CONTRIBUTIONS TO HISTORY OF THE BRITISH PTEROPHORI. 275 



Mr. Gregson was again good enough to send me three full-fed 

 larvae on the 17th of May ; and this year I received a few from 

 him on 4th June. In the note which accomi^anied the last lot of 

 larvae, Mr. Gregson says, " The season was very late in Wales, or 

 these should have been now appearing." Probably, therefore, as 

 June is abnormally late, March may also be exceptionally early, 

 and April and May are the months during which the larvae 

 feeding on Scabiosa columbaria are usually found. In this respect, 

 then, they agree with larvae of Mimceseoptilus plagiodactylus. 



In some of the Welsh larvae the dorsal area is unadorned with 

 red of any shade, until within a short time of pupation, when the 

 anal segment becomes slightly rosy. This was the case with larvae 

 received from Mr. Gregson this year (ante, p. 195). In every 

 other particular they agreed with the description taken down of 

 the larvae sent me by this gentleman in 1881 and 1882, as they 

 also did with larvae received from Purdey. The moths bred from 

 the 1881 larvae were small strongly-marked M. plagiodactylus, as 

 were also the imagines from the 1882 larvae. Those bred this 

 year are larger, and one or two less-strongly marked, differing 

 not at all from the Folkestone insects. 



Seeing that the characteristic markings of the larva, pupa, 

 and imago of M. plagiodactylus are subject to variation, it does 

 not appear to me matter for surprise that in some isolated 

 localities those markings should in one stage of the insect be 

 reduced to vanishing point or entirely absent, and in another 

 greatly intensified. Such variation, if constant, which in this 

 case it is not, constitutes a local form ; but whilst the connecting 

 links exist it cannot establish a species. 



The strongest marked imago of M. plagiodactylus I have bred 

 from larv£e received from Mr. Gregson is figured on the plate, 

 together with figures of larva and pupa ; these last were taken 

 from examples sent in 1881. Plate I., fig. 1, imago; 1 a, larva 

 feeding ; 1 b, larva enlarged ; 1 c, pupa enlarged ; 1 d, food-plant 

 {Scabiosa columbaria). 



Cn^midophorus, Wallgr. 

 rhododactylus, Fb. 



(Plate I., Fig. 3.) 



Imago. — Expanse, 9-11 lines. Fore wing warm sienna-brown, some 

 whitisli scales at the base and along the costal margin. On the inner 



