202 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



1st. That Mr. Doubleday (in 1864 or 1865) was " confident that it 

 was merely a variety of alpinana. 1 '* 



2nd. That about that time (1864-5) I returned the insect to Mr. 

 Barrett as " alpinana? "* 



3rd. That in describing the original male (in 1867) I stated that 

 it partook of the characters of alpinana * excepting that the ground 

 colour was darker, the bright tawny markings at the apex and hind 

 margin were more evident, and the yellow lunule was more con- 

 spicuous and more vivid. I note, too, that it was on these very cha- 

 racters that Prof. Zeller, in his " Albula Fauna" (Stettin. Ent. Zeitung, 

 1878), laid stress in differentiating his quastionana from the ordinary 

 alpinana* of the period. 



Under these circumstances I sought the assistance of my 

 good friend Mr. C. G. Barrett, asking if he could let me have a 

 sight of the original specimen if still in existence, a request with 

 which he not only mos-i kindly complied, but went to the further 

 trouble of procuring for me, from Dr. Mason, the loan of Mr. 

 Meek's North Devonshire insect, which was considered by Mr. 

 Doubleday and myself, in 1867, to be a variety of flavidorsana, 

 notwithstanding that it differed from the latter, inasmuch as 

 the dorsal blotch bore a resemblance to that of petiverella, as 

 stated at the time (E. M. M. iii. p. 177). 



I am now, on re-examination of these specimens, compelled 

 to modify the views I held in 1867, and in doing so shall con- 

 fine my remarks to the males ; the specimens sent to me as the 

 females, which I simply described as " excessively like petiver- 

 ella," certainly belonging to that species; and indeed my friend 

 Mr. Barrett, in answer to a query of mine, says that he had no 

 proof at all that they were the females of flavidorsana. 



As for the males — which I think I have never, till now, seen 

 side by side — Mr. Meek's specimen appears to be petiverella, 

 with a curiously-formed dorsal blotch, looking as if two twin 

 blotches had become united into one, with a small dark spot at 

 the broadened base close to the dorsal margin. Mr. Barrett's 

 original type, on the other hand, seems to me to be identical 

 with qiicestioiiana, Z., = alpinana of the 'Manual,' the difference 

 in character of its darker ground colour, the brighter tawny 

 markings at apex and hind margin, and the conspicuous bright 

 yellow dorsal patch being insufficient to separate it as a distinct 

 species ; for I find that the insect, from these parts at any 

 rate, is more variable in these respects than I had formerly 

 imagined it to be. 



However, with Mr. Barrett's and Dr. Mason's permission, I 

 purpose exhibiting these interesting specimens, together with 

 examples of Folkestone flavidorsana (kindly lent by my friend 

 Mr. Purdey), at an early meeting of the London Entomological 



* The alpinana here referred to means the alpinana of Stainton's 

 ' Manual.' 



