64 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



race. The most marked variable characters in var. hitennedia are 

 (1) The tendency of the red coloration to spread over the costal and 

 central areas of the hindwings (often only tinged with red, often quite 

 red), leaving a distinct black hind marginal band. (2) The tendency 

 for the red colour of the fringes to be carried forward upon the extreme 

 hind margin of the wing, encroaching on the black externally, but not 

 sufficiently to break up the continuity of the outer black band. This 

 form, with a black outer marginal band on the otherwise red hindwings, 

 appears to occur only as a rare aberration in the midlands, but to 

 become a dominant form in the southern counties and to occur in 

 Ireland. We have examples from Attadiawan, $ (1H91), Isle of 

 Man, $ (1892), Wicken, 3 , 2 (viii. 1891-1892), Newbury, ? 

 (viii. 1891), Warrington, 5 , one only (1892), Reading, ? (v. 1893),. 

 Cuxton, 3 , $ (vi. 1874). Our present impression is that it is largely 

 a 5 aberration in Britain. We call it ab. marginata, n. ab. 



It may be worth noting, here, that an occasional rare aberration of the 

 intermedia race occurs in our Islands, in which the red of the hindwings 

 is changed to yellow. Pitman records {Ent. Bee, x., p. 48) that he bred 

 two examples from eggs laid by a $ taken wild near Wisbech, in 

 which the hindwings are "yellowish-buff " where they ought to be 

 pink ; Dillon records {Ent. xxvii., p. 90), one at Clonbrock ; Pickard 

 bred one at Wolsingham {Nat. Hint. Tram. Xorth. and Dnrluini, xii., 

 pt. 1, p. 68). This form we call ab. intermedia- flavida, n. ab. The yellow 

 aberration of the southern France form was named ab. fiavida, by 

 Oberthiir, Bull. Soc Ent. Fr., 1901, p. 274, from specimens obtained at 

 light at Lourdes, on the evening of July 15th, 1901. 



In the most favourable habitats of the species in our southern 

 counties, the tendency for the hind-marginal band of ab. marginata 

 to become broken into distinct spots is more marked. The features 

 of this race compared with those of inter)iiedia may be noted as : — 



(1) A more marked sexual difference, the ,f s broader and squarer-winged than 

 the 9 s. (2) An entire difference between the fore- and hindwings in their tint 

 and markings. (S) Euddy forewings, densely scaled. (4) The hindwing rose-red 

 (the colour of the fringes), the black twin-spots large and well-developed, the red 

 on the extreme hindmargin developed so as to narrow and break up the black hind- 

 marginal band into a row of isolated marginal spots, the nervure forming the lower 

 edge of the discoidal cell and its branches black. (5) The fringes of the forewings 

 as in iiitcnnedia. (6) The red fringes of the hindwings uniform in tint with the 

 ground colour of the wing. (7) The shape of the wings as in inteniiedia. (8) The 

 size about the same as that of iiitermedui =\n.r. (i2}pro,viiiuit(i, n. var. 



Except for the fact that this race maintains the peculiar ruddy 

 forewing tint of our British, as compared with the south of France, 

 examples, that the latter are on the whole larger and exhibit a sexual 

 dimorphism of a most marked type (as may be observed in the large 

 number of bred specimens exhibited), I should be loth to distinguish 

 them by a separate name, although, in the mass, the difference 

 between the south of England and the south of France races, is 

 clearly manifest. The main features of the French race exhibited, 

 compared with our south of England examples, are : — 



i The forewings, though not of a lighter, are of a browner tint, the red 

 fringes standing out in more marked contrast, with the duller ground colour of the 

 wings in a manner rarely seen in British examples. The red colour of the 

 hindwings a clearer pink, less tinged with black around the twin-spots (occasionally 

 with a tendency to a salmon-coloured tint), the marginal spots usually fairly large 

 and well-marked. ? . Larger, the forewings very much darker, more densely 

 scaled than the d . The hindwings and abdomen of a bright crimson-pink ; 

 the marginal spotting intensely black = var. meridionalis, n. var. 



