﻿SOME NEW MBLANIC EUPITHECIA ABERRATIONS. 7 



melanism has never yet been described, although there are one 

 or two general remarks in our literature to the effect that the 

 phenomenon seems widely spread in the genus, and one or 

 another of the forms described below may be already known to 

 individual entomologists. 



Eupithecia nanata ab. oliveri, n. ab. 

 Fore wing black with a tinge of brown, especially in the areas 

 which in pale nanat^i usually show brownish clouding, namely, near 

 the apex, and more particularly between the third radial and second 

 median veins ; cell-mark deeper black ; a few whitish scales, indi- 

 cating the position of the pale postmedian band ; an extremely 

 slender, inconspicuous, interrupted, subterminal whitish Hne, ending 

 in a very slender V-shaped mark near the tornus. _ Hind wing 

 equally black at inner margin, sHghtly less so anteriorly ; whitish 

 subterminal line weakly indicated. Under surface nearly uniform 

 smoky-blackish, glossy. Thorax and abdomen black. Warwickshire — 

 the type ( ? ) bred from larva, June 27th, 1914, by Mr. Oliver, who 

 tells me he believes Mr. L. W. Newman also bred one two years ago 

 from pupae with which he supplied him. 



Eupithecia lariciata ab. nigra, n. ab. 



Uniform sooty-black with deeper black cell-mark and veins, the 

 hind wing not quite so deep in tone, the veins consequently showing 

 up more sharply ; basal dark markings of fore wing extremely faintly 

 indicated. Under surface unicolorous dark grey, the veins scarcely 

 differentiated. Thorax and abdomen black, without the character- 

 istic white spot. Warwickshire — the type captured June 12th, 

 1914, by Mr. Oliver's son. A second example was met with last 

 spring, but was too worn to set. Except for the slight differences 

 of wing-shape, this form w^ould be virtually indistinguishable from 

 E. tripunctaria {alhipiinctata) ab. angelicata, &c. 



Eupithecia innotata ab. unicolor, n. ab. 



A small second-brood form of an almost absolutely unicolorous 

 dark grey, the fore wing with deep black discal mark, the costa of 

 the fore wing and inner margin of hind wing with very faint indica- 

 tions of darker spotting ; on the fore wing, in addition, the position 

 of the angulated postmedian line is just discernible through a slight 

 darkening of veins SC*, ES and E^, just proximally to it, and an 

 entire interruption of the darkening distally thereto (where the first 

 outer pale line would cross the said veins), and there is a faint row 

 of pale lunules indicating the subterminal. The type (J), bred in 

 August, 1914, from a Durham strain provided by Mr. J. W. H. 

 Harrison. The second-brood specimens (known on the Continent 

 as ab. fraxinata) are commonly darker and more weakly marked than 

 the first brood, but this extreme development is new to me. 



In addition, Mr. Oliver has obtained in his district E. ca^ti- 

 gata ab. obscurissima, Prout (Seitz, Macrolep. iv. p. 287), though 

 not of quite such a deep black as my types, and a rather dark 

 brownish form of Gijmnoscelis pumilata. 



