10 THE ENTOMOLOGIST.- 



did not take it to be cxulans ; here the vegetation was very 

 hixuriant, the season having been propitious. On Valgrauson 

 (Cogne) it was in thousands, but drought had prevailed, much 

 vegetation was burnt up, and cxulans had hardly any like the 

 Lauteret specimens, and varied down to minute dwarfs, and 

 others very colourless and transparent ; the result, I took it, of 

 starvation. The variation in the Grauson specimens was so 

 great that I imagine so)ne would be found like the Scotch, whilst 

 I should be surprised if the tyincal specimens from each locality 

 did not present considerable differences." Again Dr. Chapman 

 writes : — " I agree substantially with your views as to varieties 

 of cxulans. I should be surprised if Braemar cxulans did not 

 differ fi'om continental forms." These remarks of Dr. Chapman's 

 are, to my mind, very conclusive as to the variation of our Scotch 

 form from those he took, and should carry great weight. 



1^'rom letters quoted above it is clear that, owing to the 

 drought burning up the food at Valgrauson, many larvae had 

 starved, and consequently produced varieties, some of these 

 coming near Scotch specimens ; but Dr. Chapman says that the 

 type there differs considerably ; whilst the Scotch suhochracea is 

 not the result of accidental variety, but a constant form. Any 

 way, each year from 1886 I have had specimens from Braemar, 

 only missing one year, and they have always been of the same 

 form. Only the smallest possible variation has been noticed ; 

 some few are almost colourless, and in others there is slight 

 variation in size of spots or in colour, from bronzy blue to bronzy 

 green, common to most of the Zygfenidfe. To my mind the 

 Scotch cxulans is a very weak race, hence the want of pigmental 

 colour ; and I am certain that I should be enabled to pick out 

 98 per cent., if mixed with other forms, by characters that, so 

 far as I have been able to judge, are constant and readily recog- 

 nisable by any one well acquainted with the form. 



Mr. Tutt mentions the specimens as shown by Mr. Percy 

 Bright, so I wrote him for his opinion on them, as compared 

 with Mr. Tutt's. He writes me: — " With regard to cxulans, on 

 comparing them with those that Mr. Tutt exhibited, I was struck 

 with the fact that the continental specimens were much more 

 stjongly marked and denser in scales, giving them a handsomer 

 appearance, than even the freshest of the Braemar specimens." 



As to the question of synonymy, I am little disposed to enter; 

 but, so far as I can see, the question is in a muddle. Neither 

 Sigismond von Hochenwarth nor J. W.Dalman appears to be free 

 from blunders; neither appears to have recognised the great 

 difference between the sexes, making two species ; both up to a 

 certain extent make the female Z. cxulans. 



The short Latin description given by Hochenwarth is practically 

 useless. He says : — " Sphinx cxulans. Alls superioribus hyalino- 

 virescentibus, albido nervosis, maculis quinque rubris utrinque 



