TRIFID.^. 17 



yellow, tlie corresponding wing- being- of the usual rich 

 yellow. Tliese remarkable dark forms, though common in 

 North-east Scotland, are not confined to that district ; the 

 specimen first noticed was taken early in the century, in the 

 I&ie of Bute, by ]\Ir. John Curtis and recorded by him as T. 

 conscq}ia. This identification proving to be incorrect, the 

 specimen was named (without description) T. Curtisli, by Mr. 

 Edward Newman, and in the absence of a description this 

 name has since been applied to all the red, red-brown, dark- 

 brown, and blackish forms, which also are usually smaller in 

 size than typical specimens. One equally small, and of a 

 bright light red has been taken in Surrey, by Professor 

 iNIeldola. A specimen in the collection of Mr. Sydney Webb 

 has the black marginal band of the hind wings broken ; 

 another has the hind wings very pale yellow with the central 

 black lunula obsolete ; and a third is very similar. A larva 

 which I picked up feeding on Silenc maritima within a few 

 yards of the sea, in South Wales, produced a most curious in- 

 dividual of the moth, the hind wings being pale straw colour 

 with brown nervures and the usual black band very pale and 

 almost colourless. Mr. li. Adkin possesses specimens from 

 Orkney of a smooth unicolorous chocolate-black or intense 

 red-black. Quite recently a long series, reared from larvae 

 obtained in the Hebrides by Mr. McArthur, was exhibited 

 before the South London Entomological Society. These 

 were very constant, the fore wings being of a rich black- 

 brown with chocolate markings, but the hind wings of the 

 usual bright yellow. Full-sized specimens of a rich red, 

 almost brick-red, are found in the North of Ireland, in the 

 Isle of Arran, and also in the Scilly Isles— in the latter case 

 mottled with darker colouring ; and it is doubtful whether we 

 have even yet arrived at a full knowledge of the range of 

 variation in this species. 



On the wing in July and August. 



Larva stout, smooth, rounded, slightly thickened to the 



VOL. IV. B 



