PERONEA CRISTANA, FAB., AND ITS ABERRATIONS. 227 



Peronea cristana, Fab., and its aberrations (irith plate). 



By J. A. CLARK, F.E.S. 



There are few genera more interesting than that of L^emnea, and 

 no species therein more atti'active than P. cristana. Stephens, Curtis, 

 Desvignes and others have studied the Peroneas somewhat closely and 

 each of these authors has written at length about them. The 

 members of the genus are known popularly as "buttons" owing to 

 the little tuft of scales Avhich is such a prominent feature of the central 

 area of the forewings. These early authors were not at all clear as to 

 which of the forms were entitled to specific, and which simply to 

 varietal, rank, but there can be no doubt that Curtis' and Stephens' 

 excellent summarised descriptions of the various forms {Brit. Knt., 

 2nd edition, pi. xvi., expl. and lllns. Hanst., iv., pp. 148 et ■sc*/.), and 

 Desvignes' paper in the Xooloiiii^t (vol. iii., pp. 841 et se(j.) are much 

 more worthy of the name of science than are the bare diagnoses of 

 Meyrick and Stainton in which the multitude of forms belonging to 

 a single polymorphic species is included in a description that practi- 

 cally gives no real clue to the endless variation exhibited by the 

 species. 



Peronea cristana, owing to its great range of variation, has always 

 had a great fascination for me, and, during the last few years, I have, 

 whenever opportunity has ottered, collected the most varied series 

 possible of this interesting species. Little, indeed, seems to be known 

 of its life-history. Like myself, many have bred odd examples of the 

 species, the larva^ having been obtained by general beating, and 

 without actual knowledge of the species, until after pupation had taken 

 place and the imagines had emerged. My recollection of the larvae is 

 that they have been brownish-green in colour, and I believe that 

 they feed on the lichen growing on whitethorn, but the authorities, 

 such as they are, appear to be against me. Wilkinson notes (British 

 Tortriees, p. 174) : " The larva is unknown, although the insect has 

 in one or two instances been bred promiscuously from whitethorn," 

 an experience very similar to mine. ]\Ieyrick states (Hamlhook, &c., 

 p. 521): "The larva on rose and hawthorn, June and July." 

 Merrin says {Calendar, p. 115) : " Dwarf sallows and hawthorn 

 between united leaves." Sorhagen says(/^/6' KleinscJimett., &c., p. 64) : 

 " Die Raupe, 6-7 (June and July) in den Herzl:)lattern von Prunus 

 sjiiiiosa, Salix caprea, Uliiiiis, Carpinns ; dringt auch in die Stengel- 

 spitzen." One is rather astonished at Sorhagen's list of food-plants, 

 and would be inclined to suggest, were it not for the general well- 

 known accuracy of this author, that some of the references were 

 possibly to other species of Peronea, of which, however, it must be 

 confessed, there is not the slightest evidence. I have repeatedly tried 

 to obtain ova in the autumn, but have never been successful. I had 

 long supposed that the imagines hybernated, and Mr. Tutt tells me 

 that Frey says {Lep. Schweiz, p. 281) : " Falter im tiefsten 

 Spiitherbste und nach der Ueberwinterung im Friihling." Merrin 

 states that the imagines are found from September to November, but 

 says nothing of their re-occurrence in spring. The imagines may be 

 taken freely during September and October in the New Forest, the 

 Warren at Folkestone, and Fpping Forest in secluded spots where there 

 are plenty of old whitetliorns coviM'od with lichens. Stephens, Curtis, 

 July 25th, 1901. 



