<g*^ ^^r> ^'^^ 



JOURNAL OF VARIATION. 



No. 6. Vol. I. September I5th, 1890. 



THE GENUS ACRONYCTA AND ITS ALLIES. 



By Dr. T. A. CHAPMAN. 



{Continued from page 84.) 



\CRONyCTA {Vimi7iia) inenyanthidis. — This species 

 is one of my oldest and most familiar acquaintances. 

 In the West of Scotland I used to meet with the 

 larva freely in all moorland districts ; I have also 

 found it in the North of Scotland, in Wales (north), and in the 

 West of Ireland. It occurs, too, in the North-east of Scotland 

 and on the moors of Lancashire and Yorkshire, but I do not 

 think it is found in the Scotch Lowlands or at all in the South 

 of England. Like all the species of Viminia, it is by no means 

 particular as to its food : it certainly has a preference for 

 Calluna and Myrica, but will eat various grasses and rushes, 

 sallow, bramble, etc., and after, if indeed after, riimicis, it is 

 the most omnivorous of the group. Riimicis prefers, perhaps, 

 bramble and sallow to anything else. Myricce prefers ling, but 

 will eat various low plants, such as ragwort, plantain, etc., and 

 is partial to wild-rose. Anricoua affects bramble and rasp- 

 berry, whilst venosa is more restricted to reed, Poa aguatica., 

 and other marsh grasses. Several Continental species of this 

 group {Vimijiia), and its outliers, Clidia geograpJiica, Simyra 

 nervosa, etc., feed on species of Euphorbia, but this habit does 

 not occur in any of our British species. 



The eggs are laid in the typical manner in batches of 20 to 

 100, closely imbricated, each egg being overlaid by three others. 

 They are flat with about 50 ribs, slightly waved or crenulated ; 

 the secondary or transverse ribs, so marked in most Nocture 



