NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 76 



the weather for months, I think this militates strongly against 

 the theory of the effects being caused otherwise tlian by the 

 mechanical properties of the hairs.— T. D. A. Cockerell ; 

 Bedford Park, Chiswick, February, 1885. 



On the Variation of Eupithecia nanata. — After Mr. 

 Gregson's remarkable statements (Entom. xviii. 52) with regard 

 to his own farsightedness in discriminating specific differences 

 which other entomologists fail to see, I must say I am surprised 

 at his statement that he has "only seen three varieties of 

 E. nanata," and these are all in his own cabinet. There must 

 have been a general overhauling of the " many thousands of bred 

 and captured specimens" for varieties before Mr. Gregson's careful 

 search began, or otherwise the "many thousands" must have 

 come from one particular spot where the insect does not vary. 

 This, however, does not satisfactorily prove that the species does 

 not vary, and I can assert that many varieties are taken with the 

 type, every season, in the neighbourhood of Garelochhead, twenty- 

 five miles N.W. of Glasgow, many of which, were they mixed up 

 with the var. curzoni, could not be separated from it, so far as 

 the actual appearance of the insects is concerned. Further than 

 this, a dull heavy coloured variety is found in the same locality, 

 which, I believe, is the var. obscurata. Mr. Gregson also makes 

 much of the difference in the shape of the wings, but the 

 Garelochhead E. nanata vary much in this respect (especially 

 the duller form mentioned) ; many closely resembling the var. 

 calliinaria of E. satyrata, from the same locality, in the shape of 

 the fore wings. Looking, therefore, at the wide range of variation 

 in the species, only as far north as Glasgow, and the undoubted 

 change that the species has undergone towards the establishment 

 of permanent variation there, how much more likely that the 

 species, in its isolated northern localities, should develop into an 

 actual permanent variety ? The only point that can be taken as 

 a satisfactory feature, in determining E. curzoni as a species, is 

 the distinct larva; but Mr. McArthur states that he bred all 

 forms, varying from " the southern form to the dark-banded 

 curzoni;''' and I should presume from his remarks (Entom. 

 xvii. 277) that he noticed no difference in the larvae from which 

 he bred all the intermediate and extreme forms. If it can be 

 proved that the larva (so-called) of E. curzoni is distinct, and 

 that typical nanata cannot be bred from the same peculiar form 



