THE CtKNUS DIANTHCECIA. 9 



nothing- but D. ron.yicr.sa. He also was able to add a little to the 

 elucidation of the Canterbury specimens. By a curious coincidence it 

 happened that on the very occasion that Mr. South exhibited the speci- 

 men of 7>. rniiipta, that he had obtained from Parry, at the South Lond. 

 Entomological Society's Meeting/--' he (Mr.Tutt) had in his possession a 

 box received from Parry containing five specimens of D. coiisjicrsa, and 

 one of ]>. cinnpta, with which he had received a note calling attention 

 to the fine var. of ronspcrsa, and asking what he (Mr. T.) would give 

 for them. Mr. Tutt returned his specimen to Parry with a plainly 

 expressed opinion, rendered all the more forcible by Mr. South's 

 timely exhibit. He had no hesitation in coming to the conclusion 

 that the Canterbury IK eoiiipta were not British. 



DiANTHCECIA BARRETTH AS A SPECIALISED FORM OF D. (LuPERINA) 



LUTEAGo. — Mr. Barrett said that, like other men, he was a little proud 

 of his own discoveries. x\s he was the first to capture 1>. harirttii, he 

 naturally was hard to convince that his species was really not distinct 

 from the Continental ]>. Intcai/o. Its colour was so different that he 

 hoped in its distinctness, until Mr. Hellins bred it and proved the two 

 species identical. He now agreed that barrettii was only a local 

 race of 1>. lutt'di/ii. 



Mr. Tutt considered that it had long been conceded that barrettii 

 was only a local race of 7>. luteai/a. He would like to have heard 

 something of its affinities. Mr. Kane considered that it was in all 

 essential characters a l^iantlioeda, in spite of its larval habit. Mr. 

 Tutt had come to the conclusion that Vianthoecia was in reality an 

 Apameid genus, and he had in llritisli Mothsf recently transferred the 

 tribe Carporapsiili (containing the genus ] h'anthoccia) to the sub-family 

 Apamein.e, where it fell between the tribes Apameidi and Hadcnidi, so 

 that the two genera — IHantlioecia and Luperina — -were not, in his 

 opinion, so far removed as their old positions in the British List would 

 suggest. 



There are only two reputed British specimens of this species which 

 have been taken out of Ireland — one in Wales, the other in Devon- 

 shire (or Cornwall). Both these were exhibited by Mr. C. G. Barrett, 

 and our attention was drawn to them by Mr. McArthur, who has 

 caught a large number of the species at Howth. Mr. McArthur 

 considers most positively that neither is />. lutcatfo var. harrettii, 

 and we agree with him. One specimen appears to be (so far as the 

 bad light allowed one to judge at the meeting) a dark Apainea basilinea, 

 the other a dark Vianthoicia conspcrxa. We throw out doubt in 

 this brutal fashion in order to obtain from Mr. Barrett an explanation 

 of the structural characters on which he named these two specimens 

 ]>. lutt'Of/o var. barrettii. 



Breeding Dianthcecia carpophaga. — Mr. T. Hall, in the course of 

 the discussion, referred to the ease with which 7>. carpnjihai/a could be 

 bred. A few years since, when walking one evening in the neighbour- 

 hood of C-roydon, he observed large numbers of the larva^ of this 

 species feeding. He collected the seed-heads on which the larvte were 

 feeding, and placed them (with the larv*) in a large bandbox, 

 containing at the bottom an inch or two of sand. He took no more 



* This exhibit and the discussion that followed, appear never to have l)een 

 published in the Proceediiui.'i of the Society. 



1 Routledffe & Sons, Ltd. 



