100 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



white, as in the type. This variety occurs in both broods, some 

 of the specimens being almost devoid of the dark shades, others 

 with the dark shades very strongly marked. I have to thank 

 Mr. W. Farren, of Cambridge, for the loan of a fine series of 

 this variety. 



y. var. argentea, mihi. — Gromid colom- silvery white, with no 

 trace of ochreous. My specimen, which is probably of the 

 autmnnal brood, is much suffused with dark scales directly above 

 and below the median nervure, also along the costa, and less 

 strongly along the inner margin. Taken very rarely with the 

 type. 



Leucanid^, Gn. 



The Leucanidae are, as a family, remarkable for their pale 

 colour, nearly all of them being of some shade of yellowish or 

 whitish ochreous in their palest forms. Even those which we 

 are accustomed to consider as having the typical colour of some 

 shade of red are found to be grey or ochreous in their paler 

 forms, when long series from far-distant localities are obtained 

 for comparison. In almost all the species of this group the 

 variation in ground colour appears to go through a regular 

 gradation from pale whitish ochreous to yellowish ochreous and 

 reddish ochreous, generally culminating in a deep red. Not 

 only are many of our species subject to these variations in 

 ground colour, but nearly all the family are frequently in all 

 these various forms more or less suffused with black scales. It 

 is therefore in one of these two directions, or in both combined, 

 that the variations of the Leucanidse generally run. A less 

 important form of variation is in the number of dots which 

 form the transverse rows found in many species parallel to 

 the hind margins of both the anterior and posterior wings. 

 Frequently some specimens of a species have complete rows of 

 these dots, while in other specimens of the same species they 

 are entirely absent, others having a greater or less proportion of 

 the total number suppressed. In most instances, however, two 

 at least are developed on the anterior wings, one directly above, 

 the other below, the median nervure. 



Synia, Dup., mnsculosa, Hb. 

 It may be advisable to point out that Newman's figure, 

 * British Moths,' p. 273, is nothing like Hlibner's type, and that his 



