SOMK I\T-St:AI. FOKJIS OF M.\N])rCA ATKOPOS. 137 



Some unusual forms of Manduca atropos (with plate). 



By (Eev.) C. 11. N. BUEIiOWS. 



I have always regarded this species, of which I have from time to 

 time reared a considerable number, as being little liable to variation. 

 I had, however, an indistinct recollection of having seen or heard of 

 strange forms which good fortune had brought to other collectors, and 

 I was very much surprised when I found that the account of such 

 interesting aberrations did not turn up in response to Mr. Tutt's 

 request for particulars, as material for his forthcoming vol. iv of 

 llritisli Li'pidiijitera, so I took upon myself a search in likely directions, 

 and T hope that the result will prove interesting to readers of the E'nt. 

 Record. 



Everybody knows the ordinary forms of this tine insect well 

 enough. There is a certain amount of difference in the area of the 

 pale patch towards the apex of the forewing, and some variation in 

 the development of the transverse yellow or white lines. But Linne's 

 type is practically unicolorous. Beginning with this I will proceed 

 to give an account of my discoveries, some of which, in response to 

 my urgent request, have now been exhibited in London. 



(1) The tt/jit'. — I have in my own cabinet a 2 bred at Kainham, in 

 1896, which well represents this form. The upperwings are almost 

 without markings, except for the discoidal spot, which, in this speci- 

 men is quite tiny, and some short whitish streaks from the inner 

 margin, four on the left upperwing and two on the right. Unfortu- 

 nately, as is often the case with forced specimens, this one is not quite 

 fully scaled towards the tips of the forewings, and there was a small 

 aneurism towards the extremity of the right forewing. 



(2) In the cabinet of Mr. .T. A. Clark I found a female specimen, 

 which appears to be a very good iUustration of what the late Mr. J. 

 Jenner-Weir called " phfeism," i.e., incomplete melanism or duski- 

 ness. Here the whole insect, a fine specimen of the form which has 

 more extensive pale markings upon the upperwings, is entirelv 

 siiftused. This does not strike one so much on the upperwings, but 

 is most noticeable when it obscures, but by no means hides, the yel- 

 low of the underwings, thorax, and abdomen. This specimen was 

 bred by Mr. Clark from a Cambridgeshire pupa, on October 15th, 

 1892, and was exhibited by him at the meeting of the City of London 

 Entomological Society, on November 17th, 1903. 



(3) Mr. W. Brooks, of Grange Hall, near Rotherham, possesses a 

 most striking specimen (I think a $ , but it is difficult to be certain 

 from a photograph), which he tells me has never been described or 

 exhibited until he brought it to the meeting of the City of London 

 Entomological Society, on November 3rd, 1903. This insect has the 

 upperwings much more suffused with yellow and white than any I 

 have seen before. So much is this the case, that the dark coloration 

 which one is inclined to consider as the ground colour in other ex- 

 amples of the species, is here reduced, until it forms two transverse 

 bands, which (in the set specimen, whose portrait is before me), con- 

 tinue the two black bands of the lower wings. This in itself consti- 

 tutes, as far as my experience goes, not only a curious, but probably 

 almost unique, variation, yet it is further intensified by the extra- 

 ordinary increase in the number of white scales, which, though not 



May 15th, 1804. 



