VARIATION 199 



Varieties of Smerinthus tili^, Pararge meg^r.v and Hepialus 

 HUMULi. — The following varieties are in the possession of Mr. Edwin 

 Gray, of Newstead, Bedford, and are I think worthy of notice, (i). A 

 male specimen of Smerinthus tllice, having the olive-green cross bar 

 and border of the upper wings replaced by a pale buff colour, the 

 rest of the wings being paler than the ordinary form, with the usual 

 amount of black scales. The hind wings very pale with a buff margin 

 and yellow fringe. Thorax grey and very light olive, abdomen grey. 

 The specimen was caught on a doorstep in Bedford last June. (2). 

 A male specimen of Pararge ?negcera, having the ground colour of the 

 upper wings replaced by white inclining to tawny-fulvous where it meets 

 the smoky-brown markings, which are normal as are the hind wings. 

 This white is of the same kind as sometimes appears in varieties of 

 Epincphele Janira, giving them a bleached appearance. This specimen 

 was caught at Cromer in the middle of the present month. (3). A 

 female of Hepiahis humuli having the fringe and margin of the under 

 wings bright orange and a pale shade of the same colour being diffused 

 all over them, most intense on the under side where it is also present 

 on the fore wings, though the upper side of the latter is normal ; thorax 

 orange. This variety was taken this season at Cromer. — D. H. Steuart, 

 Red Court, Bedford. August 2()th, 1891. [This latter is not at all an 

 uncommon form. — Ed.] 



Varieties of Zyg^na trifolii. — Mr. Abbott is wrong {E/it. Rec, 

 ii., p. 155) when writing of the var. of Z. trifolii. It is the type that 

 has the second pair of spots coalesced ; var. orobi, Hb. has the same 

 pair of spots distinct. The other vars. are as follows :— var. filipendulcs, 

 Hb., basal and central spots coalescing ; var. glycirrhizce, Hb., central 

 and terminal spots coalescing ; var. basalis, all the spots united 

 by a line of red of uneven width ; var. fiiinoides, all the spots 

 united into a large blotch occupying all the disc. These are all 

 narrow-bordered varieties. There are also thinly scaled varieti. s, 

 varieties with ill-defined or fully-developed sixth spot, and a yellow 

 variety {lutescens). — Sydney Webb, Dover. September, 1891. [Dr. 

 Staudinger unites glycirrhizce zx\d^ filipendulce, Hb.-Gey. under the name 

 of confluens and writes : — " mac. omnibus confluentibus," so that he 

 would use but one name for these, together with basalis and uiinoides, 

 a much less satisfactory division than Mr. Webb's. He also gives :— 

 " orobi, Hb. 133, mac. mediis separatis ; var. syracusia, ZqW, minor, al. 

 ant. maculis parvis, disjunctis, post, margine lato nigro." This latter 

 var. comes from : — " Sicily, Spain and Mauritania (N.W. Africa)," but 

 we get this small form in England. Var. diibia, Stdgr. Cat., p. 2 1 = 

 transalpina, lA.h. = medicaginis, L,d.=cha?-o}i Bois., described as: — "var. 

 major, al. ant. macul. 5 vel 6, al. post, latius nigris." This form, which 

 we also get, is recorded from the " Alps, Pyrenees and doubtfully 

 from Greece " (Staudinger, Catalog, p. 47). — Ed. J 



In Messrs. Abbott and Hodges' notes on the Zygcence, they both 

 speak of the yellow variety oi Z. Jilipendulce, and the blotched or barred 

 form of Z trifolii. I have not had any experience of Z. filipendulce 

 this year, but in an old and disused brickfield at Gamlingay, on July 

 1 6th last, I found Z. trifolii in great abundance, although somewhat 

 difficult to obtain, as it is an excessively wet and sloppy place, and what 

 with water up to the shoe tops, and herbage up to the waist, one might 



