THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. L.] . MAKGH, 1917. [No. 646 



APLECTA NEBULOSA, HUFN, VAE. PLUMBOSA, 



VAR. NOV. 



By Wm. Mansbeidge, F.E.S. 



Having been interested in Aplecta nehulosa and its variation 

 since I came to reside in Liverpool twelve years ago, it has always 

 been one of my favourite excursions in early spring to go for the 

 larva, which is sometimes abundant in Delamere Forest. In 

 most seasons the aberrant specimens obtained from these larvae 

 have been paired in different combinations, and occasionally I 

 have reared a family of the commonest form, which in Lanca- 

 shire, Cbeshire, and Yorkshire represents ihe tvp3, but is by 

 some authors, e. g. Tutt, ' Brit. Noct. and their Vars.,' iii, p. G8, 

 considered to be var, bimaculosa, Esp. ; hereafter I shall refer 

 to this as the local type. 



The local type forms vary from light grey, really a mixture 

 of black and white, in which the white scales predominate, to 

 very dark grey where the black scales are most numerous, in the 

 ground-colour of the fore-wings ; invariably, however, the 

 ground-colour is a mixture of black and white producing the well- 

 known mottled appearance. Thus the darkest can easily be 

 recognised as of the type form. 



In 1913 I had a large number of larvae, as that season they 

 were common in the Forest, and thinking they might be useful 

 to some of my correspondents I paired a couple of the darkesc 

 mottled specimens that emerged, expecting to breed forms like 

 the parents, as all experiments in breeding from the local type 

 had, both with myself and others, yielded progeny like the 

 original pair. 



The result was most unexpected, as in 1914 I bred 86 moths, 

 of which 29, or 33"7 per cent., were of the ordinary local type 

 form, rather paler than usual ; 35, or 40*7 per cent. var. robsoni ; 

 and 22, or 25"5 per cent., of a leaden-grey variation, perfectly 

 uniform in fascies, and quite distinct from either of the others 



ENTOM. — MAKCH, 1917. '^ 



