100 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



similar to the well-known ab. ramosana of Hiibner, but which had 

 " greenish-grey " ground-colour of the superiors instead of the 

 brownish-grey which obtains in Hiibner's figure. 



I have not seen a British specimen with this " greenish-grey " 

 ground-colour, but an occasional one does occur in 'which the 

 red-brown is so slight that tbe general tone appears grey. 

 Mr. Bright has two of these, and I have seen one or two others. 

 I may observe that Hiibner's figures of ab. ramosana, ' Vogel,' 

 pi. Ixxv, and ' Tort.,' pi. ii, fig. 10, have the wings distinctly 

 less brown than is the case in the great majority of British 

 examples of this form. 



ab. ramosana, Hiibner. 



Synonymy. — Ab. ramosana, Hiib., Vog. Ixxv (1793) ; Hiib., Torfc. 

 fig. 10 (1797); Curtis, Brit. Ent. pi. xxix (1824), ramosanus; 

 Curtis, Guide, p. 174 (1829), ramosanus ; Stephens, Cat. ii, p. 184 

 (1829), ramosanus ; Treitske, Sch. von Europa, viii, p. 22 (1830) ; 

 Eennie, Conspectus, p. 175 (1832), ramosanus ; Stephens, Haust. iv, 

 p. 147 (1834), ramulanus; Wood, Index Ent. fig. 1046 (1839), 

 ramulamis ; Humphreys and Westwood, Brit. Moths, ii, pi. xci, 

 fig. 16, and p. 152 (1845) ; Staudinger, Cat. Lep. d'Europa, p. 22 

 (1861) ; Sepp, Ins. Ned. 2nd series, vol. i, p. 147, and pi. xxxiv, fig. 29 

 (1862) ; Staudinger, Cat. Lep. d'Europa, p. 50 (1871) ; Frey, Lep. 

 Schweiz, p. 72 (1880) ; Aurivillius, Nord. Fjar. p. 80, and fig. 16 

 (1890) ; Favre, Macro-Lep. de Valais, p. 78 (1899) ; Barrett, Brit. 

 Lep. vi, pi. ccli, fig. 3 (1900) ; Staudinger, Cat. Pal. Lep. i, p. 361 

 (1901) ; South, British Moths, i, p. 147 and fig. 23, No. 5 (1907). 



Original Description. — Phalcena tortrix ramosana. This 

 aberration was figured and named by Hiibner ; there is no 

 description, but I have made one from his figure, ' Vogel,' 

 pi. Ixxv, as follows : 



Superiors brownish -grey, with dark fuscous longitudinal 

 branched streaks and discal spot. 



Thorax and head dark brownish-grey; hind wings dark fuscous. 



Hiibner's figures in ' Vogel,' pi. Ixxv, and ' Tort.,' pi. ii, fig. 10, 

 have the ground colour of the superiors with much less of the 

 reddish-brown tint than our British examples, and they are thus 

 nearer the type form. 



This well-known and handsome form is not infrequent in the 

 New Forest, and possibly represents 2 or 3 per cent, of the 

 specimens captured there; it also occurs in other localities. 

 Curtis records it from Richmond and Dartford Heath, and 

 Stephens and Wood from Daren th. These of course are all old 

 records, and I am not aware of any recent ones except from 

 the New Forest. In Britain it varies considerably in the depth 

 of the ground colour, and in the amount of black in the 

 longitudinal streaks. 



I have figured an average British example of this form 



