RETROSPECT OF A LEPIDOPTERIST. 8 



rauiola, amounting, in some cases, to many dozens. Mr. Prout was 

 also fortunate in obtaining L. alhipwirta, ('. anibii/ua and L. ('.vvjuo. 

 The capture of Xonaijria ncurica and Lcneonia ohsolcta at Benfleet is 

 interesting ; whilst a specimen of Lcucania unipunrta (citranca) is 

 recorded from Carnarvonshire. Plusia iimncta may now be taken, at least 

 in our southern counties, wherever its food-plants grow, and is scarcely 

 worthy of mention. In Cornwall, Mr. Ficklin has recorded a new 

 form of Lupcrina lutcai/o, for which we would suggest the name 

 firklini, n.ab. Mr. Woodforde is also reported to have taken yet 

 another form of the species in Wales. Mr. Barrett refers an aberra- 

 tion of the almost polymorphic Crt/iiindi's exulis, from the Shetlands, to 

 niaillanii, an Alpine insect, that Htaudinger long ago considered as 

 probably not specifically distinct from C. e.ndia. Catocala nnpta ab. 

 racndcsrt'us has again been bred, this time from a larva taken at 

 l>rondesbury. Kpumc paralldaria (iv.s/>('/-<ar/fl), restricted in England 

 to Yorks and Hants (and with a single record from Waltham Cross), 

 was obtained (several specimens) by Salvage, in 1892, in Sutherland- 

 shire. This year it has been recorded from Hawick. My observa- 

 tions on this local insect, which is widely distributed in the Alps of 

 Central Europe, lead me to suppose that it has a much wider range 

 in this country than has hitherto been suspected. The interesting 

 melanic specimens of I'/iii/alla pedaria, bred by Mr. Butterfield, the 

 capture of Amphidaxija hetularia ab. doidjledcujaria, in London, by 

 Mr. A. Mera, and the extensive take of aberrations of Abra.rax idniata, 

 in Yorkshire, are also noteworthy. Mr. Christy, I may mention, has 

 taken, in Scotland, an interesting lot of Oporabias that may prove to 

 be (>, addcndaria. Among the smaller fry. Dr. Chapman records 

 Nt'pJioptcri/.r ho.stilis and Lit/torollctis distoitrlla from Wyre Forest ; ]\Ir. 

 Bower, TAtluicdllctlx ccrasicoldla and Coli'ophdi-a potcntillac, from' Kent, 

 and Mr. Richard, Ochsenhciiiun-ia vaciddla from Brockley. 



Our Micro-Lepidopterists do so much, that it is well not to over- 

 look what they do. Mr. Bankes telescopes the unique T. mclnjUdMa 

 into T. rurUohila : the same gentleman has also worked out the 

 distribution of Gelirhia supjicliella, has described the larva and pupa of 

 Depressaria pidcherriniAln, and published the life-history of AnetoUiia 

 tetraf/oudla. Lord Walsingham shows that Plutdla r rue [far arum 

 ought to be called Ccrostoina iiiacidipennis : he also thinks that Mr. 

 Hamm, at Reading, and Mr. Evans, in the Pentland Hills, have 

 obtained cases of a new Sulenobia. Mr. Durrant has re-christened 

 ant/ii/llidiUa — Aprmwnna ; he also thinks that the Stilcmildac, in the 

 Doubloday collection, are S. wochii, or anew species ; he further finds 

 the unique specimen of Cliah/hr (EtJiowia) jii/rausta to be correctly 

 named. This, I think is all. 



Considerable interest has been aroused in the matter of 'icphmsia 

 histortata and T. crcpuscularia by the experimental work of Dr. Riding 

 and Mr. Bacot, who have obtained hybrids from reciprocal cross pairings 

 of these species. A summary of the results exhibited by the various 

 broods will, I believe, appear in due course in the Trana. Knt. Soc. 

 London. Mr. Merrifield has completed some temperature experiments, 

 and Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher is still continuing his enquiries into the 

 hybridisation of the Zygacnids. I cannot help asking Mr. Fletcher 

 to publish, preferably, of course, in the F.ntom. Urcord, his conclusions, 

 so far as they have reached, both with regard to the Zygaenids, and 



