ACIDALIID.i:— ACID ALIA. 39 



successive, and indistinct, transverse lines, or shades of faint 

 yellow-brown, the middle one usually the most perceptible ; 

 extreme hind margin sharply dotted with black ; cilia shinin<( 

 brownish white. Female very similar. 



Underside of the fore wings smoky-white, more smoky 

 toward the base ; hind wings rather whiter ; all dusted with 

 black and having the central black spots and marginal dots 

 well marked, the lines and shades but faintly indicated, except 

 the second line and its extension on the hind wings, both of 

 which are noticeably black. Body and legs dusky pale 

 brown. 



There is slight variation in the colour of the wings — 

 whiter or browner — and in the degree of brown dusting ; also 

 in the distinctness of the first and second transverse lines, 

 which in some specimens become much more noticeable. 

 This leads directly to a fine and constant local race, found in 

 the " mosses '' of Lancashire and Cheshire, which has long 

 been looked upon as a distinct species under the name of 

 A. circcllata. In this form the first and second lines are 

 sharply distinct and of a moderately deep brown, as also is 

 the median stripe or line of the hind wings ; altogether giving 

 the insect a very distinct appearance. This, however, is only 

 in the more extreme form, intermediates and almost typical 

 specimens being found along with them, and all possible 

 shades of intermediate variation, there and elsewhere, so that 

 the identity of the two forms as one species is I think incon- 

 testable. A very few specimens of this variety circcllata, 

 but not of the most strongly marked extreme, were taken in 

 the year 1871 near Dover, by Mr. F. C. Woodforde. These 

 I have seen. With their exception I do not know of any 

 captures of this variety except in the " mosses " already 

 mentioned. In Mr. Sydney Webb's collection is a specimen 

 in which two dark lines on all the wings are so clouded as 

 almost to form bands. 



Ou tlie wing in July and August ; and a second generation 

 has been reared, indoors, in September. 



