NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 277 



I succeded in getting together a very interesting collection 

 of Lepidoptera, including a few of this variety of E. nanata. 

 This was the first time that this variety was observed and 

 recorded. In 1881 I again collected in the Shetlands, chiefly in 

 Mainland, and again I took the variety, but this time a longer 

 series, varying from our southern t} r pe to those dark-banded 

 forms which were figured in the ' Entomologist ' (vol. xiv.). In 

 the season of 1883, with aid from Mr. C. E. Fry, I determined to 

 work the extreme northern islands of the Shetland group, and 

 succeeded while there in not only capturing the imagines in 

 plenty, but also in breeding this variety in quantities, and after- 

 wards sent them to our most eminent entomologists, who all 

 agreed with me in considering it to be a very interesting form of 

 Eupithecia nanata. After many opportunities of observing it 

 in both larval and imago states, I must record my strong opinion 

 that it is nothing more nor less than a variety of E. nanata. 

 Mr. Gregson must have been perfectly aware of all these facts; 

 and even allowing that it is a distinct species, which I am sure it 

 is not, unless he received Mr. Curzon's permission to use his 

 name, which I doubt, I think entomologists will agree with me 

 that he has shown somewhat questionable taste in naming it after 

 a gentleman who has collected but one season in the far north. — 

 H. McArthur; Fareham, Hants, November, 1884. 



[In the last part of the Stettin ' Zeitung ' is a, to British 

 entomologists, very interesting paper by August Hoffmann, on 

 ' The Lepidoptera of the Shetland Isles, with notices of the 

 occurrence of the species in other northern countries, in the 

 North and Central German Mountains, and in the Swiss Alps.' 

 (Stett. Ent. Zeit.. xlv., 353—375). Of Eupithecia nanata (?) 

 Herr Hoffmann writes : — "Of this peculiar form I received six 

 specimens, which are like those figured in the ' Entomologist ' 

 for 1881, pi. i., figs. 2 and 3. Dr. Staudinger, to whom I 

 presented a pair, writes me as follows, ' A form of Eupithecia 

 new to me, probably only a dark E. nanata. It probably comes 

 next to the form nanata aberr. obscurata, Stgr., but exhibits such 

 considerable differences from it that it does not agree with it.' " 

 Then follows the description. "In my opinion this Shetland 

 form deserves a distinct name. Whether it is to be considered a 

 good species, or is to be placed as a variety of E. nanata, I do not 

 attempt to decide. It flies in June." — E. A. F.] 



