ANTHROCERA AOHILLE^E. 78 



Anthrocera achilleas, Esp., added to the British list. 



By E. A. COCKAYNE, F.E.S. 



In October, 1907, I received from Mr. W. Renton, as Anthrocera 

 piirpiiriilis, some specimens of an Anthrocerid which did not appear to 

 me to be that species. On comparing them with those in the British 

 Museum, I found that they were certainly not A. purpuralh var. 

 internipta, Stand., to which variety they approximate most closely. 

 They bore a strong resemblance, however, in general characters to 

 A. achilleac, Esp., especially to some specimens from Bergiin, labelled 

 ab. ririae, Hiibner, which differed from typical A. achilleue in the 

 much smaller size of the spots, especially the sixth, and the thinner, 

 rougher, scaling of the wings, and in the greater hairiness of the 

 abdomen. The Scottish specimens present these last characters in a still 

 more marked degree, and a minute examination of the limits reached 

 by the red scales showed that they corresponded exactly with some of 

 the Bergiin specimens. The antennae, too, showed some variation, 

 though always having the two terminal segments red, a character 

 absent in A. purpuralifi : some, both from Scotland and Bergiin, have 

 a patch of yellow scales on the dorsal surface of the last segment but 

 one. Mr. Pierce kindly examined the appendages in the male, and 

 found that they belong to the pllipendnlae and not to the jiitrpi<rali.s 

 group. He further states that they appear to be identical with those 

 of A. achilleae. There is little doubt that Mr. Renton has discovered 

 an isolated colony of this species near Oban, an insect not previously 

 recorded from the British Isles. 



I hope later in the year to hear further, and give a more detailed 

 account of the imago, which is, perhaps, worthy of a varietal name. 

 Mr. Renton hopes to have a more complete account of its habits m this 

 country. For help in determining to what species these insects belong 

 I must thank Sir George Hampson, Mr. Pierce, Mr. Tutt, Dr. Chapman, 

 and Mr. Prout. 



Anthrocera achilleas, Esp., as a British species. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 

 Mr. Cockayne is to be congratulated on his determination in show- 

 ing this species to be British. In spite of the present writer's offhand 

 opinion that a couple of specimens submitted to him appeared rather 

 to be J. plipcndulae than anything else, Mr. Cockayne worked away at 

 the specimens in the British Museum collection until he found some 

 examples of A. aclulLrae, captured by Zeller at Bergiin, which came 

 (piite near to those he had from Scotland. On oui' then making a 

 second and more careful examination we detected several minor items 

 that supported this view, and a number of g^ A. achilleae ix:om.([\(U'.vex\i 

 continental localities that we could fortunately supply for dissection, 

 has enabled Mr. Cockayne, with Mr. Pierce's help, to finally add this 

 species to the fauna of the British Isles. 



The species is an exceedingly abundant one in nu)st of the localities 

 in which we have collected on the continent, abounding in most of the 

 bills of south-eastern France, northern Italy, and the valli^vs of 

 Switzerland, Austria, etc. Staudinger notes {('at., 3rd ed., p. ;>H2) it 

 as distributed through " eastern, south-eastern, and central I'^nrope, 

 Belgium, north Italy, Switzerland, Bithynia, Pontus, Armenia, Syria, 

 ApRir, 15th, 190H. 



