304 THE entomologist's record. 



the early stages, a little attention on the part of those British collec- 

 tors who breed the species, to the already published matter, would 

 undoubtedly soon clear up any doubt that may exist. 



Haworth first described the species, and his description {Lep. Brit., 

 p. 306, no. 98) from English specimens, reads as follows : — 



Geometra multutrifiaria (the mottled grey). Alls cinerascentibus, strigis fas- 

 ciolis(|ue numerosis satuvatioribus, lente quasi ex punctis nebulisque compositis. 

 Habitat valde infrequens apud nos, at frequentior in Norfolcia. Iiiuipo Mart. 

 Ericetis. Communicavit ejus captor Rev. .J. Burrell. E.rpansio alarum 1 unc. 

 2-4 lin. Descriptio : Margo ipse posticus ordine concinno et communi punctorum 

 geminatorura atrorum. Posticffi albidas strigis duabus saturatioribus evanes- 

 centihus pone medium. Foeraina mari simillima, antennis setaceis, quffi in mare 

 minute pectinatse sunt. 



This, it will be seen, is the ordinary grey form of the species so 

 well known to us, and, although I have implied above that the 

 northern lepidopterists have specially failed in their entomological 

 duty in not giving a good account of this species, this is simply because 

 it is in certain northern localities that it tends markedly to vary. The 

 dark form that I have previously named appears at present to be a 

 purely northern form, and may be described as : — 



ab. nithilata, Tutt, Brit. Mothx, p. 267 (1896) ; Ent. Rec, xiv., p. 203 (1902). 

 — Forewings of a deejj fuscous-brown, the typical pale bands restricted to double 

 rows of spots on nervures, so as to replace the normal pale basal and angulated 

 bands, the pain- submarginal line sometimes broken up into spots or small lunules, 

 faint marginal line with noticeable pairs of dark dots therein ; dark fuscous-brown 

 fringes. Hindwings dark grey, shaded with brown on the outer half with darker 

 transverse median submarginal and marginal lines, the slightly paler areas with a 

 few scattered pale spots on nervures. The i distinctly larger and broader-winged 

 than the ? . so that marked sexual difference is shown. 



Our first examples of this form came from Morpeth and Aberdeen, 

 but, of recent years, our collections have been more plentifully supplied 

 from the Huddersfield district. Writing October 3rd, 1904, Mr. G. T. 

 Porritt says, " The form seems to be rapidly increasing in the 

 Huddersfield district, and this spring was almost abundant " {in litt.). 



The distribution of the species throughout the southern, midland, 

 and northern counties of England, as well as Ireland and Scotland, 

 makes it possible for any lepidopterist who can breed the species to 

 test whether Milliere's ulbiaria be in reality a variety (local race) of L. 

 )nnlthtri(iaria, or a distinct species. Duponchel, writing of the 

 southern form {fli>it. Nat., supp. iv., p. 384), says that the insect he 

 describes is found in the south of France, that Treitschke places it 

 among the Cidarias .... but in his opinion its true place is 

 next Larentia viretata. Treitschke's nebidata is, of course, a quite 

 distinct species from the one Duponchel was considering. 



Milliere, as we have already noted, worked out this southern form 

 in detail [larmxiraphie, ii., p. 157, pi. Ixviii., figs. 5-9), naming it 

 ulbiaria (from Olbia, the Roman name of Hyeres). He says that 

 owing to Duponchel's blunder the insect had been distributed widely 

 as nebulata, and he wished to clear up the muddle. He notes : " One 

 is inclined at first to consider this race as distinct, from the appearance 

 due to the pallid (more or less bluish-grey) tint of the ground colour ; 

 and he was led to this erroneous opinion by the clayey (argileuse) tint 

 and well-marked transverse lines of the British specimens, characters 

 which never occur in the variety described, and one cannot be quite 

 certain, until the life-history of the typical British imdti>^trigaria has 



