LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA PECULIAR TO THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 113 



List of Species, Varieties, and Aberrations of Lepidoptera so far 

 only recorded from the Britisii Islands. 



By J. W. TUTT. F.E.S. 



A request fi'om Dr. A. K. Wallace, for a list of the various forms 

 of the lepidoptera peculiar to our islands, for the new edition of hland Life, 

 was not to be refused lightly, in spite of my being already overwhelmed 

 with work. The sight of a " revised" copy of that in the preceding 

 edition, made it appear desirable to get out an entirely new one, and a 

 considerable search through the current literature resulted in a some- 

 what extensive compilation, so extensive that the exigencies of space in 

 Island Life made it necessary to select only the most striking forms, to 

 drop the notes which, to the lepidopterist, would make such a list 

 interesting, and to simply print a partial and denuded section of it, in the 

 work in question. The fact that one is continuously being questioned as 

 to these forms by the latest additions to our ranks, and also the neces- 

 sity of having such a list for the criticism of continental lepidopterists 

 (many of the forms now only recorded from Britain having possibly a 

 wide continental distribution) led me to suggest the publication of the 

 list in the Knt. lU'curd, a course of action that has met entirely with 

 Dr. Wallace's approval. There are almost certain to be many sins of 

 commission and omission in such a list, and we should be glad to have 

 notice of any errors that may be detected. 



PAPILIONIDES.— Thymelicus lineola ab. pallida, Tutt. — A 

 pale straw-coloured aberration, found Qccasionally in both sexes. Flies 

 with the type. 



Chrysophanus dispar, Haw. — This beautiful insect, formerly locally 

 abundant in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, but 

 now extinct, probably owing to extensive drainage, although its food- 

 plant still grows in its old haunts, is peculiar to l)ritain as a local 

 form. It is a large, brightly marked race of a widely distributed species 

 known as C. var. rntilm on the continent of Europe, and ( '. var. 

 anratm in Amurland. The specimens from Bordeaux and the Pontine 

 Marshes are said to closely approach the British form, and Bethune- 

 Baker has asserted that he has undoubted British <J. dispar in- 

 distinguishable from the continental var. rntilus. On the whole, 

 however, the British race is abundantly distinct and characteristic. 



POLYOMMATUS BELLARGUS AB. PALLIDA,' TuTT. A pale blue fomi of 



the male, lavender-tinted, and much more nearly resembling /'. icanis 

 than typical /^. hdlariinn. Only recorded at present from Kent, where 

 it flies with the type. P. ab. nigra, Ckll. (suffusa, Tutt). — A dark 

 leaden-blue form of the male, only recorded from Kent, where it has 

 been captured with the type. 



P. ICARUS ab. CLARA, TuTT. — A large bright blue form of the male, 

 approaching that sex of P. hellari/iis. The fringes distinctly marked 

 with black dashes (often extending half-way through them). The 

 female also larger and usually well-marked with blue scales. On the 

 underside the spotting is frequently restricted. The normal form in 

 western Ireland and in some parts of Scotland, much rarer in England, 

 where it occurs only as an occasional aberration. 



P. astrarcheab.salmacis,Stphs.--A form intermediate between typical 

 south English P. astrarehe and its var. artaxerxes. It has the central 

 spot of the forewings on the upperside ringed more or less distinctly 



]May 15th, 1902.' 



