t^ LEPIDOPTERA. 



alive, and indeed, so far as I know, has only been observed 

 in those reared in confinement ; in a series reared by Mr. 

 Robert Adkin in the autumn and winter of 1894, this colour- 

 ing was especially noticeable. In specimens which are now 

 emerging in his cages (October 1896) no such tendency seems 

 to be observable, but these are of a brilliant black, with the 

 transverse stripes broadly and conspicuously white. These 

 last are from eggs laid by a black Scottish example, and in 

 woods in the mountain districts of that country variation 

 towards blackness of marbling, with grey or white lines and 

 shades is very general, every conceivable gradation from the 

 typical grey to deep black being found, but in almost all, the 

 whitish colour of the transverse stripes, of the orbicular stigma, 

 and the edging of the reniform stigma is maintained. This 

 black variety seems to occur very rarely in the North of 

 England, but one specimen has been taken by Mr. J. Gardner 

 near Hartlepool, Durham. On the other hand, normal grey 

 forms are found, in company with the darker varieties, at 

 Cromarty and elsewhere in the North of Scotland, and the 

 only specimen which has been found in Shetland is precisely 

 like an English example. The only one taken in Ireland 

 which I have seen is of a curious chalky-white colour with 

 grey clouding. It was secured near Londonderry by Mr. 

 F. V. Campbell. 



On the wing at the end of June, and in July and August. 

 In the year 1869 several were captured in the South of 

 England, from the end of August to the middle of Sep- 

 tember. By feeding larvaB in a warm room a second genera- 

 tion can, without difficulty, be obtained, the moths emerging 

 from September to December. 



Larva stout, cylindrical, but slightly enlarged behind, and 

 tapering a little toward the head ; on the second segment is 

 a dull horny plate ; head rounded ; skin soft and shining. 

 Colour purple with a greyish tinge, irrorated with greyish- 

 ,white ; dorsal and subdorsal lines white, interrupted, appearing 



