306 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



145, fig. 6, which I have described as follows : — " A dull red 

 ground colour, with two single, fuscous, basal lines, dark greyish 

 or fuscous nervures and costa ; stigmata the same shade as the 

 ground colour, surrounded by a narrow purplish ring, and this 

 again surrounded by black ; between the two basal lines there is 

 a purple shade, and a strong whitish line beyond the reniform is 

 internally margined with blackish, a greenish grey shade at the 

 base of this black line ; the outer part of the wing beyond this 

 white line is also grey, with the exception of an apical streak and 

 a bright reddish hind margin. Hind wings grey, with a marginal 

 shade, followed by a dark transverse line and lunule, base 

 reddish." Haworth describes this species under the name of 

 cypriaca, as : — " Alis roseis vel subfuscis fusco-strigatis, medio 

 saturatioribus." Hllbner also figures (224) the species under the 

 same name. Haworth's var. /?. would appear to be the same as 

 Esper's duller-coloured type, for he writes: — "alis magis fuscis 

 et fere absque tinctura rosea : posticis cinerascentibus lunula 

 media strigisque pone medium fuscis " (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' 

 p. 228, No. 197). I have received this form (type) from Sligo and 

 Aberdeen, have frequently captured it near Strood, and have bred 

 it from Greenwich larvae, although I have none with the greenish* 

 shades mentioned in my description of Esper's figure. I consider 

 the following a summary of the principal phases of variation : — 



1. A whitish-grey form, with slight pink tinge = var. grisea. 



2. A yellowish red form = var. lutea. 



3. A rosy form (the more common one in Kent) = var. 

 cypriaca, Haw. 



4. A deep red (tinged with purplish) form = var. ruhida. 



5. A dull red form suffused with fuscous = micacea (the type). 



6. A brown form = var. hrunnea. 



I cannot help remarking here the superficial resemblance of 

 this last variety to petasitis. 



a. var. lutea, mihi. — The anterior wings of a very pale 

 yellowish-red ground colour, very shiny, the transverse lines also 

 paler than in the type. The hind wings, which are pale yellowish, 

 have faint traces of the lunule and transverse line, but not of the 

 transverse shade noticeable in the darker forms. Some speci- 

 mens of this form are very small. I have only Greenwich 



* I believe this is chiefly due to the artist trying to represent the peculiar shiny 

 lustre of this species. 



