ENTOarOLOGY AT KAINHAM, ESSEX. 285 



when alive a distiiKjt redness of costa (again recalling A. obscura), but 

 I must acknowledge that I don't see much of it now that they are dry, 

 though here and there I think it may still be traced. 



The most remarkable are the five in the third column with united 

 stigmata, particularly the one with the scorched appearance of the fore- 

 wings. There arc also two with the outer half of the fore wings clouded 

 with a darker shade, giving them a very strange and distinguished ap- 

 pearance, as thougli related to A. ashworthii. I have remarked the same 

 tendency in A. obscara, but it is, I suppose, unusual in both species. 

 One specimen seems to me to be remarkably dark, and curious from the 

 entire absence of all red tinge. The malformed specimen at the bottom 

 of the first row seems to deserve attention, inasmuch as the slit in the 

 right hand fore- wing is fringed all round, and the claviform, placed upon 

 the abnormal lobe, is double. Were it not for this position of the clavi- 

 form, one could aluiost persuade one's-self that the insect possessed a 

 fifth wing. 



The infinite differences in the form and development of the stigmata, 

 the difference in length and width of the claviform, the almost total 

 absence of both orbicular and claviform, and the smudged appearance of 

 the reniform, are all noticeable, as well as the ladder-like series of lines 

 between the elbowed and subterminal lines. The pale central area of the 

 wing is also, in some specimens, reduced to a mere dot placed between 

 the stigmata. 



I have placed in the same case six s]jecimens of A. segetum, on account 

 (.»f remarks whicli visitors liave made about them. These black females 

 I have always taken freely, and I should like to hear to-night whether 

 other collectors have also found them common. For myself, I cannot 

 hel}) thinking that the reddish unicolorous specimen at the bottom is 

 the more remarkable. 



I come next to 134 specimens of A. nigricans. I may be pardoned, 

 l)erhaps, for the confusion which I experience when I try to arrange 

 them in order, and far more when I attempt to describe them, more 

 particularly because I have neither taken nor noticed such varieties 

 before. 



A series of six, placed in the last row, represent the pick of my 

 takings in 1893, and it is curious to remember that one or two of them 

 suggested A. obscura so strongly, that I had actually entered them in 

 my diary as that species, with a query intimating my doubt. At that 

 time, I did not possess a specimen of A. obscura to refer to, and was 

 guided entii'el}'^ by Newman's figure which you will all remember. I 

 imagine that the distinct transverse lines in that figure led me astray. 

 I was again deceived in the same manner this year by a specimen in 

 tlie fifth column, which occurred with A. obscura and actually got mixed 

 up with that species as a small specimen, and when you look at it you 

 will, I think, agree that I was justified. 



The variations of A. nigricans seem to me truly remarkable. I knew 

 nothing of the species three years ago. Common though it is generally 

 considered, I am convinced that if a correspondent had sent me a few 

 years since as A. nigricans some of the varieties in my case to-night, I 

 should have put him down for an ignoramus and myself (of course) for a 

 wise man. 



The differences of colour, no less than the differences of markiugs, are 

 confusing to a degree, and one can see but little likeness between the 



