110 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S KECORD. 



showed the line continuous, and out of 145 captured T. jm, 103 or 71 

 per cent, showed the line interrupted. There seems, therefore, an un- 

 doubted general tendency to the direct continuation of the line in 

 T. tridois, and to its interruption in T. ^>.s/, but the character is not 

 sufficiently stable to be of much practical use, except so far as it may 

 add to its weight by accumulation to other characters already more or 

 less relied on, in attempting to distinguish the two imagines. 



A few points of interest were brought out in the enquiry. Both Dr. 

 Chapman and Mr. Bankes called my attention to the asymmetry of the 

 character in a few individuals. Mr. INIera's series of 54 bred T. tridcns, 

 Mr. Home's of 22, and my own of 18, in which each individual shows 

 the continuous line, may point to the stability of the character in 

 certain broods or perhaps localities. Mr. Prout and others notice 

 the continuation of the line in var. sufum of T. psi of the London 

 district. From its melanism it is difficult to recognise any interruption, 

 but I can detect a trace of it in one specimen in my cabinet. 



The following is the summarised table of the results : — 



W. S. RiuiNG, M.D., F.E.S., Buckerell. June %lth, 1896. 



