THE GENUS CARADRINA, ETC. 201 



results, I bring them liefore you with confidence. Snpcrstes. — Antennse 

 the shortest ciHated ; lengtli of cilia in middle of shaft, scarcely 

 half the diameter of the shaft. Taraxaci. — Cilia somewhat 

 longer ; length, about two-thirds of the width of the shaft ; the seg- 

 ments slightly swollen laterally. Alsines. — Cilia somewhat longer 

 still, beginning to crowd together in the middle of the segments to 

 form short tufts ; the shaft with deeper segment-incisions. Avihlqna. — 

 Cilia longest, almost equal in length to diameter of shaft, and distinctly 

 massed together in tufts ; shaft also with lateral protuberances and 

 strong segment-incisions. Thus superstes and ambigua are seen to be so 

 remote structui-ally, that, if Lederer had given half the care to these two 

 which lie gave to some other genera (e.g. Agrotis), he could not have 

 united them. It is intei-esting to note that even Treitschke considered 

 them " far removed " in form, (tc. The occasion that gave rise to this 

 article of Speyer's, was the erection of a fifth species in the group, 

 sericea, of which I shall have more to say presently, but which, unfortu- 

 nately, agreed in the antennae witli alsines. 



(2). Mr. F. N. Pierce, with his usual courtesy, has examined the 

 genitalia of specimens of each of the four in my possession ; he finds 

 alsines. taraxaci and superstes so close, that he does not venture to pro- 

 nounce positively as to their specific right, though it is possibly more than 

 a coincidence, that the very slight differences in shape which do seem 

 to be observable follow a gradation which places the species in the 

 same order as that arrived at from the an tennal structure — \\z., superstes 

 taraxaci, alsines, ambigua; but rt;/(?>/(/^{a is again abundantly distinct from 

 the other three, in the fact that in it the " lower lij) " has a bulbed 

 termination, while in the other three it ends in a mere jioint. 



(3). The larvae of all four have been known for nearly a centur^^, 

 and yet I have not come across any authenticated instance of the species 

 l)reediug otherwise than perfectly true ; and the differences Ijetween 

 the forms are too constant to allow of a possible explanation of them as 

 "aberrations," while on the other hand, they too often occur together 

 in the same localities, to admit of their being regarded as " local races." 

 Considering the structure of the genital organs, hybridism between some 

 of the species would perhaps be possible. Herr van Leeuwen announced 

 (toe. cit.) that he had taken an alsines and a taraxaci in cop., and ex- 

 hibited a brood resulting, which he said contained both forms ; but, as 

 Snellen and de Graaf considered that all the offsja-ing were taraxaci 

 and that there was " no single alsines among them," there is no need to 

 suppose that the parents were anything more than two different forms 

 of that species. We in England may, at any rate, claim to have had 

 some experience with these two species, and have never found serious 

 cause to doubt their distinctness — " the caterpillars being so different " 

 (Newman). As to superstes, the male antennae appear to be quite 

 sufficiently different from those of its nearest ally, taraxaci, and it has 

 been bred and closely studied by Fuchs and others on the Continent. 



The differentiation by scale markings is a very delicate business, and 

 I am afraid I cannot offer very much that is tangi])le ; but it would be 

 a serious omission if I were to ignore it altogether. Treitschke makes 

 a special point of the very strong black dusting in snper.stes, and this 

 is ver}^ noticeable in all the specimens I have seen ; the basal area is 

 dusted with minute l)lack specks ; the elbowed line is always accom- 

 panied by very prominent black dots, giving it a double appearance ; 



