1922.] 133 



entire brood is reared through, the sexes are equal in number, ahnost to 

 a motli. This I have proved over and over again. The number of 

 motlis reared from Mr. Onslow's broods seems to have been small, and I 

 can only suppose that there was considerable mortality among his larvae. 

 Disease often attacks the broods when the larvae are well grown, and as 

 the larvae of the females are so much bigger than those of the males, 

 and are longer in feeding up, the mortality is naturally much greater 

 among them. On p. 128 it is stated that " many of the families coming 

 from the strains obtained from Mr. Newman and Mr. Porritt showed an 

 increased development of black pigment, which is not apparent in the 

 families obtained from JStr. Kaynor's strain." This is easily accounted 

 fur in my case by the fact tliat in the strain from which I sent Mr. 

 Onslow tlie eggs, and which was from the tirst very dark, I had for 

 several years been tiying to obtain moths entii'ely black, and so had 

 selected each year the Idackest moths in both sexes for pairino-. 

 Eventually 1 did eliminate tlie white rays from practicallv all of the 

 male specimens, and also the white band from the fore wings of some of 

 them. Possibly Mr. Newman Iiad been trying to do the same tliino- 

 with his. On }). Vol a section of the paper is headed " Vars. Acfinota 

 and Leiccosfic/a."' There are no vars. actinota and leucosticta of 

 varleyata ! Mr. Eayuor, from having no knowledge of varleyafa in a 

 wild state, or for some other reason, aj^plied these names to two of the 

 most ordinary forms of the male varleyata, and, as a matter of fact, Mr. 

 Onslow's figures 8 and 9 on the plate accompanying his paper, labelled 

 leitcosiicta and actinota respectively, exactly represent two of the most 

 ordinary forms of the male varleyata, as it occurs wild in the gardens 

 here. The original description of varleyata (in Trans. Yorks. Nats. 

 Union, and not in Ent. Mo. Mag. as inferred b}^ Mr. Onslow) was made 

 from the female only, as I did not then know the male, and of c(jurse 

 had no suspicion that the variety would be sexually dimorphic, as it 

 afterwards proved to be. But to apply other names to the males of a 

 motli of which the female had already been named transgresses all the 

 accepted laws of entomological nomenclatiu-e. One might just as 

 reasonably give different names to all the males of the vast number of 

 moths in which the sexes differ in colour or markings. These names of 

 Raynor's are totally invalid, as are also those he has applied to the 

 different forms of the female of varleyata (including a new name for 

 the type form!). These names of the female Mr. Onslow has \eYj 

 properly ignored, though he gives good figures of several of the forms 

 on his plate. The confusion caused by such naming as tlris is well 



