42 [February, 



(1) The ground-colour of the fore-wing of ferruginella is black, 

 tinged with violet, while that of croc i cap it el hi is blactish-fuscous, and is 

 much more flecked with pale ochreous ; 



(2) In ferrnginena the dorsal streak is rather pale ochreous, 

 whereas, in crocica pitella it is whitish-ochreous ; 



(3) The silky hind-wing oi ferrugineUa is purplish fuscous in the 

 male, dark purplish-, or violet- fuscous in the female, whereas the satiny 

 hind- wing of crocicapiteUa is whitish grey in the male, and pale grey 

 in the female ; 



(4) The cilia of all the wings are very much darker in ferruginella 

 than in crocicapitella. 



In his unpublished notes, prepared in 1893-1894, which Mr. 

 Richardson has most kindly lent me — together with some interesting 

 letters received from Hering and others about these species — he 

 remarks that " loinbardica'' (i.e. crocica pit eUa) varies in size far more 

 tha,u ferruginella, and gives certain details bearing out his statement: 

 this is further confirmed by the measiu-ements of the largest and the 

 smallest of the many British individuals of both species in my col- 

 lection. Of crocicapitella, my largest specimen ( $ , Bristol) expands 

 17' 5 mm., while the smallest (rj. King's Lynn) expands 9 mm., 

 whereas, oi ferruginella, the exj). at. of my largest exponent ( ? , Ware- 

 ham) is 15 mm., and of the smallest ( i^ .Wareham) is 11 mm. In both 

 insects the males are markedly smaller than the females. Mr. Richard- 

 son ascertained, by a series of careful measurements, that there is a 

 good deal of variation in the shape of the wing in both species, but 

 no appreciable difference between them in this respect. 



In Ent. Mo. Mag. {I.e.) Mr. Richardson says that "heringV (i.e. 

 crocicapitella) is found in Portland in June (end), July, and August 

 (part), but that his only autumn capture was made on October 7th, 

 1887. My Portland examples were secured in July and early August, 

 and my Cornish one towards the end of August, but in S. Devon I 

 have taken it rarely in Augitst and September, and on three occasions 

 in October, viz., lO/x/04, lO/x/06, and I7/x/02, and it is particularly 

 mentioned in my diaries that these three October individuals were in 

 either "fine" or "good" condition. Fern/j/me/k has been recorded 

 as double-brooded by Stainton and other authors, and the autumn 

 captures of crocicapitella afford evidence that it has also a second 

 brood, partial if not complete, in some of its haunts; in this connection 

 it is interesting to note that Major Hering (in litt. 18/i/93) informed 

 Mr. Richardson that on the Continent " lombardica" (i.e. crocicapitella) 



