88 THE entomologist's record. 



8^ guineas for the unique ab. diftoniana, lot 330 in Greene's sale. 

 The next best price is £6 10s., given for ab. chalcobares, and also for 

 ab. niyrolntea and ab. nielanozona, all at my own sale. 



The cataloguing of the "Maddison" sale specimens left a good deal 

 to be desired, many of the chalcozona, hazelei(/liensis, etc., not being true 

 representatives of those forms, whilst albouiarc/inata certainly had not 

 white margins, snbviolacea and semiriolacea were only faintly tinted 

 with dull brown, euneata (at present only a MSS. name) were without 

 the distinguishing wedge-shaped marks, and lacticolor^jiavo- 

 fasciata, was made distinct from it. I have thought it best to state 

 these facts quite plainly, as otherwise your readers, who did not attend 

 the sale, might infer a great slump in the prices. There was a fall in 

 the prices of Incticolor and varlcijata, with which forms many of the 

 better collections are now supplied, but good specimens of either seem 

 to be still worth about half a sovereign apiece. This may be taken as 

 the present value of varleyaia, which is fairly constant in markings, 

 but lacticolor being itself liable to extraordinary variation, it is only 

 the usual form of. it that is to be estimated at this figure. The 

 specimens, as a rule, were in good condition, and the bidding was 

 sufficiently brisk, notwithstanding the absence of several well-known 

 buyers. 



Arctia caia ab. clarki, n. ab. {nith plate). 



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



Just before the death of the late Mr. J. A. Clark, he expressed a 

 very strong desire to have an aberration of Arctia caia, bred by 

 Salvage of Hailsham, described and figured. Accordingly, Miss H. S. 

 Clark made a drawing thereof, which we have reproduced, and which 

 we publish herewith. 



The specimen is figured life-size, the forewings of a deep chocolate- 

 brown, with only the faintest traces of the usual creamy-white markings. 

 Carefully as the figure has been reproduced, it yet shows rather too 

 prominently the paler markings of the forewings. The hindwings are 

 of a yellow ground colour, the black spots easily traceable, but modified 

 by a dark suffusion that covers all the centre of the wing, leaving only 

 the marginal areas of the yellow ground colour. The thorax is of the 

 same colour as the forewings, the bases of the front legs, and the 

 abdomen red, the latter with the usual transverse black bands. 



For this peculiar aberration, we have chosen the name clarki, in 

 memory of an entomologist who was exceedingly interested in the 

 aberrational forms of this (and other) species. 



The Genitalia of the British Noctuidae^ {u-ith plate). 

 Mr. Pierce has so long held a leading position among British lepi- 

 dopterists as a student of the male ancillary appendages of British 

 lepidoptera, that this long-expected volume will be most welcome to 

 his confreres. As a first exposition of these structures in relation to a 

 whole family of British lepidoptera, it makes a landmark in the 

 advance of a more complete study of our British lepidoptera. Mr. 



• " The Genitalia of the British Noctuidae," by F. N. Pierce, F.E.S. , pp. xii. 

 -f-88, pis. xxxii. [Published by A. \Y. Duncan, Liverpool. Price 7s. 6d.] 



