33 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Var. /5. — Ground colour of fore wing pale olive-brown spotted with 

 grey, and with oblique grey-brown striae, in addition to the typical 

 markings. This is known as cosmodactyla. July, August, September. 



Larva. — Length, 6-7 lines, when full grown. Ground colour dark 

 green, with the dorsal vessel showing darker. Head pale olive-green, 

 freckled with blackish along the crown and cheeks : mandibles reddish 

 brown. Along the dorsal area are four whitish warts on each seg- 

 ment, from each of which two bristles of unequal length are emitted; 

 subdorsal, two warts on each segment, the anterior of which has two 

 whitish hairs, and the posterior one short hair or bristle ; spiracular one 

 dark green wart on each segment, emitting two short whitish bristles. 

 The dorsal and subdorsal series of tubercles are placed on linear yellowish 

 patches ; minute blackish bristles are scattered over the entire dorsal and 

 lateral areas. Prolegs blackish ; anal claspers semitransparent, with a 

 greenish tinge. August and September. Said to feed on various kinds of 

 plants, but I have only bred the insect from larvae found on Stachys and a 

 garden variety of geranium. 



Pupa. — At first of a greenish colour, changing subsequently to an 

 obscure reddish brown ; the antenna cases are detached from the abdomen, 

 and there are two conspicuous thorn-like projections on the back. Head 

 truncate. Attached by the tail near a flower-whorl of its food-plant 

 [Stachys sylvatica). August and September. 



The foregoing descriptions apply to the larva and pupa of 

 var. a, which is probably identical with stachydalis, Frey. (Stett. 

 Ent. Zeit., 1871, p. 135). I found larvae, as well as pupse and 

 imagines, in a shady corner of Pelliam Woods, Ventnor, on the 

 1st of September, 1883. A specimen of A. acanthodactyla from 

 Ireland, which Mr. Percy Russ, of Sligo, was good enough to send 

 me, has reddish brown fore wings, and is the only example I have 

 yet seen of this coloration. Mr. Porritt, who has described the 

 larva of cosmodactyla and also that of acanthodactyla (Ent. Mo. 

 Mag. xxiii. 133), says that the chief points of distinction between 

 them " are the deep purple ground colour in acanthodactylus as 

 compared with the ' j)urplish pink' of cosmodactylus," the white 

 subdorsal lines less conspicuous in acanthodactyla, and the head 

 of the latter yellowish brown marked with black, instead of " very 

 dark sienna-brown," as in cosmodactyla. I think much value 

 cannot be attached to such very trivial points of difference. I 

 have taken typical acanthodactyla at the end of May, but whether 

 these were hybernated specimens or not I cannot positively say, 

 but should suppose that they were. I have only bred the species 

 in September. 



Oxyptilus distans, Zell. 

 var. Icetus, Zell. 



Imago. — Expanse, 8-9 lines. Fore wing ^^ale brown, with a small 

 black linear spot and whitish longitudinal dash on the disc, a whitish 

 crescent at the digital junction, and a rather broad whitish band traversing 

 both digits, followed by a narrower whitish band clearly defined on the 

 outer digit ; fringes dark brown, variegated with white at the extremities of 



