LITHOSID.-E. 227 



similar, with simple antennee ; very slightly larger. Uuder- 

 side of the fore wings slate-grey with the costal margin yellow, 

 and the hind margin often yellowish-grey, or pale yellow 

 with grey nervures ; hind wings and body pale yellow ; legs 



grey. 



There is a permanently recurrent variety, common in some 



of its more fenny haunts, in which the grey colour of body, legs, 



and wings entirely disappears and is replaced by yellow, 



sometimes pale yellow, at others a richer colour, or with, in 



some cases, a superficial shade of greyish. This variety is also 



yellow on the underside, with the exception, sometimes, of a 



grey cloud on the fore wings beneath. This yellow race was 



longed looked upon as a distinct species under the name of 



L. stramincola, Doubleday, and it was not until the ordinary 



grey form had been reared, by the Rev. J. Hellins, from eggs 



of the yellow race which I obtained for him, that the identity 



of the two was thoroughly established. Intermediate varieties 



— grey clouded with yellowish — are occasionally found, but 



they nearly always fade after death into one of the two 



established colours. A specimen, however, taken in Berkshire 



by Mr. W. Holland, although of the grey form, has the 



costal margin broadly and strikingly yellow throughout. 



In the collection of the late Mr. F. Bond are two of a 



peculiar dull dark yellow, almost brownish-yellow ; whence 



obtained is not known. 



On the wing in July and August. 



Larva one inch long ; stout and uniform in thickness ; 

 head small, brilliantly black. Body covered with stiff dark 

 brown hairs, which are short on the back, longer on the sides, 

 and still longer at the extremities ; colour rich velvety blackish 

 above, dingy blackish-brown below. Dorsal line deep black, 

 enclosed in a broad purple-black dorsal stripe, outside which, 

 on each side, is a narrow orange stripe containing a row of 

 black raised dots, and spreading into a broad orange blotch 

 on the second and third segments, and on the thirteenth into 



