LÉPIDOPTÉROLOCxIE COMPARÉE 87 



TT ,/ -7 TT /^ ? musarion, Bork. ; hero, Lewin; 



Var. pntloxenus, Jisp. = [ ' ' ' 



\ davus, Haw., Jerm., Steph., 



British Southern Form (Under- < ,^j ^ , „ . . 



side, hind wings, ocellation large i Westwood, btamt. ; rothliebll, 



and distinct). f Herr-Schaffer, Newm. 



Var. laïdion, Bork. {= scotica, /' ? isis, Thnbg., Zett., Ménét. ; 



Stgr.) = \ demophile, Frr. ; ? typhon, 



Biitish Northern Form (Undor- 1 Haw., WestwOod; ? inomata, 



side hind wings ocellation obo- \ Edvv 

 lescent). ', 



I should add, however, that about a year after the publication 

 of the above, Mr. H. J. Elwes, F. R. S., while criticising in addition 

 the several varieties and aberrations named from North America 

 and Siberia, gives it as his opinion " that isis is certainly more 

 worthy of a name as a geographical variety than what he 

 (Dr. Buckell) calls the British Middle form, which " he continues, 

 " in my own collection I am not able to separate. But I think his 

 careful attempt to identify the British forms with the names given 

 by continental authors fails, because he had not sufficient foreign 

 spécimens, and I prefer to abide by the nomenclature of Stau- 

 dingers Catalogue, 1871, with the addition of the varieties which 

 I hâve mentioned in my notes. " {Ent. Rec, Vol. VIII, pp. 228-230). 



The italics are my own. Var. laidion is not merged in scotica 

 in the 1871 édition of the Catalogue. Mr. Elwes, otherwise, accepts 

 tiphon so far that " some English spécimens (the Middle Form 

 of Buckell) may be, perhaps, better grouped with this form, than 

 with the typical Scotch, and? Irish form. " This last he calls var. 

 et ab. laidion. The var. et ab. philoxenus, Esp. he thinks, occurs 

 as a typical variety only in the peat bogs of England, and N. W. 

 Germany; var. et ab. isis, Thnb., as " an aberration rarely in 

 Britain... " 



Personal ly, I do not share Mr. Elwes's view with regard to the 

 diffîculty of separating Buckell's Middle Form, as I hope to show 

 presently; and in this I find myself in accord with the majority 

 of British collectors of my acquaintance, as well as Tutt. There 



