1915.] 151 



Science. Prof. Poultoii exhibited a portion of a large family of Acraea encedon L. 

 bred at Durban from a known female parent kindly sent to him hv 

 Mr. E. E. Piatt. He also described the hibernation of vast nvimbers of Musca 

 corvina in the cistern-loft of St. Helen's Cottage, St. Helen's, Isle of Wight. 

 Mr. L. W. Newman, a living pupa of Pyrameis atalanta, and read notes on the 

 copulation of P. atalanta in October, and the hybernating of the species in the 

 pupal stage. 



The following paper was read as a basis for a discussion on Mimicry : — " The 

 Mimetic Theory— A Crucial Test," by Colonel N. Manders, F.Z.S., F.E.S. A 

 most important reply was made by Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton, which he has 

 embodied in a paper entitled ; " A Brief Preliminary Statement of a few of 

 the Results of Five Years' Special Testing of the Theories of Mimicry." 

 Prof. Poulton, Mr. G. Marshall, Mr. Neave, and other Fellows commented. — 

 Geo. Wheeler, Hon. Secretary. 



NOTES ON XANTHIA (MELLINIA) 0CELLARI8 Bobkh. 

 BY H. WORSLEY WOOD. 



The following notes on *Xanthia ocellaris and its varieties, with 

 some consideration of certain allied species, form an attempt to co- 

 ordinate and criticise matter at present to be found for the most part 

 scattered through various Entomological publications, British and 

 Continental. 



I am under particular obligation to Herr Eudolf Piingeler of 

 Aachen for many references to, and comments on, the Continental 

 forms, and for the loan of his fine series of " Xanthias " which con- 

 tained many remarkable examples of ocellaris from various localities 



* The old generic name of Xdtithla lia.s been retained as being the onlj' one available which 

 iwclviAes fidvayo L. in the same group with (nlvdiio, onllitris, and (Vythniyo. The term is found 

 in one recent British author (South, "Moths of the Biitish Isles"), where it is used in a much 

 restricted sense to include lutm Stromand.r'c/i-Hyo L. The grounds on which it is applied are not 

 stated. Hubner's genera have been used for others of the old genus, and if this is the Xdnthia 

 of the Tentamen, which belongs to paUaaa Esp., it is an error, and Citria Hb., Verz. '234 should be 

 used. MdliaiaiVb., the term now in common use, is unsatisfactory, since a knowledge of the 

 life-histoiy and structure of fiUvago, ucdlaris, and f/ilvaijo, make it difiicult to understand the 

 grounds on which they were separated. Grote in "A note on the use of Xanthia," Bnt. Rec, 

 VII, pp. 10, 17, after fixing the tj^pe of the genus Citria as hitm, writes "We have come to 

 MtUinia, Verz. 235 for palUarjo = giloago var. and oiutlari.i Bkh. If these two (or perhaps only one) 

 species are generically identical with Citria flavayo (= InUa) the terms will of course fall." From 

 this, assuming that tatta a,iid Juivago are genei'ically identical, we get : - 

 Citria lutca Str6m. 



fulvago L. 



ocellaris Bkh. 



iriitlirago Warren. 



gilvago Esp. 

 The species have also been included in Orthoaia by Meyrick, and in Cosmia by Hampson and 

 Wairen. Ortlioaia comprises 17 British species, many of wliich are obviously unrelated. Cosmia 

 Tr., used by Warren, who takes C.fnlcngo L. as the type of the genus, is due to a confiision in 

 the application of fulvago L. a.\\d fu I rago Schiff. Ilerr Piingeler assures me tliat in Germany the 

 older authors always used fttlvogo for pahacia Esp., and Grote (loc. cit.) quotes Prout to the 

 same effect. Cf. Hampson, Cat. Lep. Phal., VI, p. .002, " C. fulvago Linn. :^ omj/o Sehiff. 

 Tyjie. AI.so of Citria Hb. and Xanthia Hb., Tent." Grote (loc. cit.) .sliows conclusively that the 

 type of Xanthia of the " Tentamen " ia fulvago Sehiff. ^^ paleacea Esp. 



