SCOPARIJDjESCOPARJA. 319 



Very variable, especially so upon the coast. In western 

 districts, and especially on the Irish coast, a form is common 

 in which a brown tinge or shading obscures the fore wings, 

 obliterating the brightness of the usual ground colour and 

 markings. In chalk, oolite, and limestone districts, on the 

 south coasts of England and Wales, a different range of 

 variation is abundant, sometimes almost eliminating the 

 typical forms. In this the ground colour is chalky white, 

 and unusually conspicuous from the reduction of the brown 

 clouding and curtailment of markings, or in the change of 

 the colour of the markings to faint pale brown. In this 

 range of varieties — known as var. iiigratella — every possible 

 stage occurs in the partial obliteration of the markings until 

 a creamj' white or porcelain-white form is reached, upon which 

 are uo markings at all; or in another direction to where the 

 space between the first and second lines forms a darker central 

 band on a white ground. Some beautiful examples of this 

 last form have been taken on the Dorset coast by Mr. E. R. 

 Bankes ; and others of the whitest forms at Eastbourne by Mr. 

 H. F. Fryer. A very curious looking specimen which I met 

 with on a cliff near Margate has the costal two-thirds of the 

 central space filled up by a rectangular smoky brown blotch in 

 which is a white spot, the rest of the fore wings very faintly 

 shaded. It bears little resemblance to either of the other 

 known variations. 



On the wing from the end of May till July. 



Larva and Pupa unknown. Hartmann says " in March 

 and April in moss and lichen on oak and birch," yet all the 

 labour which has been lavished in the search for it in moss 

 has been utterly without result. The late Mr. W. Machin, 

 however, reared two or three specimens from unnoticed 

 larvjB or pupae among roots of sorrel {Rumex acctosa), which 

 had been dug up in the search for the larva of Scsia chrysi- 

 di/ormis ; and the example of *S. cemhrce encourages a 

 suspicion that the present species may ultimately prove to be 



