TRIFID.E. 73 



should never be captured on the wing. The present species 

 appears to have been first noticed in this country (in the 

 larva state, of course) about the year 1842, by Mr. S. Stevens, 

 near Arundel, Sussex, and it has more recently been found in 

 the same county near Petersfield ; also at Box Hill, Surrey ; 

 near Liphook, Hants ; Caversham, on the border of Oxford- 

 shire ; once near Woodchester, Gloucestershire, and rarely in 

 Norfolk and Suffolk. Probably it is more widely distributed 

 through the Eastern and Southern counties, but its occur- 

 rence in any other part of these Islands is extremely doubtful. 

 Abroad its range extends through France and Germany, 

 Corsica, and Southern and Western Russia — possibly farther 

 — the confusion between this and previous species extending 

 apparently to their localities. That the present species is 

 abundantly distinct from C. verbasci is obvious ; but its 

 resemblance to G. scrophularice is in all respects so exceed- 

 ingly close that a very strong case can be made out by those 

 who believe in their specific identity. To my own eye there 

 seems to be a difference in the form of the pale space down 

 the middle of the fore wings, this in C. scrophularice being 

 straighter and its dark edges more exactly parallel than in 

 C lychnitis, but the distinction is very slight. The difference 

 of black marking in the larvas is somewhat greater, and the 

 times of appearance, in that and the imago state, appear to 

 be different. It seems advisable, therefore, to follow the 

 previous practice both here and abroad, and to treat them as 

 distinct species until they are proved to be identical. The 

 name lychnitis is unfortunate, since it seems to connect the 

 insect with Lychnis, upon which it certainly does not feed ; 

 doubtless the reference is to Verbascum lychnitis, and Stau- 

 dinger therefore points out that the name might well be 

 lychnitidis. 



4. C. asteris, Schiff. — Expanse If to 2 inches. Fore 

 wings silvery-grey with a broad shaded purplish-brown stripe 

 along the costa, and a darker purple-brown blotch at the 



