45 



colour and very dark brown to black transverse bars. (4) Forms 

 with red-brown ground colour and black transverse bars. (5) 

 Forms with red-brown ground colour and darker hind-marginal 

 area. (6) Forms devoid, or almost devoid, of markings, ranging 

 in ground colour from smoky dark brown to orange-brown, and 

 including one very pale cream-coloured example (Mr. S. Gordon- 

 Smith, who was collecting with me, took two or three more of these 

 very pale forms). (7) Pale forms, with orange or yellow transverse 

 bars. 



" The females shown are typical, and I have for comparison 

 four of ]\Ir. Bowman's smoky forms from Epping Forest. I think 

 I am pretty safe in saying that this particular form does not occur 

 in the part of Delamere Forest worked by Mr. Smith and myself. 

 Our darkest form appears to be found in the darker unicolorous 

 examples, and this has no dark suffusion of the hindwings such as 

 is seen in the Epping Forest dark form. 



" Lastly, I come to //. aHmntiaria. This is, perhaps, less often 

 met with than any other members of the genus in the daytime. It 

 was a good deal later than H. defoUaria with us, being at its 

 commonest towards the end of November, when H. defoUaria 

 was falling oft" in numbers. When it did come out fully it was, 

 if anything, even more abundant than its relative. I remember 

 one cold night, November 10th, just as we were getting along 

 nicely, every moth suddenly disappeared — not one to be seen any- 

 where. We then discovered we were slipping about on ice. One 

 wondered what became of all the moths. On another occasion 

 I found a small patch of grass alive with males of H. aiiran- 

 tiaria. After searching for the cause of this assemblage, a female 

 was discovered sitting on a grass-stem. A few minutes later, on 

 coming back to the spot, I found the successful suitor in 

 possession. 



" One was pleased to find H. aurantiaria in such numbers, as 

 Day's List for Cheshire says : ' Local and apparently rather scarce 

 . . . . Delamere Forest, local and not common.' 



" The series I have with me from Delamere shows ; (1) Forms 

 almost without markings ; (2) Forms with heavily-marked trans- 

 verse lines ; (3) Form largely suffused with leaden scales ; (4) Forms 

 with darker hind-marginal area. 



" The ground colour varies considerably, some being of a rich 

 orange. The size is variable also, one specimen in my box being 

 exceptionally large." 



