f\, 



\Y14 191 



May, 1915.] . 153 ^S> 



ever entertained. No fig'ure is given, though there are fine bredT 

 examples of this form readily accessible in the Bankes Collection at 

 South Kensington, and Staudinger gives a reference to the original 

 description with figure by Habich. But Staudinger was not con- 

 sulted, as is evidenced by the theory (based on sheer guess-work) that 

 intermedia " may be, I think, the same as the yellower form of 

 paUeago (Hb. fig. 442) , and if so would supplant the name erythrago 

 for the preceding species." The two species are, of course, perfectly 

 distinct, and, I think, have never until now been confused. 



So much for our authorities ; but in justice to Barrett it should be 

 remarked that his errors in naming ocellaris appear to have arisen in 

 part from the arrangement of the insects in the National Collection, 

 for an account of which see Tutt's " British Noctuae and their Varieties," 

 IV, pp. X et seq. This arrangement seems to have held good until 

 quite recently, but in April 1914 they had certainly been re-grouped, 

 for I found ocellaris repi'esented only by ab. lineago which had its 

 correct varietal name. Typical and lighter-than-type ocellaris were 

 given specific rank as palleago (Hb. 192), though the joaZ/eagfo which 

 appears in Staudinger's Catalogiae (1901) as a species is Hiibner's 

 figure 442. Ab. intermedia boldly labelled ' ocellaris ' (? the cause of 

 Barrett's error) found refuge in the series of gilvago, which series also 

 harboured seven specimens of the true palleago (Hb. 442) = erythrago 

 Warren and several examples of forms of fulvago, L. 



Distribtdum. W. Central and S. Europe, W. and Central Asia to 

 China, N. Africa (Algeria). Britain is on the western fringe of the 

 area of distribution, and the species is at present confined to our 

 E. and S.E. counties, with the exception of a solitary record from 

 Coxhorne in Gloucestershire. The Thames Valley must be regarded 

 as its headquarters, no other district offering anything in the nature of 

 really consecutive appearances. 



The first recorded capture in England was of a single insect taken 

 on Wimbledon Common by Mr. E. H. Taylor, Sept. 27th, 1893 ; two 

 others were taken at Twickenham in the same year. A few, generally 

 not more than two or three, were recorded from widely separated 

 localities every year after this (with the exception of 1897) up to 1900. 

 From 1901 to 1906 I can find no records, but from 1907 to the present 

 time the insect has appeared every year, the last published record 

 (Entom., February, 1915) giving an account for the first time of the 

 capture of any number from any locality outside the Thames Valley. 

 Consecutive appearances seem to have been at Wimbledon, 1893-4 



