THE HABITS AND VARIATION OF PHRAGMATOBIA FULIGINOSA. 63 



an extension of the red line running along the inner margin (Galashiels, 

 (? - $ , Pitcaple, ? , Carlisle, <? ). (2) The darkening of the outer 

 margin conjpared with the centre of the hindwing (suggesting the 

 origin of the marginal band in ab. inanjiuata). 



I am somewhat in doubt as to the real geographical Inie of 

 separation in Britain between the northern form [fidu/muaa, h.— 

 horealis, Stdgr.) and our intermediate British form ( — var. intermedia). 

 Beadle states [Knt. Rec, xiv., p. 205) that, in the Keswick district of 

 Cumberland, where the species occurs both on the mountains and m 

 the valleys, all are var. horeaUs or intermediates, none are quite 

 so large or brown as the type." Robson also says {}^at. Hint. Traxs. 

 Xorth. and Durluuii, xii., pt. 1, p. 26) that the form found at Hartlepool 

 approaches the var. hurealis, the hindwings being much suft'used with 

 black, whilst at Seaton Snook, a small range of sandhills near the 

 mouth of the Tees, surrounded by the sea at highwater, a dwarf form 

 of this species is found with still less red on the hindwings. Hewett 

 says {Entom., xxv., p. 251) that the larvae found around York produce 

 only var. borealis. We suspect, from these records and our own knowledge, 

 that St. Anne's-on-Sea, Carlisle and Morpeth, produce quite typical 

 examples of the northern va,ce — fidi(/inosa, Linn., whilst Lincoln and 

 Warrington produce var. inteiniedia, that the separation line runs 

 from near Fleetwood to the Peak, in the west, and from the Peak to 

 Flamborough Hd., on the east, i.e., that the type is to be found over 

 the whole of the Pennine-Cumbrian mountain districts, with a strong 

 tendency to var. intennedia in the most suitable spots along its 

 southern boundaries. 



The spread of the red colour from the inner margin towards the 

 centre of the hindwings, noted {tiUjira) as one of the aberrational 

 characters of the northern race, points out the character that leads us 

 to the consideration of the second of our British races. This may be 

 said to show (compared with the northern race) the following 

 characteristics : — 



(1) A similarity of the sexes. (2) A greater difference between the fore- and 

 hindwings in their tint and markings. (3) A distinct reddening of the forewings, 

 with denser scahng, and well-separated twin-spots. (4) The hindwings less 

 uniformly coloured, the twin-spots as in the forewings, the red inner lUiirginal patch 

 extending from the inner margin of the wing along the base of the discoidal cell, 

 and the nervure that runs thereupon to the middle of the outer margin ; and 

 cutting back at the black inner marginal band to the anal angle, thus forming a 

 roughly triangular red basal patch. (.5) The fringes of the forewings usually 

 markedly redder than the ground-colour of the forewings. (6) The red fringes of 

 the hindwings usually sharply cut off' from the dark hind marginal area. (7) The 

 wings wider (squarer-looking; compared with theu' length. (8) The distinctly 

 larger average size. Localities : — Lincoln, Wicken (vii-viii. 1891-1892), War- 

 rington (1892), Swansea (1893), Reading (v. 1893), Newbury (viii. 1891)= var. 

 intermedia, n. var. 



This form is very characteristic of the midland counties of England, 

 and occurs throughout Ireland ; it is also so very generally distributed 

 among the appnu-iniata form in the southern counties, as to lead one 

 to look upon the latter, at least in Britain, rather as an aberration of 

 the intennedia race than the dominant form in these counties, a 

 conclusion probably erroneous, whilst I have already mentioned that 

 intennedia occurs as a rare aberration among the typical northern 



* I do not pretend to know what Beadle means by "the type," or what 

 " type " description he is here referring to. It certainly cannot be the Linnean 

 type. 



