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LUPERINA TEST ACE A Vae. NICKERLII, Freyer. 

 By Richard South, F.E.S, 



Me. Baxter, of St. Anne's-on-the-Sea, Lancashire, has most 

 kindly sent me a Luperina which he thought might be referable 

 to L. testacea var. gueneei, Doubl. It was taken close to the 

 water's edge on the 1st of August, and no example of typical 

 testacea was seen by Mr. Baxter until the 10th of that month. 

 In some respects the specimen agrees with Doubleday's descrip- 

 tion of gueneei, but it appears to be a form of testacea inter- 

 mediate between gueneei and nickerlii. 



The variety nickerlii, previously only recorded with cer- 

 tainty from Bohemia, though also reported to occur in the 

 South of France, is usually regarded as a distinct species. 

 Dr. Staudinger, however, considers it as probably a Darwinian 

 species, and as it certainly is now linked up with gueneei by this 

 Lancashire specimen, the logical conclusion would appear to be 

 that if gueneei is a variety of testacea, nickerlii cannot be a 

 distinct species. 



By the courtesy of Mr. Leech, I have had an opportunity of 

 examining three specimens of nickerlii from Bohemia, and the 

 following description is taken from the most distinctly marked 

 example : — 



Forewing grey, tinged with ochreous, apex paler ; orbicular and 

 reniform stigmata broadly outlined in white ; central area tra- 

 versed by two whitish lines, the first is wavy with a sharp inward 

 projection before reaching the inner margin, and bordered 

 externally with black; the second edged inwardly with black 

 commences as a white spot on the costa, unites with a larger 

 white spot on the subcostal nerve, and then curves gently round 

 the reniform, beneath which its course is inclined inwards to a 

 black longitudinal bar connecting it with first line, from whence 

 it proceeds vertically to the inner margin, emitting a short out- 

 ward projection on the submedian nervure ; between the base and 

 first line is a short black bar just above inner margin ; the sub- 

 marginal line is pale, indented, and edged internally with 

 dusky; two white spots on costa between second central and 

 submarginal lines and one towards base ; a series of small black 

 lunules on outer margin. Fringes grey, spotted with paler at 

 the extremities of the nervules. Secondaries silky white, with 

 the faintest possible trace of a dark line before the fringes. 

 Expanse 1 inch 4 lines. 



In one of the other specimens referred to, tlie submarginal 

 line is indicated by the dark internal shading only, whilst in the 

 third the longitudinal bar is not present, and the submarginal 

 line is followed by a darker band, as is often seen in testacea. 



