298 THE entomologist's record. 



specimen was a very remarkable aberration, having a whitish-2:rey 

 ground-colour, speckled with dark grey and yellowish-umber. This 

 specimen I paired with a ^ Scotch 2\ bistortata, and kept for a week or 

 10 days in the hope of obtaining eggs, but none were laid, and I found 

 the abdomen of the now ruined specimen contained no ova, but only a 

 small quantity of fluid. 



Notes un Third Crossi's. — Before commencing my notes on the 

 3rd crosses it will be necessary to give a short account of the brood 

 of Scotch T. bistortata I reared in 1897. I received the ova from Mr. 

 Hewett early in May, 1897. Their size was — length -03 in., width -02 in. 

 They hatched on May 17th. On June 13th, I note that the larv^ are 

 growing rapidly, and agree with the Clevedon T, bistortata larvte in having 

 the A joined at apex. No moths emerged from this brood in 1897, 

 and I was only successful in breeding some 12 to 18 specimens (pro- 

 bably not more than one-third of the number of the adult larvae) last 

 spring. All of these proved to be (? s. They are mostly very dark, 

 and strongly marked, in comparison with the Clevedon examples. I do 

 not attach much importance to the moths all being males, as I had to 

 leave the larvaj, when nearly full-fed, for several days, and although I 

 left a good supply of food before starting, it probably dried up 

 in two or three days at latest. Upon my return, all the larva? but one 

 or two had gone down or dried up, and, in consequence, it is probable 

 that many of the $ larva? were starved, as they grow to a larger size, 

 and are somewhat more backward than the ^ s. 



I obtained nine pairings, in which one or both of the parents were 

 moths resulting from the 2nd crosses {ante pp. 217) : — 



Tnbreedinjj with parents of the same hybrid stock. — Four attempts (A^, 

 B2, C2, K^) with moths of L and K. All the females laid eggs, two 

 out of the four batches proved fertile (A- and K^). The larva? of 

 A^ died during my absence from home, but I reared a few larvte of 

 the other brood (K'^). These larva?, with hardly an exception, had 

 the A open, as with larva? of T. crepuscidaria. I found great difficulty 

 in obtaining food towards the end of October, and in consequence of 

 poor food most of the brood died before pupation. One moth (a male) 

 emerged on February IGth, 1898. It was of small size, IJ" in expanse, 

 ground colour pale grey, much speckled with dark brown, and show- 

 ing a decided tendency to the dark marginal band which forms such a 

 conspicuous feature in some specimens of the parent stock. 



Attempts to (Jross the First and Second Crosses. — Two attempts 

 (E,2 and D^) were made to obtain a cross between hybrid moths of the 

 1st and 2ud crosses, but in both cases the eggs were infertile. 



Notes on Third Cros.'ies. — An attempt [03] to cross a 3^ of 2nd cross 

 [L] with a ? ofthef-bred T. crepuscidaria [No. 02] was successful. 

 The ova measured '025 in. in length, and -0175 in width, but I lost 



