BOA RMJD.'E— TEPHROSIA . 1 85 



year 1866 Sir John T. Llewellyn recorded in the Entomolo- 

 ,gist's Montldy Magcrdne the capture in Glamorganshire of a 

 " handsome leaden coloured variety of Tejjhrosia laricaria," 

 from which he obtained eggs. From these eggs eight speci- 

 mens were reared, five of which were similarly blackened ; 

 in subsequent years by pairing the black females with grey- 

 brown males he obtained the black variety in larger numbers, 

 and by pairing these, a still larger proportion, until all were 

 dark. Ten years later he found that the same form of 

 variation had extended to the later race, emerging in May, 

 but that in this a greater tendency was shown to whiteness 

 of the subterminal line. These forms appear now to be 

 established in South Wales. 



With regard to the similar change in England, the late 

 Mr. Nicholas Cooke, of Liverpool, wrote, in the Entomologist, 

 1887: "The most interesting case of melanism that has 

 come under my observation is the total change in the colour 

 ■of Teplirosia hiundularia in Delamere Forest. Some thirty 

 years since, when I visited Petty Pool Wood, this species was 

 very abundant, appearing in March, and was to be found 

 through April and May, but all were of a creamy-white 

 grround colour. Dark varieties were so scarce that thev were 

 considered a great prize. Noto it is quite the reverse ; all are 

 dark smoky-brown, approaching black; a light variety is very 

 rare." Confirmation of this is given by Mr. S. J. Capper, 

 whose diary shows the capture of many specimens in the 

 first half of the Aprils of 18G9, 1870 and 1871, '"all of the 

 white form," by Mr. F. X. Pierce, and others. In October 

 1896 Mr. G. 0. Day, of Knutsford, wrote me, " Blackened and 

 ■dark grey forms are from Delamere Forest, March and May 

 «,like. Paler forms — white to pale brown and grey-brown — 

 are found in North Lancashire." The conclusion seems, I 

 think, to be tolerably safe, that although dark forms were 

 not previously quite unknown, the great change of tint set 

 in somewhere about the year I860 and has continued to the 

 present time ; also that it has, so far as the blackened forms 



