(JEOMETKA PAPILIONARIA, I.INn6. 201 



verse stripes without indicating that the basal is more rudimentary 

 than the others, so perhaps his name /ir(isinaria may stand for the 

 more strongly marked form." 



Linne's collection is now in London, in the care of the Linnean 

 Society, at Burlington House. I have carefully examined the four 

 specimens which are in his cabinet. Of these, two are very ancient, 

 the others appear to be of a later date, and have possibly been introduced 

 into the collection since Linne's day. Of the ancient pair, the first is 

 so evidently the older, that it may well be the very specimen from which 

 he wrote his original description. It is unset, and so faded that it has 

 no trace of green remaining, and no markings are to be discovered. 

 The second, whose body has been devoured by mites, shows possibly 

 the two outer lines, but the base of the wing is too much faded to show 

 whether the basal line ever existed. 



Staudinger and Rebel give {Catahui, 8rd ed., p. 261) herhaccaria, 

 Menetries {Bull. Ac, xvii., p. 112) as a questionable synonym, or 

 even aberration of papilionaria, with the concise description — " ab. al. 

 non albo-signatis." Menetries [Schyeiick's Reisen, iin Amur Lande, 

 ii., pt. i., p. 66 (1859)] describes this form as smaller than G. 

 paiiilionaria, the forewings shorter, and more rounded at the apex, and 

 as differing also in the structure of its palpi. Staudinger, however, in 

 his paper on the " Geometridffi of Amurland " {Iris, vol. x., p. 4), says 

 that he has obtained G . papilionaria commonly from that country and 

 suspects that Menetries' herbacearia, which was founded upon a single 

 specimen, must have been a somewhat wasted aberration of the same, 

 lacking the usual white markings. So far as I know, these are the 

 only forms of the insect under review, which have received varietal 

 names, and I have set myself the task of enquiring, from as many 

 collectors as I could manage to approach, whether these, and any other 

 forms, are taken in Britain. To those who have replied to my enquiries, 

 I tender most hearty thanks, their assistance enabling me to understand 

 better the different forms assumed by this insect. 



1. Commencing with Linne's type, we have a form in which, on the 

 forewing, the basal line is indistinct, incomplete, or even absent. The 

 second line is composed of crescents, placed between the nervures, and 

 often increasingin width to the space between the snbmedian and median, 

 the crescents so placed being most conspicuous and persistent. The 

 third, or subterminal line, is made up of pale spots or blotches, between 

 the nervures, varying much in size, from mere specks to distinct dots, 

 forming a series from the costa almost to the hind-margin. The hind- 

 wing has the two transverse lines corresponding to the principal lines 

 on the forewing. All the lines present in this form are more or less 

 indistinct. 



2. Ab. prasinariii, Hufn. — This must not be confounded with 

 prasina, Butler, which is placed next to papili(niaria in the general 

 collection at the British Museum. We may safely assume from 

 Hufnagel's own description, that this name belongs to those specimens 

 in which all three transverse lines on the forewings, and the two on 

 the hindwings, are quite distinct, although, of course, still more or less 

 made up of dots or crescents. There is a magnificent specimen of this 

 form in the general collection at the British Museum, from Tokio, and 

 strongly marked specimens are not infrequently taken with us. 



3. Ah. herbacearia. Menet.- -After reading Staudinger's remarks 



