﻿THERA VARIATA IN BRITAIN, 243 



variable, but always belonging to " typical variata,'' the larva 

 on Piiuis yicca. Kecently the question has again been some- 

 what to the fore, e. g., Laplace (Mitt. Ent. Ver. Hamburg- 

 Altona, 1899-1904, p. 100) records variata "everywhere in spruce- 

 woods, probably two broods, middle of May to end of July, larva 

 May and June on spruce ; obeliscata everywhere in pine- 

 (Kiefern-) woods, irregular, but certainly double-brooded, end of 

 May to October, larva May and July-August on pine (Scotch 

 fir)." Blocker (Rev. Russ. Ent. viii. 48) writes in a similar 

 strain, that obeliscata is "unconditionally an independent species. 

 Besides the extraordinarily sharp distinction in design and 

 ornamentation, the two forms are distinguished in manner of 

 life : variata lives on spruce, but obeliscata on pine, and appears 

 a little later than variata. In pine-woods only obeliscata is 

 taken ; in spruce-woods only variata. Where both spruce and 

 pine grow together, both species occur together, but evidently 

 they do not mix, as intermediate forms are not met with." 



$ Thcra variata. $ 



The above survey, which of course does not profess to be 

 exhaustive, will show that we have been much too " previous " in 

 merging the whole heterogeneity under the single name of 

 variata, and have now to submit to a third edition of the 

 inconvenience to which we were subjected nineteen years ago, 

 when the late C. G. Barrett announced the " true Acidalia 

 osseata'' in Britain, and again, four years ago, when Messrs. 

 Sharp and Wightman introduced us to '' Nonagria neurica in 

 Britain." When will entomologists learn the importance of 

 maintaining a separate name for a separate concept '? Whether 

 obeliscata be or be not a " species," it is an entity which we 

 ought never to have allowed ourselves to call "variata" ; if we 

 were very anxious to bolster up the Staudingerian theory, it 

 would, of course, have been permissible, though rather cumber- 

 some, to call our insect " variata obeliscata.'" 



For myself, I have always felt convinced that the two were 

 species, and I submitted the genitalia to Mr. Pierce several years 

 ago ; but as these unfortunately yielded nothing tangible, I 

 published nothing on the subject, unless possibly there be a 

 stray note in the Trans. City Lond. Ent. Soc, in connection 



