistheseriescomplete.

2 . In Macros.—In the caseof nearly allraritiesonly a typeor noexample. Of

lessrarespeciesmarry speciesw illbear improvement.RHOPALOCERA .

—AII good specimens, w ith data, acceptable. New series speciallyrequiredof L . arion, H actaeon, and H aylvamu.

Harnaocnaa.—(South list,

C . Porcellus P. LeucopheaT. Apiformis M . AlbicolonT. Crabroniformis M . Furva

S . Scoli iformis A . ConnexaS . Spheg iiormis A . OphiogrammaS . Asiliformis C . Haworthi iS . Myopiformis C . AmbiguaS . Formiciformis A . CorticeaS . Ichneumoniformis A . C inerea

S . Chrysidi formis A . Bipae

N . Strigula A . AquilinaN . Albulalis A . Obelisca

N . Centonalis A . PraacoxN . Senex A . Obscura

N . Mundana A . AshworthuL . Muscerda N . Depuncta

L . Lutarella N . D itrapez iumL . Deplana M . Dahli i

E . Cribrum N . SobrinaH . Asella N . Castanea

D . Fascelina T. OrbonaT. C rataeg i A . Pyramidea

P. Populi P. Leucog raphaE . Lanestris P. HyperboreaB . Quercus T. PopuletiD . Furcula T. PulverulentaD . B ifida O. Suspecta

N . Trepida O. CroceagoN . Trimacula X . FulvagoC . Duplaris T. Betusa

C . Fluctuosa C . Pyralina

A . R idens D . Irregularis

A . Tridens D . TempliA . Leporina E . L ichenea

A . Aceris A . Nigra

A . Strigosa H . Adusta

A . L igustri H . GlaucaA . Auricoma H . DissimilisA . Menyanthidis H . ContiguaL . Obsoleta H . RectilineaL . Favicolor X . AreolaM . Flammea X . SociaS . Maritime C . Verbasci

T. Extrema C . Lychnitis

N . Neurica C . Asteris

N . Arundinis C . Absinthn

C . Lutesa C . ChamomillaH . Micacea H . TriplasiaL. Exigua P. InterrogationisN . Reticulata A . Melanopa

A . CordigeraH . PeltigeraE . Fasciana

T. Craccw

B . NothaB . C inctaria

D . Obfuscaria

G . PapilionariaP. Pustulata

T. Lactearia

Z. PorataZ. Annulata

Z. Orb icularia

A . Luteata

A . CandidataA . Sylvate

E . Obliterata

N . CambricaA . Ochrata

a smmmA . ContiguariaA . Dilutaria

A . HolosericataA . C ircellata

A . Marg inepunctataA . StraminataA hmmmmL m mA . Strig ilaria

A . DegenerariaC . RotundariaM . Alternata

M . L i turate

F. CarbonariaO. Filig rammaria

. M mmmAlchemillataTmniataMinorataConsignataPulchellata

PygmteataSubfulvata

PlumbeolataScab iosataHelveticariaH

H

H

H

H

H

H

MH

H

H

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”ATU RA LIS TS ;

And Manufactufers of

CABINETS 81 APPARATU SEntomology, Birds’ Eggs and Skins, and allBranchesof NaturalHistory

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A largestockof INSECTS BIRDS’ EGGS SKINS

B i rds, Mammals, etc. , Preserved~and Mounted by Fi rst-class Workmenw ith true naturalsurroundings.

A llBooks and Pub li c ationson Hah n 's! H istory S upp lied .

36, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. , Flve doors from Charing Cross.

Th e L a r g est

BUTTERFLY FARM IN ENGLAND.

OVA LARV /E é PU P/E111 great quantities all the year, the greater part WILD

collected or bred from WILD parents.LATE ST IH PROV EMENT — My breeding grounds are

now enclosed and walled in w ith fine mesh wire netting . Mylarvae in future (NOT SU BJECTTO ICHNEUMONS) willfeed on g row ing trees w ithout sleeves, and thus w illbeequalto WILD collected ones.

lMAGlNESThe very finest condition, setting unsurpassed, reliable

localities and dates.

BRITISH SPEC IE S ONLY DEL LT IN .

Pr ice List : or Quotat ion. fromL. w . NEWMAN,

BEXLEY , KENT.

W . LONG LEY ,

ENTOMOLOGICAL

C ab inet and Apparatus

Ma er ,'

W holesale tothe Trade.

Nets,'

Breeding Cages, and Apparatusof every description. Cabinetsfor Insects, Birds , Eggs, Minerals, Shells, Coins, etc. Pocket Boxes,StoreBoxes, and Book Boxes. Sheetsof Cork any size toorder .

Natural H istory A g ent and Bookseller.

Removed from STRAND, toSouth Benfleet , Essex .