BOMBYX QUERCUS AND BOMBYX CALLUNiE. 159 



broad fulvous margins to the hind-wings. The opinions of others 

 inndil be e.rreedini/h/ interestin;/." The only opinion I could find {I.e., vol. 

 XX., p. 109) was curiously enough from another lady, Mrs. Battersby, 

 of Westmeath, as follows : — "Many years ago I wrote to my old 

 and valued friend, the late Hy. Douljleday, to ask him to explain to 

 me the difference between B. quervus and B. eallunae. In reply he sent 

 me a typical pair of B. qiiercm, desiring me to observe that in northern 

 specimens {eallunae) the white spots on the upper side of the male 

 are seen on the under as well as the upper surface ; also that the 

 bands differ. In qitereiis, on the upper- wings, the band turns inwards, 

 and forms on the under-wings nearly a semicircle. In eallunae, on 

 the lower margin of the upper-wings, the band turns outwards, and on 

 the under-wings turns downirards to the anal angle. Mr. Doubleday 

 mentioned that the form figured as quereus in New)nan\'i Moths, was 

 the typical form of ' eallunae.' He believed quereus and eallunae to be 

 distinct species. I have reared a good many eallunae, which were 

 ioimd invariablij feedin;/ on heather, in s^rmgiime. They grew to a 

 large size before they formed cocoons, and usually emerged in the 

 following year, and I have known them remain two years in the 

 cocoons. Some of the males have a brilliant orange spot upon each 

 upper winy, near the thorax." 



It is plain, therefore, that the synonymy of B. quereus var. eallunae 

 is in a very tangled state. I find in the Linnaean Systema Naturae 

 (Gmelin) the description of cjuerem as follows : — " Wings dark brown 

 (ferruginous), Avith a yellow band ; upper pair with a central white 

 dot. Male dark brown, female ferruginous, the white dot furnished 

 with a black ring." 



Ochsenheimer, in his Sehmet. von Europa, says, " Male, dark 

 chestnut-brown; female, reddish -yellow," and Treitschke's description 

 is similar, while Haworth in his Lep. Brit., describes quereus as "fore- 

 wings brown, hind margin grey (!) with a yellowish central band and 

 central white spot ; female, paler." None of these authors allude to 

 roboris, or any other variety. 



When we come to Stephens, he describes the male B. quereu.f as 

 " wings deep chesnut-brown with a broad yellow band ; fore-wings 

 with a central white spot, usually triangular, and a conspicuous 

 yellow basal blotch " ; female " generally of a luteous colour." 



There cannot be any doubt about this being the variety eallunae 

 and then he goes on to describe roboris as a separate species, as 

 follows : — " Roboris — Similar to the last, hnt paler, fore- wings without 

 yellow patch at base, white spot generally rounded, yellow band 

 straighter and more dilated, female stouter, with broader and rounder 

 wings." A very fair description of the type ! 



I have been favoured by Mr. C. G. Barrett with a perusal of the 

 proof-sheets containing the descriptions of the imago and larva ot 

 B. quereus, for the large work he is now publishing. I find that he dis- 

 tinguishes the type from the variety by classing the latter as the 

 " Northern race,'' and the former as the " Southern race," making 

 one description suffice for both imagines, but according separate 

 descriptions for their respective larvse ; and among notes of occurrences 

 of larvffi he gives one of "a larva found as far north as Dumfries, 

 feeding in May, has been known to produce a moth in August of the 

 same year," but he omits to state whether the moth was the type or 



