1875. . 159 



" hence I communicate here vihat I know about it, and give the Rpeoiiie charactovs in 

 "order to call the attention of collectors to a species -whicli is probably not scarce 

 " througliout Germany. 



" Slacfii/dalis (or ParietariaUs, !^^ann, under which name I have received speci- 

 "mens of it from Vienna) is described and figured by Zineken in the little known 

 " Ahrcn's Fauna, Heft. 4, No. 18. The figure is very bad, with the wings too broad, 

 " the hind wings round, and the spots have become brown. In order not to copy 

 " the Latin description, which is probably intelligible to few, I give the translation : — 



"Wings bent downwards, brown, the anterior with two, the posterior with 

 " three, yellowish spots. Brunswick (Museum Zinckeu). Very closely allied to 

 " sambucalis, W. V., which it resembles, but it is smaller, and differs in the 

 " anterior wings having two, and not three, spots. The sixteen-footed larva is thick, 

 " wrinkled, naked, rather clear white ; it occurs near ' Brunswick in united leaves of 

 " Stachi/s ,11/1 cat ica.' 



" Zineken here lays proper stress on the principal differences, on which, however, 

 " something has to be remarked. Stachydalis is only generally smaller, exceptional 

 "specimens oi sambucalis are quite as small,' consequently there remains, as a certain 

 " and constant character, only the number of spots. For instance, sambucalis has a 

 " large, yellowish, quadrangular spot on the disc, and a still larger rounded spot in 

 " the elbow of the second transverse line ; besides, there is, as a third spot, a pale 

 "yellowish triangle which lies beneath the quadrangular spot between the two first 

 " branches of the median nervure, and forms a sort of connecting link between the 

 " two large spots. When the central portion of the wing is richly dusted with 

 "yellow towards the inner margin this small triangle. is less distinctly apparent, but 

 " it is alivays present, and on the under-side it participates in the violet gloss of the 

 " other spots, which gloss never extends fui'ther towards the inner margin. This 

 "small triangle is entirely wanting in stachydalis on both sides, and thereby tho 

 " two species can always be recognised. A further difference is presented by the 

 "greater breadth and shortness of the wings in stachydalis ; besides, this has the 

 "spots smaller, brighter yellow, less yellow dusting, and therefore a darker appear- 

 " ance. It also appears to be a constant character that stachydalis, on the inner 

 " edge of the quadrangidar spot, has a yellow dot separated from it by a narrow 

 "dark brown stripe. Sambucalis, it is true, also shows a small yellow spot towards 

 " the base, but it lies within the first transverse line (whereas in stachydalis it is 

 " beyond it), and is thus far removed from the quadrangular spot. Finally, sambu- 

 " calis ha.s, in the g , very fine dentations on the under-side of tho antenna;, which 

 "are distinctly visible with a lens; these are wanting in the <? stachydalis, 

 " and are replaced by microscopic, but distinct, pubescence." 



I have introduced this long extract because it goes very carefully into tho dis- 

 tinctive characters. It, however, omits one which is mentioned by Ileiiiemaim in 

 his description — " tho more strongly waved hind margin, and more acute apex of 

 anterior wings in stachydalis." All these characters I find to agree, except that tho 

 Bpots in my specimen are very palo ; and there is still an omission : — in stachydalis 

 the row of yellow dots which lies outside tho second transverse lino is not dilated 

 below tho costa as in sambucalis, nor is the line itself so deeply bent. 



I may add that I have already discovered a specimen of stachydalis among 

 some old British sambucalis, and feel little doubt it exists mixed with that species 

 ill other collections. — CuAS. Q. Bakuett, I'cnibroko : 8tb Xovember, 1875. 



