132 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



elongated ; the primaries, from the anal angle upwards, nearly 

 represent the upper surface, some spots being confluent ; the 

 tips have each four large and one small silver spots. This spe- 

 cimen is a male, very richly coloured upon all the wings. 



Amongst the Heterocera I took a specimen of Callimorpha 

 dominula with the secondaries suffused all over with black ; a 

 female Euchelia jacobcBce with the carmine band extending from 

 the base, along the costal area, and down the outer margin 

 almost to the inner margin of superiors, otherwise typical. I have 

 now several pupae resulting from ova deposited by this insect. 



I have often noted that the so-called bleaching occurs fre- 

 quently, but in irregular form, in many species, and under the 

 following conditions : firstly, quite white ; secondly, with a suf- 

 fusion of dark bluish, shaded ivith grey ; thirdly, with spots or 

 spaces paler than that of the ground colour. Of the first form a 

 few examples will suffice : Epinephele ianira, E. hyperanthes, 

 Argynnis euphrosyne, A. aglaia, Polyommatus phloeas, and one 

 Colias ediisa (a few Lyccena cor y don from Dorset). Of the 

 second form, Vcuiessa io, V. atalanta, V. urticce, Satyrus semele, 

 &c. ; and of the third, Hesperia Ivnea, Coenonympha pampldlus, 

 Argynnis euphrosyne, &c. Satyrus egeria is often greasy and very 

 pale. A specimen of Euchloe cardamines, with several almost 

 transparent spots ; I think the aberration of the two last-men- 

 tioned species is due to lack of scaling or pigment. 



If Vanessa atalanta, V. io, or V. wiicce are bred in numbers 

 and crowded, the second form referred to can often be produced. 

 I have always considered this kind of aberration due to over- 

 crowding ; the larvae changing or about to change to pupge are 

 subjected to almost constant motion and activity, as they crawl 

 over each other, and disturb those which have only just pupated, 

 — a critical time, when the least pressure would be likely to 

 injure them in some way. 



It seems very probable, as Dr. Chapman suggests in the 

 * Entomologist ' of January last, that these spotted aberrations 

 are caused by j)ressure, there being only one thing against this 

 theory in general, and that is that many specimens are bleached 

 or spotted upon the inferiors only which are protected in the 

 pupal stage ; in such cases would not both wings show signs of 

 injury? 



The only moth I possess of the bleached form is a specimen 

 of Emydia crihrum, in which the right superior is almost white, 

 the other wings being normal. 



It will be noted that all the above species are ground-feeders, 

 and this doubtless has something to do with it ; very few of them 

 ever pupate more than a few inches from the ground. I have 

 found pupa3 of Argynnis pnplda four and five feet from the 

 ground ; but in pale spotted varieties of this species the aberrant 

 characters are of a more regular and definite form. 



