80 *iifi iOctoMotoGtsT^s utcoau. 



double-brooded species, the <? weakly marked, the $ more strongly. 

 His dates for the two broods agree well with Ijorkhausen's — end of 

 March and end of June. 



Freyer's figures (246, (? and $, mjJUscKlai ia) are badly done, 

 and the ^ has strongly pectinated antenna-. I am not certain which 

 species they represent. He says that he has always found his larva' 

 in autumn, and bred the moths in spring ; he mentions that the insect 

 varies between "quite pale, almost white-grey," and "inclining to 

 dark brown." Later on (510-1) he figures, under the name of 

 (Ic/cssaria, one of the darker varieties with no prominent markings 

 except the pale subterminal. He describes it as being " grey-brown " 

 in colour ; I should be inclined to call it a (Jirti/ inons f/reij, with pale 

 bhu'-i/rc!/ subterminal. Herr liohatsch [Wien. Kut. Zeit., iv., 17G) 

 refers to this aberration some black specimens received from England 

 as " hu(ii(Udaria" {i.e., of course, our extreme (/('Zf(;//r;v'}i.s/.s, B. -White), 

 and mentions the erroneous hlxc colouring of the white subterminal. 

 There is no doubt that Bohatsch's determination is right in the 

 main ; but our melanic form is a more extreme development of the 

 ab. (h'/i'smria, and deserves to retain Buchanan White's name of 

 (h'laiiicnnsis (?]iit., x., 128). On the Continent this ab. dcffssaria is 

 the only form recognised as " hinmhdaria ;" this can be seen from the 

 Zeller collection, or from the following quotation from Steinert, of 

 Dresden [Iris, vii., 322) : — " Crepuscidaria, Hh. — Common. Stau- 

 dinger distinguishes in his collection three forms — the ordinary grey, 

 the dark with white border-line, which he calls hiundularia, and a 

 third, quite pale-grey, almost white, to which he has given no special 

 name. All three forms occur in our district. Two broods : March, 

 April, July, August." Apparently they get the single-brooded 

 species somewhat early (as in the North of England), but a few of 

 Zeller's specimens were obtained in May and June. Dr. Staudinger 

 must have overlooked Guenee's description of var. hiundularia as a 

 u-Jiitish insect. In fact, the synonymy, as given in Htaudinger's 

 ( 'atalof/Hc, is altogether a most remarkable jumble. The above quota- 

 tion from Steinert shows that he regards the darkened drfcssaria 

 form (with the extreme ddauu'roixis), as " hiundularia ;" yet he cites 

 here Esper's white figure (PI. 40, fig. 8), and our ochreous brown British 

 abii'taria, Haw. {lariraria, Dbld.) ; while to his pale species, " rrcjiu.s- 

 cnlaria, Hb.," he cites Duponchel's bnnm figures, and Freyer's uni- 

 colorous dark dcfcssaria ! 



Mr. Briggs {K. M. 3/., xxxii., 2G) has so carefully worked out the 

 descriptions of our older British authors, that I need not say much 

 regarding them ; his only error was in giving cousauaria, Haw., and 

 Ktrii/ularia, Htph., as a variety of second brood of the May-June species 

 (No. 2\ thus repeating the error made by Doubleday in his i860 

 edition ; these names denote the pale second brood of bistartata, 

 Goetze (No. 1), as can be readily seen from the very satisfactory 

 descriptions and figures in Stephens (iii., 192) and Wood (figs. 

 518, 519). 



Concerning other varietal names, I may mention that Thierry- 

 Mieg has named the blackish-brown Welsh variety of crrpnscularia, 

 Auct. Brit. (No. 1), " ab. /'rt.s.sc^//," and the black variety of biundu- 

 laria, Auct. ]3rit. (No. 2), " ab. ni;ira" {Lr yaiuralistc, viii., 237). 

 The diitc of those names ia 18bG, and the latter should probably sink 



