30 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The sj^ecimen is a female in perfect condition. The entire 

 fore wing, save the hind margin, is suffused with a golden green, 

 rather more golden in colour than the dark spots on the type 

 specimens. The hind wing is slightly darker in colour and the 

 gold dusting is less apparent. On the hind margin of each is 

 just a trace of the ordinary light yellow markings ; they appear 

 well on the fore wings in the figure. Without those traces I 

 should have hesitated in finding a name for the moth, which is 

 extremely beautiful. 



Fig. 6 represents a typical example of the species. 



J. S. Carter. 



Warren Hill Cottage, Eastbourne. 



A CIDALIA VIRG ULARIA. 



(Plate IV., fig 7, melanic form ; fig. 8, grey form, x 2.) 



In September, 1911, I had the good fortune to capture a 

 melanic specimen of Acidalia virgularia, at rest on a fence in 

 one of the south-east suburbs of London. Fortunately the 

 specimen, though unusually small, was a female, and a few ova 

 were obtained. The larvae were successfully wintered, and 

 twenty-three perfect (and one crippled) specimens emerged at the 

 end of May, 1912. 



The grey specimens of this melanic race are perfectly distinct 

 from the melanic forms, and none of those reared so far can 

 properly be called intermediates. There is, however, a stronger 

 or weaker tendency to develop a dark suffusion towards the 

 margin of both wings, giving the outer band the appearance of 

 frosted silver, very different from the usual London type. In 

 other words, the grey forms of this race suggest that the 

 influence of the melanic strain is producing a suffusion of dark 

 scales along the outer border of both wings. 



The upper wing area of the melanic specimen is entirely 

 suffused with these dark scales, with the exception of a small 

 but slightly variable area surrounding the dark discoidal spots. 

 The extreme edges of the wings and fringes appear to be white, 

 but of course they show up more vividly than in the type form, 

 owing to contrast. 



The spaces between the eyes and the front of the thorax are 

 white, as well as a basal spot on each wing. 



The anal tufts and a narrow fringe of scales at the junction 

 of the abdominal segments remain white, but the ventral area 

 of the abdomen is distinctly affected by the melanism, whereas 

 the legs are not noticeably darkened. 



The black scaling would produce as black a moth as var. 

 doiibledayaria of Pachys hetularia were it not that the wings are 



