302 THE entomologist's record. 



I have attempted to show from the records concerning these species 

 that the conchisions of Newman have been proved to be largely er- 

 roneous by writers to the Kntvm. IiLTord, and to the Ent. Mo. Mo(/. There 

 is one point to wliich I personally take objection, and that is the analogy 

 that Captain Thompson draws between B. rpierem and B. callunae, on 

 the one hand, and TepJirosia biMortata and T. crepuscularia {hiundularia) 

 on the other. Those who fail in distinguishing the latter are either 

 working on insufficient material, or on erroneously named individuals. 

 Their life-cycles are complete and separate, and their specific dis- 

 tinctness may be looked upon as established by natural environmental 

 causes. It is not so, I venture to think, with regard to B. qiwrcits 

 and B. raliunae. The opinions of all those lepidopterists whose facts 

 and observations I have quoted tend to show that, at present, the insects 

 are in a state of flux, distinct even to the extent of species, when 

 B. caUimae of Aberdeenshire are compared with B. quercm of Kent, 

 but questionable where the two insects overlap, and some particular 

 character of the one form is developed (sometimes with an individual 

 or two only in a broods in a brood which gives the general characters 

 of the other. Mr. Merrifield's results go to prove the specific 

 distinctness of Aberdeen B. callunae and Surrey B. ifnerciis, but thirty 

 years ago. Dr. D. Sharp very clearly defined the position of B. callunae 

 with regard to B. qiiercuH, when he defined the former as a " race " of 

 the latter. He said a "race" is "generally found under evidently 

 somewhat different circumstances to the type form of the species to 

 which it belongs, and is distinguished by constant though slight 

 characters, but specimens forming the passage from the race to the 

 type occur, though in many cases very rarely." He then instances 

 Bumbi/.v callunae as an example of a race, and goes on to say : — " A 

 race, it will be seen from the definition I have given of it, approaches 

 very nearly in validity to a species ; indeed, the connecting forms are 

 the only reason that can be satisfactorily assigned for its non- 

 distinctness. It is, in fact, a species nearly formed ; and it is probable 

 that, under a somewhat greater differentiation of the circumstances in 

 which the type and race live, intermediate examples would cease to 

 occur, and the race would become a distinct species" {K.M.M., iv., 

 p. 70). I do not know that Dr. Sharp has ever had cause to modify 

 this opinion. At any rate, I quite agree with it. 



It may be well to mention, in conclusion, Staudinger's summary 

 of the forms of this species, with their distribution : — 



Querciis, Linn. — " Europe (exc. Graec. '?), As. Minor, Arm., Sib., 



Can?" 

 ab. (et var.) callunae, Palmer, Zool., 1847, p. 1656. — " Scot., 



Suec, Germ.'-'* — $ , obscurior, vix nom. conserv. = queiriis, 



Linn., Faun. Suec." 

 ab. (et var.) sj)artii, Hb. 173 3 i ribur)ii, Gn., An. Soc. 



France, 1868, p. 405. — " Obscurior, al. omnibus anguste 



flavo-fasciatis. — Germ, (south) (ab.), Gal. (south) et Ital. 



(north) (var.)." 



* I may add that, in June, 1895, a fine J B. callunae emerged from a cocoon 

 spun by a larva found the previous August. The full-fed larva was found on Mont 

 de la Saxe (Piedmont), about August 8th, feeding on Hippojjhaeti rhaniituidex, at an 

 elevation of about 4,000 feet. This is important, as being outside the range given 

 by Staudinger for callunae, and also as showing that callunae is the highland form 

 in those districts where spartii is the lowland form. 



