282 THE entomoloCtIst's iiecohd. 



not completely dift'erentiated species will always oive us individuals 

 which our training fails to locate with certainty to one of two par- 

 ticular species. Certain Melit^eids, Hesperids, Erebiids, Agrotids, 

 Larentiids, Zyganiids, etc., will at once occur to all entomologists who 

 are not purely British collectors. Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher has crossed, 

 inter .sr, Zi/i/acua trifolii, jiliju-ndulai' and hmicerae, and their hybrid 

 progeny is fertile. Are we, therefore, to consider these as one species "? 

 Sincrinthns ordlatus and S. fiDpiili, Aiiipliidasi/s hi'tularia and A. strataria, 

 J^dli/dnniiattis rori/tlon and /'. htitan/u.s are in somewhat similar case. 

 But the tw^o insects under consideration do not e\en occur (except 

 very occasionally) at the same time. There is no suspicion of their 

 hybridising. Their life-cycles are separate and complete. Each 

 produces its own kind. They are purer species from this point of 

 view than any of the above-mentioned insects. 



]\Iany errors have been committed by those who do not know^ both 

 species in a state of nature. The opinions of such are obviously 

 excluded at once from consideration. Another source of error (and 

 perhaps the most vital one) is the general ignorance of lepidopterists of 

 the remarkable summer brood of 7'. histartata. Few entomologists 

 know the individuals of this brood well enough to draw conclusions 

 concerning them. We do not wish to blame lepidopterists who have 

 fallen into error owing to the misleading statements in Newman's 

 British Mot/is, except so far as we regret that they ha\e not corrected 

 the errors by observation of the facts for themselves. 



Attention may now be directed to a few^ historical details, and for 

 this purpose Ave will stick to the old synonymy, calling the early and 

 double-brooded species rrcjiustidaria (= bisturtatd of the earlier part of 

 this paper), and the later, single-brooded species, liiimilidaria \ = rir- 

 jinsndaria of the preceding part of this paper). 



In The Jv)ito)ii., xix., p. 99, we pointed out that Newman states in 

 his account of T. erepuscidaria : — " Yellow-brown tinge ; appearing in 

 April," and of T. hiundidaria : — " Occurring in April, and generally 

 again in July." Both these statements evidently refer to the early 

 species. Stainton describes bisturtata as lariraria, and says that it 

 occurs from " the end of March to the beginning of May," whilst 

 T. crepuiicularia (Stainton uses the correct name for the later species, 

 according to Front's later determination) is given as appearing in 

 " April and beginning of May." With such data as these to go on, it 

 is no wonder that those of our collectors whose libraries begin and end 

 with the Manual and Ihitisli Maths (and perhaps only one of these j, 

 continually exercise their minds on a matter Avhich is as clear as noon- 

 day to all those who are an fait with current literature, and study 

 entomology as well as collect insectc. 



There is no need for me to go deeply into the matter of dates. 

 Suftice it to say that the double-brooded rrepu^eidaria occurs normally 

 in March and July, and the single-brooded hiiinilidaria in late May. 

 Wide variations must necessarily be allowed when one compares the 

 dates for such years as 1888 and 1898, but the relative times for any 

 given year will be found to be maintained. 



To those who have not bred both species, the appearance of the 

 specimens of the second brood comes as a revelation, and to those 

 who are not particularly apt at distinguishing critical characters, 

 these specimens are often a cause of stumbling. iSuch a want of 



