56 THE entomologist's record. 



a female, badly crippled, and died without ovipositing. I have 

 personal knowledge of Mr. Bayne's intimate acquaintance with this 

 insect in Epping Forest, and his judgment may be considered as con- 

 clusive on the point of the insect's identity. (3) This is a general 

 statement made by Mr. Eobson, that " the offspring of both insects 

 in favourable seasons or localities feed up and emerge the same year, 

 or part of the brood does. The second brood, in both species, presents 

 the same characteristics as the first, slightly modified only, as is 

 usual in second appearances " {E.M.M., xxiii., p. 111). Mr. Eobson 

 does not say that he has bred them, although I suppose we may 

 assume that he has. [Whilst this paper has been going through the 

 press, Mr. Eobson has stated more exactly his knowledge of a second 

 brood of 2\ hinndularia. He says (K.M.M., xxxii., p. 267) : "I have 

 only once had a second brood of T, biunchilaria here [crcpmcularia 

 does not occur). They were smaller, less distinctly marked, more 

 suffused than the type, and the ground-colour not so white."] I do 

 not wish to lay more value on this point — the rarity of partial double- 

 broodedness in T. biumJularia in confinement, and its frequency in 

 T. m'lnfsndarla — because it really only betokens a difference of habit, 

 which, whilst it supports the theory of two species, does not prove 

 it. The separation of these two allies into species is based on a 

 number of independent characters, and that they have two quite 

 distinct life cycles in a state of nature. 



I have known lepidopterists who speak of T. i-npustidaria as the 

 larch-frequenting species. It is perfectly true that T. crepmcnlaria is 

 exceedingly abundant in many larch woods, but it is equally abundant 

 in woods of mixed growth. At Clevedon, Eeading, and many other 

 recorded localities, it is said to be abundant in larch woods. At 

 Chattenden, it is common where there are no larches, and where the 

 wood consists essentially of oak, ash, hazel, etc. At West Wickham 

 it is abundant in woods of mixed growth, and in a wood at Cuxton, 

 where beech and oak are the principal trees. On the other hand, 

 T. hinndularia is abundant at Cuxton, in another wood, chiefly com- 

 posed of beech, oak and pine, and so on. There is no very especial 

 attachment of either species to a certain tree. 



This brings us to the strange fact that, in some woods both species 

 occur, and maintain their distinctness side by side. I have already 

 instanced the New Forest and Birch Wood. But in my experience this 

 is not usually the case. It would seem that the conditions suitable for 

 one species are rarely suitable for the other, and hence their localities 

 usually lie in separate, though they may be adjacent, woods. Mr. 

 Doubleday's observations, already quoted, emphasise this point. Mr. 

 Chappell {^Kntam., xix., p. 254) gives a similar result of his ex- 

 perience. He found the species in different localities, and there were 

 no intermediate forms. 



The mixture of the synonymy of these species has resulted in some 

 amusing errors. Some of these may be enumerated. (1) Mr. 

 Carrington and Mr. Sheldon refer to the dark aberrations of the 

 species which has been for some time known by the name of biundii- 

 laria as crcpuscidaria [Proc. St/i. Lond. Ent. Sac, 1886, p. 156). The 

 same dark form from Derbyshire is referred to by Mr. Sheldon, the 

 following year, as T. biundidaria {Ibid., 1887, pp. 73 and 87). Mr, W. 

 F. de V. Kane falls into a series of blunders. He says : — " The whole 



