54 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
SECONDARY PAIRINGS. 
Contemporaneously with the above hybrids a stock of both 
parents was being reared in order to make an endeavour to 
produce secondary hybrids, and cages had been prepared to 
secure, if possible, the five possible secondary pairings, viz. : 
Ennomos quercinaria 3 xX EH. winnt ¢. 
E.winnt 3 X EH. quercinaria 2. 
E. subsignaria 3 x EH. winni ¢. 
E.winnt 3 x EH. subsignaria °. 
E.winnt g X H.winnt 2. 
In all cases the pairings were successfully obtained, the 
winnt males showing a very full development of the sexual 
instincts, instantly pairing with any female offered to them in 
broad daylight long before the normal time of flight and 
copulation of the parent forms. In all five cages ova were 
deposited at once, those laid by the winni females being in all 
three cases deposited in large, even masses on the bark of oak 
twigs. The bulk of the subsignaria females fluttered about, 
laying single eggs at random everywhere, and acting as if they 
were severely injured. All died a day or so after copulation, 
just as I have observed when attempting secondary pairing with 
hybrids of certain species of the Biston group. The plight of 
the quercinaria females was not much better, for they only laid 
a few small, although regular, batches of ova, most of which 
collapsed at once; not 2 per cent. in all of the ova succeeded 
in passing the winter, and in all of these the little larve perished 
miserably in spring. On the contrary, the ova laid by the 
hybrid female all wintered safely, but in the case where both 
parents were hybrids, the larve were utterly unable to break 
the egg-shell, whilst in the other two cases only 12 per cent. 
yielded the larve. 
The little larvae which did hatch, however, proved very 
healthy and fed up safely and well, yielding their imagines at the 
proper time. 
Description or Seconpary Hysrips. 
Ennomos hybrid oberthiirt = EH. quercinaria § x EH. winni 2. 
(a) The Male.—This insect differed but little, in its extreme 
forms, from quercinaria. However, several of the specimens 
were very curious in their appearance; whilst not exactly the 
same as the primary hybrid winni, they approached very close 
to it, except that the colour was not quite so intense. Too few 
were reared to admit of any generalisation. 
(b) The Female.—The female shows greater traces of subsig- 
naria inthe greasy and washed-out appearance of its coloration, 
although the usual quercinarta markings were present. Its 
genitalia, except in size, varied but little from those of 
quercinaria. 
