A NEW GEOMETRID MOTH. 75 



Note by Mr. A. W. Mera, F.E.S. 



In the Marcb number of the ' Entomologist ' Mr. F. N. Pierce 

 ■would much like to know something more of the new Geometer 

 exhibted by Mr. Newman at one of the South London Entomo- 

 logical meetings a few months ago. 



As I have had something to do with the species, perhaps it 

 might interest Lepedopterists if I relate what I know of it. 



Apparently the insect was first brought to notice by the Rev. 

 J. W. Metcalfe, but most entomologists who had seen it declared 

 it to be only a local form of suffumata. This opinion was hardly 

 shared by myself, and about a year ago I exhibited, as a visitor 

 to the Entomological Society of London, some specimens which 

 Mr. Metcalfe had kindly sent me. Certainly I was not bold 

 enough to announce them as a new species, and the exhibit 

 appeared to pass without any special notice. I had already 

 heard from Mr. Metcalfe that he had endeavoured to breed the 

 insect, but had failed, owing to his not being able to find the 

 food-plant, as the young larvae would certainly not take to 

 the usual diet of suffumata, viz. the common hedge-cleaver. 



During early May last year Mr. Metcalfe gave me a chance 

 of trying to breed them by sending me a few recently captured 

 live insects. Unfortunately at the time the weather was hot, 

 and the insects died on the journey ; but in one of the boxes 

 there were a few eggs which Mr. Metcalfe supplemented a little 

 later on. The young larvae I provided with a variety of plants, 

 thinking probably they would take to some of the willow herb 

 tribe, three of which I provided, but all these they rejected. I 

 also tried the small, white bedstraw that grows freely on common 

 land. To this, four of the larvae attached themselves, and from 

 these larvae I had four insects the following August, showing 

 clearly that they are a double-brooded species. From the four 

 specimens I got a pairing again, and although I supplied them 

 with the same plant as before, none of the larvae would feed, and 

 the race was lost. I should think probably that the galium was 

 only a substitute which they would take to in confinement, and 

 that the natural food-plant has yet to be discovered. Mr. Metcalfe 

 tells me that there is no galium where the insect is taken, and 

 it is local. 



The fact that the insect is quite different in shape to 

 suffumata, is double-brooded, and has a different food-plant, 

 seems sufficient to establish specific rank. According to Mr. 

 Metcalfe, the genitalia of the two species are remarkably alike, 

 but I sent two of my specimens to my friend, the Rev. C. R. N. 

 Burrows, for genitalia investigation, and he sees a difference, 

 although apparently not great. 



Mr. Newman's specimens appear to have come from another 

 source, as they were collected by some observant collector in 



