110 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



constant nature, alone, to constitute a specific distinction. This 

 character is much more reliable in such species as miirana, and 

 in less degree in cratcegalis, though Mr. Meyrick applies it to 

 basistrigalis and ulmella, which looks as if he had never seen 

 these species, for in the former the detached claviform occurs so 

 seldom (four or five per cent., say, and then perhaps only on one 

 side), while in the latter it never occurs, so far as I am aware. 



Perhaps it should here be mentioned 

 parenthetically that some time ago my 

 friend Mr. Sidney Webb kindly lent me 

 the whole of his collection of this group, 

 thus enabling me to compare hundreds of 

 / "'^^ specimens from all parts of the United 



I '■*' Kingdom. 



f Then, again, ambigualis seems to be 



more variable in size than atomalis, south- 

 ern specimens running larger, northern 

 ones about the same size ; but S. dubiella, 

 Gregson, which I take to be a diminutive 

 form of amhigualis, is much smaller than 

 the least atomalis I have ever seen, its 

 alar expanse reaching only seven lines. 

 There are half a dozen of this dwarf 

 form, with its dull and undefined mark- 

 ings and detached claviform stigma, in 

 Mr. Webb's collection, but he is unfortu- 

 nately unable to furnish positive informa- 

 tion as to the locality in which they were captured, though he 

 believes that the late Mr. Gregson probably took them in one 

 of his favourite hunting-grounds, such as Cumberland, North 

 Lancashire, Isle of Man, or North Wales. It would be very 

 interesting to accurately locate the precise haunts of these 

 puzzling little pigmies. 



But if I am right in saying that amhigualis is the more 

 variable in size, atomalis would appear to be the more variable 

 in markings ; the strongly marked specimens here figured hailed 

 from Scotland, but the most striking varieties, in Mr. Webb's 

 collection, are from the North of Ireland. In these the basal 

 and apical areas are very dark, the medial area being of quite a 

 light colour ; whilst the tendency to leucomelanic variation in 

 amhigualis is just the reverse, namely, dark in the medial area, 

 light in the others. We also sometimes find a similar kind of 

 variation in basistrigalis, niercurella, ulmella, aljnna, &c. 



Again, ambigualis has a much wider range of distribution 

 than atomalis, the former being ubiquitous from the northern- 

 most Shetland isle to North and Central Europe ; while of the 

 latterj Cumberland is, I believe, the most southern limit. I 

 throw out these hints for what they are worth, for, though I do 



S. atomalis, 2 and ^ 



