34 LEPIDOPTERA. 



where, though the same reticence has been observed, there is 

 little doubt that it has been taken nearly every season up to 

 the present time. Doubtless its home is on the hillsides in 

 South Wales where the alder trees and bushes grow in every 

 damp spot and border every rivulet. Outside the two 

 counties named, with the exception of Mr. Allis's Yorkshire 

 record, and one, which has not been confirmed, in Westmore- 

 land, I know of no locality for this interesting and handsome 

 species in the British Isles ; yet in the collection of Dr. P. B. 

 Mason at Burton-on-Trent are two ancient specimens, once 

 in the possession of Mr. Haworth. and to all appearance of 

 the same variety as those already noticed, and presumably 

 British, but without labels of locality. One of these bears 

 an old label " dbscura," the other " perfuscaP 



Abroad its range is throughout Central Europe, the 

 temperate portions of Northern Europe, Northern Italy, the 

 Ural Mountain districts ; and the mountain regions of Central 

 Asia. 



It may serve as a curious illustration of the difficulty 

 experienced by those who desire to furnish every species with 

 an English name if I point out that in pursuit of this object 

 one of our more recent writers called the species just treated 

 of "The Conformist" and the following "The Noncon- 

 formist " / / 



4. X. lambda, Fab. ; Zinckenii, Tr. — Expanse H inch. 

 Fore wings narrow, blunt ; soft glossy slate-grey, divided 

 almost entirely into rounded clouds with black edgings and 

 softenings ; a deep black basal streak is followed by two 

 oblique black lines which join a longitudinal black streak. 

 Hind wings smoky-grey with a hoary sheen. 



Antennas of the male stout, minutely ciliated, reddish- 

 brown, white at the base ; palpi very broadly tufted, greyish- 

 white streaked with black, apical joint very short; eyes 

 black ; eyelashes abundant and conspicuous, deep black ; 

 head prominently and rather flatly tufted, but the tufts 



