SCIAPHIIiA PENZIANA AND S. COLQUHOUNANA. • 195 



The original description of penziana is as follows: — '' Tortrix 

 penziayia, alis albis fusco-irroratis ; fasciis tribus obliquis articulatis 

 nigrig. Caput album, hirtum. Palpi compressi, clavati, albi. Habitat 

 in Suecicae meridionalibus Provinciis." Becklin further writes : 

 " Alag anticie, obtusae, supra albae lineolis fuscis irrorats ; fasciae tres 

 obliquiB, atrje, subarticulatas articulis quadratis. Subtus fuscae, im- 

 maculatae, ciliatje. Ala) posticae supra fuscae, subtus albidae ; margine 

 exteriori f usco-maculato " [Becklin, in Thunberg's Dissertatianes, iii., 

 66-7 (43), Plate v., fig. 1 (1791)] . Penziana was adopted by 

 Hiibner [Eur. Schmett., xiv., 85 (1799)] . It appears also to be the 

 Nephodesme co7ispersana, Schiff., Verz. Tort. E., 14. Curtis named our 

 whitest form hellana, evidently ignorant of Thunberg's description ; 

 Stephens [ZooL, 2755-7 (1850)] makes hellana, Curt., a synonym of 

 penziana (Beck.) Thunb., but says that HxxhrxQv' ^ penziana does not ac- 

 cord with Thunberg's. Stainton gives as characters oipenziana : " h.-w. 

 ivhitish (a variety occurs in which the f.-w. are much suffused with 

 grey)." The bracketed portion refers vmdoubtedly to the form known 

 later as colquhounana. Sciaphila colquJiuunana, Sta., Doubleday [Cat. 

 (2nd Edn.), 23 (1866)] was first described under the name it now 

 bears by C. G. Barrett [E7it. Mu. Maif., xx., p. 244 (1884)] , where he 

 writes : — " Colquhounana, Hy.-Dblday., Catal. — Closely allied to the 

 last species [penziana, Wlkn.) is a handsome form which has stood in 

 lists and collections for many years under this name. Its size and 

 measurements are almost exactly the same as those of hellana, but the 

 dorsal margin of the fore-wings is not so straight, making the wing a 

 little broader near the base, and not so sharply wedge-shaped. It 

 is a handsome species, ground colour of the fore-wings slate-grey, 

 varying much in intensity, and occasionally whitish in the central 

 area. Markings of the usual fascife much like those of hellana, but 

 slightly more oblique, and not nearly so sharply defined. Hind-wings 

 whitish, tinged with grey at the margins. Head and thorax of the 

 same shade as the fore-wings. The late Mr. Allis, writing in 1868, 

 told me that he believed it to be distinct (from hellana, Curt.), that it 

 'occurred in lower ground than that species.' It is, in fact, like 

 compersana, an inhabitant of sea-side rocky localities, taking the place 

 of that species on the more north-western coast. It is tolerably 

 common in such places near Dublin and the Isle of Man. Mr. Hodgkinson 

 asserts that it was reared by Mr. Gregson on the roots of ' sea- 

 pink.' " 



Now if from the above we select the scraps on which the specific 

 distinctness of colquhounana has been based, they appear to amount to 

 the following : — 



1. " The dorsal margin of the fore-wings is not so straight." 



2. " The usual fascite are slightly more oblique." 



3. " The fasciie are not nearly so sharply defined." 



4. It is " an inhabitant of sea-side rocky localities." 



We may take these seriatim : (1). I can say positively that there 

 is not a scrap of evidence in a lomj series to support the assertion. The 

 shape of the wings, on the ivhole, is identical in both forms, although 

 there may be in both a slight individual variation. (2). The fascife 

 are identical, they commence in exactly the same positions on the 

 costa, and end in exactly the same positions on the outer and inner 

 margins. Even the minor basal, apical and costal spots are identical. 



