VARIATION. 



247 



who has kindly verified the determination of various species. — James 

 E. Black, F.E.S., Nethercroft, Peebles, N.B. 



Agabus unguicularis, Thoms., and a. affinis, Payk. — Mr. Ed- 

 wards' reply {Ent. Record, xvi., p. 187) to my note on these two species 

 {Ent. Record, xvi., pp. 90-92) perhaps demands some rejoinder from 

 me. That I did not inadvertantly transpose the specific names in 

 my summary of specific differences, as suggested by Mr. Edwards, is, 

 I think, obvious from the tenor of the rest of the article. I am, 

 however, quite ready to beheve that the shape, size, and position of 

 the male tarsal claw may be variable in both species, as it appears to 

 be in other members of the group, although, in all the specimens 

 which I was able to examine, the character appeared constant, and the 

 insistence by Thompson on it is marked. I should be the last, 

 however, to question the accuracy of Mr. Edwards' observation in this 

 particular, but I might point out that to assume the whole of the late 

 Mr. Lennon's Dumfries captures to be A. ajfinu and the whole of 

 those taken in Norfolk and other southern localities to be A. wnjiuicu- 

 laris, and then to find in any specimen of each group distinctive 

 specific characters to separate them, is perilously like reasonmg in a 

 circle. It is, perhaps, needless to say that had I seen the passage 

 quoted by Mr. Edwards from his " Supplementary list of Norfolk 

 Coleoptera," I should have referred to it. I may state that since I 

 wrote my note I have seen evidence that A. affinis may occur in the 

 London district and I may perhaps be allowed this opportunity of 

 saying that I should be very glad if captors of tlie males of either 

 species would allow me to see them (unset) so that if possible we niay 

 arrive at some more satisfactory conclusion as to their respective 

 distribution.— W. E. Sharp, F.E.S., 9, Queens Road, South Norwood, 

 Surrey. 



^^A R I A T I N. 



Aberration of Hyloicus pinastri, Linn. — Mr. H. Marschner, at 

 Hirschberg (Silesia), has a fine slaty-grey specimen of Hyloicus pinastri, 

 which is sprinkled with few white scales and wants the three longi- 

 tudinal dark lineolte of the forewings. The two transverse bands of the 

 forewings are almost extinct; of the outer transverse shade a trace 

 on the costa is merely visible, and of the inner transverse shade only 

 two traces, viz., on the costa and in the discoidal cell. The white dis- 

 coidal spot is faint, the apical streak present. The hindwings are 

 typical. This specimen is a transition form towards ab. grisea, Tutt 

 (1904), which is without the dark lineolae or transverse shades. — M. 

 GiLLMER, Cothen, Anhalt. August 5th, 1904. 



The typical form of Phragmatobia fuliginosa. — ^Referring to your 

 remarks in the paper on Phragmatobia fuliginosa {antea, p. 61), we are, 

 in Sweden, well aware that Linne, in the Fauna Suecica, described the 

 form borealis, Staud., but it is also quite clear that, in the Sgst. Nat., 

 ed. X., p. 509, he described the form occurring in mid- Europe and 

 southern Sweden, and, therefore, this must be taken as the type 

 form. Some years ago I discussed this matter with Staudinger, who 

 held the same opinion. — Chr. Aurivillius, Stockholm. July 19th, 

 1904. [We have, unfortunately, not the 10th edition of the Systema 

 Naturae by us for reference at this moment. — Ed.] 



