218 THE entomologist's record. 



of nutritious food. I may add, for comparison, that my southern 

 specimens vary in size from 47mm. (two or three) to 39mm. (one), 

 the average being about -iSram. or ■i4mm. ; the smallest is a cap- 

 tured one, and the largest are bred, this species being one that tends 

 to outgrow its normal size when reared in captivity. My northern 

 examples (captured) range from not quite 44mm. (one) to 38mm., 

 with an average measurement of about 41mm. 



The so-called " typical " 74 correspond pretty closely to the general 

 range of forms which we get in the South of England, and subdivide, 

 roughly, into two groups, without that there can be said to be such 

 a clear line of demarcation as there is between the " typical " and the 

 " ('(/rf/.s/i " series. About 43 are more or less pale or pale reddish - 

 tinted, the " clay-coloured " series of Mr. Adkin's interesting paper 

 {Proc. South Loud. Knt. Soc, 1890-91, p. 150) or ab. aiheijiia, Tr.+ 

 palUda, Tutt ; the remainder (about 31) incline to be darker and 

 greyer, often without any reddish tint, and form the ab. t/risca, Tutt, 

 with its sub-aberration, nifii-fjrisro. The atlsniiia-pallida series are on 

 the whole a trifle lighter than the average of those which we get in 

 the South of England, and probably correspond with ]Mr. J. A. Clark's 

 "group A" {E))ti»ii., xxii., p. 145, pi. vi., figs. Al and A2). They 

 vary a good deal in the intensity of their markings, very few (not 

 more than six or eight) having them weak enough to constitute true 

 ab. a(he(jna, Tr. (" without any distinct markings ") — a phase of 

 variation by no means infrequent in our southern examples. On the 

 other hand, quite a good percentage have the stigmata very con- 

 spicuous, even the orl)icular being considerably darker than the 

 ground colour, usually dark reddish. The last-named peculiarity 

 is, according to Mr. Barrett {Lfi}i. llrit., iv., p. 16), somewhat 

 characteristic of northern forms of the species. It is certainly, in my 

 experience, rare in the south, for, in my long, picked series, I have only 

 three specimens in which the orbicular is filled in with a darker shade 

 than the ground colour, and even they are rather darkish specimens, 

 so that the contrast is by no means so sharp as in these pale Forres 

 examples. I may add here that several of the " //mcr/ " series also 

 have darkened stigmata, so that the total percentage of the "typicals" 

 which are thus characterised reaches about 40 per cent., though, if we 

 reckoned it for the '' jiallida " section alone, it would be nearer 50 per 

 cent. In the " n(rtisii " forms there is never the slightest tendency 

 to a darkening of the stigmata ; they are usually exactly coneolorous 

 with the ground of the wings — though well-defined on account of 

 their pale margins — occasionally, even, they are a trifle lighter than 

 adjacent areas of the ground colour. 



The 93 of the curfixii series show a good deal of colour variation, 

 although the shades run from one into another. They commence 

 with a fine rich dark red form, nearly uniform in colouring through- 

 out the Aving, with very little actual admixture of black, and corre- 

 sponding with Mr. Clark's figure, Cl {loc. cit.). There are only some 

 half-dozen of quite this form, but about 20 others have the red hue 

 decidedly in the ascendant. Then follow 11 Avhich are more mixed 

 with black, especially towards the inner margin, and which may be 

 compared with Mr. Clark's C2. The next development is to a nearly 

 unicolorous dark brown or red-brown, shading off quite gradually into 

 the extremes which 1 call ab. ni[/n'stiii.s, Tutt. I am disposed to 



