TRIFIDM. I So 



with one somewhat similar uear lieading, Berks. The paler, 

 so-called var. gothicina, is represented in great variety and 

 beauty in specimens from Sutherlandshire, of which a remark- 

 ably fine series is in the collection of Mr. W. II, B. Fletcher, 

 ranging from red-brown to pale brown and almost to buff, 

 sometimes almost devoid of markings, often having them 

 rather dull and obscure and the " gothic " mark red, brown, 

 indistinct or invisible, while sometimes the stigmata are 

 blurred by large pale or whitish clouds. Such forms in 

 Scotland are associated with the more typical, and they are 

 not absent from English localities, Yorkshire especially. 

 Another local variation, which I found mainly at Haslemere, 

 Surrey, has the black markings divided, and the separated 

 portions much reduced in size, even to mere isolated black 

 streaks, and in one case only the portion before the orbicular 

 stigma remains visible, the remainder being obliterated by a 

 large circular whitish cloud. A female example taken at 

 Howth, Dublin, has the fore wings almost entirely of a rich 

 chestnut-red ; one in the cabinet of Mr. Sidney Webb is 

 entirely rich dark purple-brown ; another has the black 

 markings extended and very large ; in another the usual 

 black mark is represented by a wedge-shaped umbreous 

 blotch and is very different. One reared by Mr. J. A. Clark, 

 from eggs laid by a Perthshire specimen, is of a brilliant 

 coppery-red ; and Mr. G. T. Porritt possesses a magnificent 

 specimen of a dark rich purple-red clouded with darker red 

 and having the " gothic " mark still darker and edged with 

 bright light red. In Ireland the general range of variation 

 is as in England, the curious Scottish forms being there very 

 uncommon. About 1871 the Scottish pale variety was first 

 noticed and was recorded as a distinct species under the 

 name of gothicina, H.-S., as already mentioned. 

 On the wing in March and April. 



Larva tolerably stout, smooth, slightly attenuated in front • 

 head highly polished, green dotted with dark brown or 



