VARIATION. 223 



The female laid a batch of eggs numbering no, from which I lost 

 three larvae, and bred all the rest. These 1 fed on oak in my own garden, 

 and they throve admirably, all save the three already mentioned going 

 into pupffi. 



On June 21st the first specimen emerged, a ? , and almost normal 

 in colour and markings. This I gave to Mr. Bloomfield, a member of 

 the City of London Entomological Society. The specimens that 

 emerged after this, however, showed me that I had a most interesting 

 race in my possession, for the emergence of a dark suffused specimen 

 was rapidly follo.ved by the emergence of others, some approaching the 

 normal form, others more or less (generally more) suffused, with several 

 specimens entirely black, and two males so intensely black, that the 

 markings could only be detected with some difficulty (fig. 6). I gave one 

 specimen away, beside that previously mentioned, and four pairs were 

 wasted in getting a supply of ova. The remainder, consisting of fifty- 

 five males and forlytwo females, I exhibit to-night. 



The first thing which strikes one is the general fact that there is a 

 very strong tendency for the sexes to follow their respective parent 

 forms. Thus the male parent was the darker, and only five out of 

 the fifty-five males bred, show any white in their coloration. On the 

 other hand, out of the forty-two females, thirty-six have more or less 

 white in them, some being quite normal in their appearance, without 

 even a semblance of a central band, others being more or less 

 suffused, the darkest, howcvjr, having white patches in the basal and 

 subterminal areas [viJe figs. 5a and 6a). Fig. 6a represents the darkest 

 ? bred. 



In the males again, there are seven which show a mottling in these 

 areas (basal and subterminal), having them paler than the rest of the 

 wing {vide figs. 4 and 5), but they are in no way white. Corresponding 

 with these there are five females, although in these five there are 

 absolute traces of white, such traces, however, being sli-ht enough 

 {vide fig. 4a). The remainder of both sexes are black, that is, forty- 

 three males and one female {vide figs. 6 and 6a). Of these forty-three 

 male?, two intensely black specimens have been before referred to. 

 One of these is figured (fig. 6), but the figuie is not so dark as the moth. 



I think these facts- point to the infiuence of the sexes on the 

 progeny in a given direction. I know the material is too slight to 

 generalise upon, but as a fact it must be taken for what it is worth. 



There is a considerable amount of variation in the intensity of the 

 coloration of the hind wings, following, as might be expected, to a great 

 extent, the coloration of the upper wings, although not entirely so, and 

 also in the fringes. In the paler males and females, the fringes are 

 alternately light and dark. As the specimens get darker, the fringes 

 also get darker, until, in the darkest specimens the fringes are con- 

 colorous with the rest of the wings. 



There seems to be some sort of general rule as to the way the 

 suffusion and darkening is carried out. The first step seems to be 

 always the development of a dark transverse central band, due to the 

 coalescence of, and the filling in with dark scales between the two 

 wavy transverse lines, situated in the central area {vide figs. 3a, 4a). 

 The outer margin is the next portion of the wing to become darker, 

 the subterminal area remaining pale longer, whilst the basal area 



