1903.] 29 



and E. osculntorius, on flowers. Mr. Adams f^ave mo EphiaJtes car- 

 honnrius, Perlthous divinator, QSdemopxis {Phytodictus) scnhriculus, 

 Bassus liBtaforius, iind two fine Xj/lojiomus pra-catorius from hi« garden. 

 Lissonota bellntor occurred on flerncJcitrn ; Pimpln instif/ator at 

 Brockenhurst with Gh/pta flavolincntn ; Pimpla flavonotata in Denny 

 Wood, and P. oculatoria at Lymington. 



Ipswich : 1902. 



THE BRITISH SPECIES OF THE GENUS OPORABIA, Steph. 

 BY LOUIS B. PROUT, F.E.S. 



Probably so much lias been written on this troublesome genus (Scot. Nat., iv., 

 pp. ILl-llG; Rnt. Rec, ix, ;)«««;» ; Ent., sxxiii, pp. 53-56, xxxiv, pp. 43-45; 

 Trans. City Lond. Ent. Soc, ix, pp. 42-52, &c.) that Mr. Barrett did not find time 

 to wade through it ; at any rate, his remarks in the latest part of his book (Lep. 

 Brit., viii, pp. 377, et seq.) show that he is not altogether clear upon the differentia- 

 tion of the species, so it is perhaps worth while to call attention to one or two 

 slipi he has made. 



On pp 378-9, the type form of O. autiimnata (Bkh.), Gn., Stgr.-Rebel, No. 

 3381, with " the ground colour exquisite silvery-white," &c., is referred to as a 

 " beautiful local race " of 0. dilutata (Stgr.-Rebel, No. 3380) ; but the form in 

 question (from Enniskillen,&c.) is well known to belong to the quite distinct species 

 O.Ji!i(jrcimmaria,'Bavrett, pro parte (=Stgr.-Eebel, No. 3381), and one wonders 

 that Mr. Barrett has not heard of Mr. J. E. R. Allen's work in breeding it, crossing 

 it with the Bolton O. filigrammaria, &c. ; I have examined all Col. Partridge's and 

 Lieut. Brown's material, as well as Mr. Allen's from the same place, so am not writing 

 at random. What the insect is Mr. Barrett has taken at Norwich in company with 

 typical dilutata, I have not yet ascertained, but shall hope to do so on an eai'ly op- 

 portunity ; I have never yet seen 0. autuynnata ov filicjrammaria from the south or 

 east of England. 



As to 0. approximaria, Weaver, I have not seen Mr. Kenneth J. Morton's 

 specimens whicli are referred here, but Weaver's types are now in Mr. Sydney 

 Webb's collection, and I have thoroughly studied them ; they ai'e a slightly smaller 

 and darker race of the endlessly variable 0. autumnata, Bkh. (? = filigrammaria). 

 Mr. F. N. Pierce's " approximaria" was misnamed by Gregson, and was simply a 

 dwarfed 0. dilutata. 



Regarding the distribution of 0. dilutata, Mr. Barrett (p. 381, tnm. cit.) gives 

 it a very wide range, but its nearctic representative appears to be cither a different 

 species or 0. autuhinata, evidently not dilutata. Also in Arctic Europe, my material 

 and researches show that autumnata is the chief representative of the genus. 



Our only other structurally valid species is, as Mr. Barrett points out (p. 377), 

 the one which he calls filigraminaria, H.-S., but of which I have been speaking above 

 under its prior name of atitumnata, Bkh. (Stgr.-Rebel, No. 3381) ; but Mr. Barrett 

 does not make it clear that this interesting insect splits up into two very distinet 

 races or subspecies, the large, tree-feeding type form, autumnata, Bkh., Gn., and the 



