42 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



fusca, ciliis fulvicaiitibus." (* Lepidoptera Britannica,' pp. 1S6, 

 187). He also adds, " Variat, alls minus variegatis." Thanks to 

 my friend Herr Hoffmann (Hanover), I have been able to get a 

 translation of Hufndgel's original description, which is as follows: 

 — "With a bluish tinge, partly light and partly dark grey, with a 

 Latin VV in the hind margin." 



Treating therefore as the type the variegated form, which has 

 the whitish blotch on the inner margin, near the anal angle, we 

 have four striking varieties, joined of course by intermediate 

 forms. These are : — 



1. A suffused brown or greyish brown form, with the 

 markings distinctly traceable, though obscured, var. obscura. 



2. A deep, intensely brown form, with the markings scarcely 

 traceable, var. hrunnea. 



o. A black form with moderately distinct markings, v. Mi/wscato. 

 4. An intensely black form with the markings almost entirely 

 obliterated, var. cethiops. 



a, var. obscura, niihi. — A suffused brown or greyish brown form with 

 all the pale markings of the type brownish or dull greyish instead of 

 whitish. The wliole of the markings of the anterior wings clearly 

 'raceable, although obscured. The brownish transverse lines (pale in the 

 type) margined with darker brown. My specimens have come from 

 Strood, Greenwich, Deal,=:- Sligo, Barnsley and many North of England 

 and Scotch localities. 



f3. var. hrunnea, mihi. — The anterior wings a deep, rich brown, with 

 the discoidal spots and transverse lines traceable. This is almost the same 

 form as infuscata, with the ground colour deep brown instead of black. My 

 specimens have come from Mr. Percy Russ, of Sligo, Mr. Henderson, of 

 Glasgow, and Mr. Harrison, of Barnsley. I have also received it from a 

 few other localities, but all northern. Some of my Deal varieties of 

 var. otsc?<ra appioach this form closely. Mr. J. Jenner Weir (Entom. xiv. 

 220), writing of the Hebridean pohjodoa remarks : — " The parallel variety 

 to comhusta [rurea] is of the richest dark chestnut-colour, very glossy, and, 

 as in the case of X. rurea, the intermediate varieties are numerous." 



y. var. infuscata, White. This variety was named by Dr. F. Buchanan 

 White (' Fauna Perthensis,' Part. I). It was given to those very dark, 

 black specimens, abundant in Scotland, the North of England, and the 

 West of Ireland, but which are so rare in the South of England. The 

 distinctness of the typical pale markings varies exceedingly, but generally 

 they are distinctly marked in greyish. Mr. G. T. Porritt, in his 'List of 

 Yorkshire I.epidoptera,' p. 74, says : — " The black form, var. infuscata, 

 White, is of frequent occurrence, both in the east and west of the county." 

 I have captured it raj-self at Deal, and have received it from Barnsley, 

 Fleetwood, Hartlepool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Sligo, and many otlier localities, 

 chiefly northern. A record of the occurrence of this variety at Tenby is 

 made in the ' Entomologist,' xxii. 15. The variety also occurs freely in 



* During the summer of 1888 Kcai'celya i^sle lyohjodon occurred on the Deal sand- 

 hills ; almost all were obscura. I even captured one specimen of var. infuscata. I 

 have no doubt this was due to the excessively wet season. 



