230 [October, 



greyer at the margins ; cilia paler," while the other is " wholly dark 

 grey, except a broad ochreous costal stripe to the fore-wings." I have 

 lately been fortunate in securing, in the Isle of Purbeck, a fine series 

 of L. deplana, and among the females are several examples of a fine 

 extreme variety, not referred to by Mr. Barrett, together with various 

 intermediate forms between it and the opposite extreme, which he 

 describes as " wholly dark grey, except a broad ochreous costal stripe 

 to the fore-wings." The variety in question has the fore-wings wholly 

 rich orange- buff, without any tinge of grey, and with the whole costal 

 margin, and the cilia, exactly concolorous with the rest of the wing, 

 while the hind-wings are pale orange-bnff tinged with grey, especially 

 near the inner margin, and have orange-buff cilia. In colour the fore- 

 wings closely resemble those of L. sororcnla, Hufn. (= aureola, Hb.), 

 but are not quite so brightly orange. Is this the form of the female 

 that Hiibuer figured (fig. 90) under the name ochreola ? I have not 

 his work at hand to refer to. 



The male of L. deplana does not show nearly so wide a range of 

 variation as the female, though the ground colour varies considerably 

 from rich grey-drab in the darkest, to cream-buff, tinged with grey, 

 in the palest, individuals. 



The imago, even when disturbed, is extremely sluggish by day, 

 when it may be beaten from the branches of pine, especially those of 

 Scotch fir (Pinus si/liiestris), and generally falls straight down, only 

 spreading its wings to assist it in alighting on the ground, where it 

 then sits motionless. On fine calm evenings the males begin to come 

 on the wing, in shady spots, about 15 or 20 minutes after sunset, and 

 continue flying till dark, and probably later : their flight is remarkably 

 swift and unsteady, surprisingly so for that of a Lithosia, and the 

 majority of those I have seen on the wing have been flying about the 

 tops of young fir trees, some 20-25 feet high, and quite out of reach. 

 So far as I am aware, I have only seen one female, which was flying 

 at about 8.30 p.m., on the wing." One pair was observed in cop. at 

 about 8.15 p.m. on July 21st: the female was clinging to a "needle" 

 of Scotch fir, head upwards, while the male was hanging, suspended 

 from her in mid air, head downwards. T have little doubt that they 

 had remained paired since the previous night, or very early morning, 

 for, when captured, it was rather too early and too light for them to 

 have begun pairing that same evening, since their flight time had 

 hardly arrived. 



Norden, Corfe Castle : 



August \Uh, 1902. 



