26o LEPIDOPTERA. 



orange-yellow, without a trace of white, but the spots normal ; 

 and two, obtained at Battersea, by Mr, Albert Hodges, have 

 the full basal half of the fore wings orange-yellow. Two 

 specimens, one in the cabinet of Mr. G. T. Porritt, and 

 the other in that of Mr. S. J. Capper, are especially notice- 

 able, because the}' have assumed one of the forms which so 

 particularly mark large sections of our Geometry, having a 

 regular scalloped basal Ijlotch, a ver}' broad and handsome 

 black central band, broadest on the costa, and the usual 

 marginal markings — singularly attractive looking specimens ; 

 another in the last named collection, and of quite equal 

 beauty, has the margins of all the wings pure white, the 

 usual rows of round black s})ots being totally absent ; another 

 is devoid of all the usual black spots, except that on the 

 middle of the costa, and has only a few other small scattered 

 spots on the white and yellow surface ; while a fourth, 

 belonging to the strain of uniformly black specimens, except 

 the white band near the base, has also a few wedge-shaped 

 white dashes beyond the middle of the hind wings. Not- 

 withstanding the risk of being tedious, I cannot pass over 

 the wonderful series of varieties reared by the Rev. Joseph 

 Greene from larvre fed almost entirely upon Euonymus 

 japonicus at Bristol. Some have the fore wings deep black 

 with yellow and white stripes, or white with broad yellow 

 stripes, or all the wings are white with minute black spots ; 

 or the ground colour smoky-grey, or pale purplish-red ; or the 

 hind wings are grey and the fore wings white, with the usual 

 range of markings ; or unsymmetrically blotched and shaded ; 

 while some are of one-half the usual size ; and one such has 

 the fore wings almost lanceolate. 



I have striven to give some idea of the excessive variation 

 of this species, but do not claim to have by any means 

 exhausted the subject. Dr. Mason's vast series fully vies 

 with those already mentioned ; and Mr. Porritt's, reared at 

 Huddersfield, are very striking. Probably every collector 

 who has de^'oted time and attention to the rearing of this 



