222 THE entomologist's record. 



Epinel, flying aboiit tliree o'clock in tlie afternoon. It was on a rough 

 morainic piece of ground covered with coarse grass, except where huge 

 bare stones rose high above the general level, that it occurred, near 

 Valnontey ; and we found it flying in the morning sun, between 8 and 

 9 a.m. There is no doubt about the insect. It's pygmaeola, was my 

 first remark. Dr. Chapman soon discovered a means of getting 

 the males in considerable abundance. Finding a female on the 

 gi'ass, he sat down and boxed the males as they slowly came up. 

 We soon had enough of the males, and a somewhat tedious search on 

 the herbage gave us a few females. Brilliant yellow, are they not ? 

 no " pale yellowish-grey " specimens there ; L. sororcula has to look to 

 its laurels to compete with this, and yet it is very different to the 

 golden sub-varieties of pygmaeola from Deal, which I have pointed out 

 to you. This would appear to be the true lutarella of Linne, the Itdeola 

 of the Vienna Catalogue, and the lutosa of Esper. It appears to have a 

 wide range — " Central and Eastern Europe, Southern Scandinavia, 

 Finland, Steppes of South-Eastern Russia (Sarepta), Alps, Pyrenees, 

 Hungary, Armenia and Siberia " is the rather comprehensive range 

 given in Staudinger's Catalogue (1871). We do not appear to get the 

 form among our British pygmaeola even as an aberi-ation. The golden 

 sub- varieties show the thinner scaling of pygmaeola, although they 

 approach the type in colour. 



But our brighter yellow (not the golden) pygmaeola is the con- 

 necting link with the type. It is the best scaled of all the British sub- 

 varieties, and is Zeller's variety pnlli/rons. Staudinger diagnoses it as 

 " fronte flavo, alis anterioribus flavis," and very truly adds, " forma 

 conjngena pyginaenla etlntnrelhiJ' He gives as the range of this variety 

 (of which Boisduval's name cifeUina is much the older) — " Germany 

 (north and east-central), Gothland, France (north and central) Corsica, 

 Dalmatia, Greece." Near Aosta, just across the bridge which spans the 

 Dora, we explored a little valley among the vineyards ; just a tiny 

 gully, made liy the winter storms and torrents, but an insect Paradise. 

 It was litej'ally full of insects, and among them was L. lutarella var. 

 2)aUifrons. I have brought it for you to see. It is almost identical with 

 our yellower 2^y(lii>(f^ohi, but very different from the Cttgne Valley 

 specimens. Only that one, I have no more ; I am very sorry, but I 

 caught no others, or I woidd have brought them for you to see. I am 

 sorry, too, that I have not a specimen of Speyer's ab. nigrocincta,, whicli 

 Staudinger diagnoses as :— " Alis anterioribus linea nigra cinctis," and 

 says that it comes from " East-central Germany." " Anterior wings 

 surrounded by a black line" — makes your mouth water almost, does it 

 not ? and that is only the description. 



There appears to be only one more item to add, and that is that var. 

 pygmaeola occurs, so far as Staudinger's Catalogue is correct, only in 

 " England and Holland." Snellen, in his VUnders, ifcc, calls it lutarella 

 var. In Holland and in England the conditions are presumably very 

 similar, and have produced a similar result. 



I promised not to theorise and not to be scientific ; I trust you will 

 consider that I have kejjt my j^i'oniise ; I suggested that I ^vould 

 attempt to convince you tliat our cliarnu'ng little Lithosia was both 

 variable aud interesting ; I trust I have succeeded. 



