REVISION OF THE EUROPEAN ALUCITIDES. 251 



LyCiENiD.i:. — Thecla ilicis var. acaculi (?), Callo])hrijs riihi, Clirysn- 

 j)hantis dorilis, C. phlaeas gen. aestiv. eleus, Lampiiirs hoeticuH, L. 

 telicaniis, Plebeiiis arnns (?) and var. Corsica, Poli/oiiniiati(s baton, 

 P. antrarche gen. aestiv. calida {aestiva), P. icarns, I'. Injlas, L'ltjiiilo 

 )in'ninii(s (?), Cijaniris ari/iolitn. 



Hesperiid.e. — Hesperia sao var. thcrapne and IL alvciis. 



Revision of the European Alucitides. 



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



It is now some fourteen years since the MSS. of the rtcroji/iorina 

 (if Ihitaiu was written, and when this was done it was rather with the 

 idea of its being useful to the field lepidopterist than to the more 

 scientific zoologist. Many of the points there dealt with have since 

 been worked out in fuller detail ; a greater number of collectors of the 

 group has added largely to our knowledge of the distribution of the 

 species ; Dr. Chapman has shown that the group structurally has no 

 close connection with the Pyrales with which it has been linked ; but 

 of real scientific details, relating to the individual species, we are 

 almost as much in the dark as we were when the book was written. 



With the help of a number of our more scientific micro- 

 lepidopterists and general zoologists — Messrs. A. W. Bacot, E. R. 

 Bankes, B. A. Bower, J. H. ^Durrant, L. B. Prout, Dr. T. A. 

 Chapman, Lord Walsingham, and many others — I propose to revise 

 the whole group (h novo during the next twelve months. For this 

 purpose a large quantity of material in all the early stages is wanted. 

 A glance at Meyrick's Handbook, pp. 430-442, would suggest that 

 none of our British plumes laid eggs, and that few had pupae, whilst 

 even Fernald's excellent work {The Pterophoridae of North America) 

 does not touch these stages, and our own Pterophorina of Britain is 

 almost as illuminating on the ova of the species, so that here is our 

 first start. We want descriptions of almost all the ova of our British 

 plumes, or ova (newly-laid, if possible), for description. W^e say newly- 

 laid because they soon change colour. Those we have been able to 

 describe during the past few years are those of Ajidintis bcnnctii, 

 Kiicnemidophorus rhododactijlus, Plati/ptilia. (jonodactijla, (Xn/ptilus 

 teiicni, Marafiiiiarcha phaeodactijla, Oidematophorns Uthodactyla, 

 Leioptilus Ueniiiianiia, Aeiptilia r/alactodaetijla, A. tetradactijla, A. 

 haliodactijla, Mimacseoptilxs j)la;iiodactijli<s, and Aiiibli/ptilia acantlunJac- 

 tyla. Most of these descriptions have been made under difficult 

 circumstances, generally abroad, and without proper apparatus, and 

 none are so good that they could not be well duplicated ; but those 

 eggs of which no description is extant we would beg from our micro- 

 lepidopterists whenever they may get them. A living $ usually lays 

 freely ; a ? Ambhjptilia acanthi tdactijla, that partially recovered from 

 the effects of the ammonia on the setting-board, laid a small batch of 

 eggs ; Aeiptilia baliodactijla under similar conditions did likewise ; a 

 2 M. phacodacti/la often lays freely when confined in a pill-box, and 

 so do others. But although these are some of the methods of getting 

 eggs, the lepidopterist who will get an egg laid in situ on the foodplant 

 (either in nature or confinement) will be able to add some detail to our 

 knowledge on its " egglaying," which is wanted in almost every 

 species we have. 



It is well known that the peculiarities in the arrangement of the 



