58 THE entomologist's record. 



Nhnbella is a decidedly variable species both in colour, size, and 

 markings, — -several different forms being sometimes bred together from 

 the very same batch of larvae — and the specimens which occur in 

 Britain seem for the most part either to be, or to approach the variety 

 saxkola, or else to be intermediate between that and the type. 

 Although I have not seen the original specimens of nimbella in the 

 late Professor Zeller's collection, I have been fortunate enough to see 

 those from which Mr. Howard Vaughan described saxkola, but failed 

 to find any reliable distinction between them and nhnbella. 



It is very surprising that in^the published notices oi saxicola we find 

 no full and careful comparison between it and nimbella, and no attempt 

 10 differentiate them satisfactorily. In his original description of 

 saxicola in Ent. Mo. Mag., vii., p. 132, Mr. Howard Vaughan merely 

 says : "This species is closely allied to H. nimbella," a.r\d then proceeds 

 to separate it from senecionis {}), whilst in Mr. J. H. Leech's British 

 Fyralides we only read " This species differs from nimbella in the 

 longer and narrower fore-wings, the costal streak, and the more con- 

 spicuous longitudinal white lines," — all of which characters, it may be 

 observed, differ considerably in individual specimens of Himbella. It 

 should be noticed that in Stainton's Manual, ii., p. 169, the expanse of 

 nimbella is given as 7-8 lines, which is the exact size of saxicola as given 

 by Mr. H, Vaughan ; the insect therefore, as a general rule, runs rather 

 larger in all its varieties in Britain than on the Continent. 



The foodplants of nimbella and saxicola are the same, and to the 

 best of my belief no real differences have ever been shown to exist 

 between the larvte ; in fact, the only description (if it may be so called) 

 of the larva oi saxicola which I can find, is in E.M.M., vi'., p. 132, 

 where Mr. Howard Vaughan says : " The larva, as well as I can 

 remember, was short, obese, and greenish, with darker blotches on the 

 back " ; and this would of course apply equally well to the larva of 

 nimbella. 



I certainly know of no reliable specific distinctions between the perfect 

 insects, but if anyone can show any such to exist between nimbella and 

 saxicola in either or both stages, he will do good service by making 

 them known ; till then, however, there seems to be no reason for 

 refusing to accept the conclusion arrived at by Mons. Ragonot that they 

 are merely different forms of the same species. — Eustace R. Bankes, 

 The Rectory, Corfe Castle. April ^th, 1891. 



Arctia lubricipeda vars. — It is stated that between i860 and 1870, 

 vars. of A. lubricipeda in which the dots tended to form longitudinal 

 lines, only occurred in a timber yard which has since been destroyed. 

 From my own knowledge I cannot prove or refute this statement, it 

 is too far back for me ; but my friend, Mr. Jackson, tells me that long 

 before this date he took it in gardens, timber yards, etc., pretty well all 

 round York. The variety is by no means common. At a rough guess 

 I should say that it averages about one var. in every hundred, although 

 in some years it varies much more than others ; last year was excep- 

 tionally bad. 1 have never heard of the true var. radiata as figured 

 in the Entomologist for August, 1874, p. 169, having been taken at 

 York. — G. C. Dennis, Tower Street, York. 



Variation ok Catoptria ulicetana.- — The majority of the specimens 

 of Catoptria ulicetana that have come under my notice (and it is an 



i 



