﻿THERA VARIATA IN BRITAIN. 



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green over the head, thorax, and wings, inclining to glaucous on 

 the anterior portion; and the abdomen pale amber. The 

 colouring very gradually became duller and uniformly more 

 ochreous-olive over the head, thorax, and wings, and the 

 abdomen browner. By the fourteenth day the central area of 

 the wing assumes a pale huffish tint, the base and hind margin 

 remaining greenish, and a few indistinct smoky-brown spots 

 appear between the nervures; by very slow degrees the green 

 colouring disappears and the wings become opaque-ochreous, 

 and very gradually the head and limbs acquire a dusky hue, and 

 the abdomen deepens slightly. On July 6th the colouring of 

 imago began to appear, on the following day it rapidly matured, 

 the wings then showing ocbreous-yellow marked with dark 

 brown, the rest of the pupa being dull brown, and on July 8th 

 a fine female butterfly emerged. The pupal stage lasted for 

 thirty-five days. 



The pupa measures y\j in. long. It closely resembles that of 

 galathea, but is considerably larger, being ^ in. longer, having 

 the abdomen mor-e elongated, with a dorsal depression between 

 the second and third segments, and the cremaster is more 

 decurved, which in galathea is almost straight ; the ventral out- 

 line of smvarovius is straight from the apex of the wings to the 

 cremaster, otherwise the form is very similar to galathea. The 

 cremastral process terminates with a bunch of amber-coloured 

 spines, some almost straight, others having the apices slightly 

 curved. The abdomen is clothed with minute dart-shaped 

 spines and the entire surface is granular. The thoracic 

 spiracle, like galathea, forms a conspicuous black projecting ear- 

 shaped process, giving the head a peculiar appearance. The 

 wings are finely transversely reticulated and the whole structural 

 detail is finely outlined with brown. 



The authors take this opportunity of expressing their most 

 sincere thanks to Mr. Theodor Micklitz, the Director of the 

 Austrian Emperor's Forests, for his great kindness in granting 

 permission to visit Puszta Peszer, without which this present 

 article could not have been written. 



THERA VARIATA IN BRITAIN. 



By Louis B. Prout, F.E.S. 



Probably the above heading will cause surprise to a good 

 many readers, and some may wonder whether my next discovery 

 will be Camptogramma bilineata in Britain ! It seems to have 

 been forgotten by, or to have remained unknown to, the 

 majority of present-day British lepidopterists, although it was 

 well known to the illustrious Doubleday, that the Thera which 



