130 Eev. T. A. Marshall's monograph of 



Var. /3. Three fuscous patches on the lobes of the mesothorax ; 

 front, vertex in the middle, and occiput, black ; metathorax and 

 1st abdominal segment more or less infuscated ; antennae fuscous, 

 the base pale. 



Var. y. M eso- and metathorax black or infuscated on the disk ; 

 hind tibiae sometimes ringed with fuscous before the base. ? . 



Var. 5. Head or mesothorax infuscated ; scutellum rufescent ; 

 abdomen black, only the 2d segment anteriorly testaceous. $ . 



Very like fragilis, but somewhat stouter and larger ; differing 

 also in colour, in the habits of the larvae, and in the structure of 

 the cocoons. Out of twenty $ examples, says Kuthe, not one 

 presented any black or fuscous shade on the abdomen behind the 

 2d segment. The 2d segment, however, is often of a paler yellow 

 than those which follow. The striolse on the condylus are finer 

 and more numerous, often extending over a portion of the petiole. 

 Wings larger and more obscure. Antennae of the ? as long as the 

 body, 30 — 33-jointed, in pale specimens testaceous almost to the 

 apex, in darker specimens more or less fuscous, and paler beneath, 

 the 2 basal joints always testaceous; those of the $ about half as 

 long again as the body, 34-jointed. The varieties above mentioned 

 are taken from Ruthe, as all the British examples that I have seen 

 are pale. 



Common near Berlin, according to Euthe, from June 

 to October. Only recently noticed in Britain ; Capron 

 has taken three females at Shiere. In Briclgman's col- 

 lection is a J, bred Aug. 15th by W. J. Cross at Ely, 

 out of Eupithecia venosata, F. Twenty-three specimens 

 of both sexes were sent to Bignell by Mrs. Hutchinson, 

 bred gregariously from a single larva of Noctua brunnea, 

 F. Cocoons pale brown, irregularly heaped together, 

 each covered with a thin web of filaments which hinders 

 them from shining, not pensile. " The bunch of cocoons 

 was found on the surface of the earth and moss in the 

 cage, attached to one dead larva." 



