SOME NAMED VARIETIES IN THE LARENTIID.E. 



20l 



sional superficial resemblance to L. associata is commented upon by 

 Dr. F. B. White in Faun. Perth., ^p. 26. I take occasion here to point 

 out that the much-abused name, dntata, is to be abandoned entirely as 

 a specific name. At the instigation of my friend, Mr. G. B. Rout- 

 ledge, who complained of the difficulty of correctly indexing the Record, 

 I thoroughly sifted the matter. As long discussions of synonymy are 

 not interesting reading, I Y/ill content myself Avith saying: 1, Linne 

 gives a very brief and insufficient diagnosis in Si/st. Xat., Ed. x., 

 which will apply to either of the allies ; the type specimen in his 

 cabinet is my L. pnpulata ab. dotata. 2. Clerck's figure of dotata was 

 long ago determined by Zeller and Werneburg for this same pale 

 form of pnpulata. Hence dotata, Gn., Dbld. List, retains the name 

 associata, Bkh. ; while dotata (??Linn.), Stgr., South's TAst, must be 

 called pyraliata (? Fb.), Bkh. 



Hydriomena autuninalis, Strom, (trifasciata, Bkh.) ab. literata,'Don. — 

 This figure (Don., Xat. Hist., xiv., pi. 499, 2) is quite certainly the 

 fuscous (or, according to the figure, rather rust-coloured), non-greenish 

 form of trifasciata, Bkh. Guenee cites it to H. ruberata, and Staudinger, 

 though adding a ?, has nevertheless (inconsistently with his general 

 commendable practice) given precedence to the queried name ; hence 

 it has come into use on the Continent. Mr. South has wisely refused 

 to substitute it for ruberata, Fr. 



Anticlea ninmfasciaria ab. ludoricata. Mill. [Ann. Soc. Knt. Fr., 

 (6) vii., pi. 5, fig. 14). — This grand aberration, a single specimen, bred 

 by De Rougemont, has the whole central area of the darkish-brown 

 colour, which in this species is usually confined to a narrow inner bar. 

 It thus associates a member of the genus Anticlea with the bulk of 

 the allied "carpets" (J/f/fOfr/v^c, etc., etc.), which have generally a 

 dark central area. It would be interesting to learn whether any of 

 our rich British collections contain similar instances. 



Melanthia hicolorata. — This species is a very easy one to clsssify 

 roughly into aberrations, and it may be Avorth while to clear up a 

 little confusion which prevails. If we only alloAv tAvo groups of 

 forms, southern and northern, the names usually assigned — hicolorata 

 and ab. pluwhata — Avill do Avell enough. If Ave Avant to sub-divide the 

 former, we shall get — (a) Bicolorata, Hfn. = contaviinata, Hfn. 

 = alstroemeriana, Sulz. = alha, Strom. = ruhiijinata, Fb. — Central 

 fascia as a spot on costa only. [b] Ab. parvula, Retz. (named on De 

 Geer, ii., pi. 6, fig. 2) =albaria, Vill. = rubiginata, Hb. 250. — Fascia 

 reappearing on inner margin as a single or double spot. But the 

 northern forms are still better Avorth dividing into tAvo, and it has to 

 be pointed out that (as Mr. Adkin has already stated, Fntom., xxv., 

 pp. 108-109) Curtis admits the handed Scotch form as plumbata, and, 

 indeed, that is his type, though he also includes aberrations Avith the 

 entire wing suffused. The forms Avill consequently be : (c) Ab. plum- 

 hata. Curt, = rirc/ata, Tutt, Fnt. Bee, i., 321 = fasciata, Tutt, Brit. 

 Moths, 273.—" Inclining to cream-colour ; a fascia across the middle." 

 This is the next stage to ab. parvula. (d) Ah. fumosa, mihi = j^lum- 

 bata, NeAvm., Brit. Moths, p. 155. — " The smoky-blue colour more or 

 less spread over the wing." Owing to the confusion which I have 

 mentioned, I believe this extreme form has never been especially 

 named. 



