36 [J»iy' 



kindness I have already been so largely indebted, and cannot do better 

 than quote his words in reply — " I am quite certain that we have two 

 " species here, one (sciitulana of our lists) feeds in the common creeping 

 " rooted thistle (Carduus arvensis), which grows on dry commons and 

 " road-sides, and the moths appear in May ; the other (cirsiana) feeds 

 "upon the marsh thistle {Carduus paZws^r/i"), which grows in damp 

 " meadows and moist places in woods, and the moths appear a month 

 " later. The two sexes rarely differ at all in size, colour, or markings, 

 " and there is scarcely any trace of the second white blotch so con- 

 " spicuous in the long-winged males of the previous sjjecies." 



This seems j)erfectly conclusive as to the distinctness of the two 

 species, and it appears to me necessary to restore Haworth's name 

 PJlugiana to the larger one. His description — " Pore-wings fuscous, 

 " slightly clouded with black and cinereous,' with posterior, transverse, 

 " double, white costal streaks, and a brown spot at the apex ; a strongly 

 " marked white fascia, hardly clouded, and divided nearly in the middle, 

 " and another very like it from the anal angle, these two being divided 

 "by a fuscous fascia," — is sufficiently accurate, as also is Wood's fig. 

 902, under the same name, and therefore it cannot well be ignored, 

 although Fabricius (from whom Haworth probably took the name) 

 described it so vaguely, that Wocke gives PJlugiana, Fab., as a synonym 

 of fcenella, Linn. If this name were passed over, it would be neces- 

 sary to adopt stictana, Haw., of which the description of var. a cer- 

 tainly refers to the female of this species, or else sticticana, Wood, 

 whose fig. 906 is a capital representation of the same. 



Gruenee's description of novann — "Allied to scutidana, but the 

 " apex of the anterior wings is sharper. Fore-wings fuscous, variegated 

 " with lead colour, with two large rounded white spots on the inner 

 " margin, the outer one having three or four black dots. Posterior 

 "wings fuscous, whiter underneath, with a small spot at the apex," — 

 applies very well to this sjiecies, but his types, communicated to me 

 by Mr. Doubleday, have a different appearance, being of a brighter, 

 browner colour, wdth the dark fascia more broken, and the costal 

 streaks more distinct, than in our ordinary form. The female of this 

 form has not been noticed, but the male is quite as distinct in colour 

 from PJlugiana as is scutulana, Tr., and it may eventually prove dis- 

 tinct. Wocke admits it as a separate species into his list, but with 

 an indication that he has not examined it, and he gives England as its 

 only locality, whereas Guenee says that he has taken it in the south 

 of France. 



