xlix 



hoisduvalii and xanthographa. Almost unanimously ento- 

 mologists have quoted Costa as the author of the name 

 hoisduvalii, which would have made this the correct name 

 for the species by the law of priority. On looking this up, 

 however, we found that no such name was given by Costa, 

 who, in his " Fauna del Eegno di Napoli," vol. v, p. 14, 

 describes a black and yellow Zygaena under the heading 

 of " No. 11, Z. della stecade, Z. stoechadis, var. n." The 

 name hoisduvalii was first given to Costa's description by 

 Heydenreich in his " Lepidopterorum Europaeorum Catalogus 

 Methodicus Systematisches Verzeichniss der Europaeischen 

 Schmetterlinge," 1843, and therefore must stand as hoisduvalii, 

 Heydenr., not Costa as it is always quoted. 



Dziurzynski in 1908 gives hoisduvalii as the form with five 

 spots, while xantJiograpJia is given as having six spots. Germar 

 in his description of xanthographa distinctly states that it has 

 five spots, therefore as xanthograp)ha Germar dates from 

 1837-38, while hoisduvalii, Heydenr., dates from 1843, 

 hoisduvalii is a pure synonym of xanthographa. 



So far as we have studied these insects, we can record five 

 subspecies of xanthographa, viz. xanthographa xanthographa, 

 Germ. ; xanthographa maritima, Oberth. ; xanthographa 

 pseudomaritima, Turati ; xanthographa transiens, Rocci, and 

 a new form from Moulinet, Switzerland, xanthographa 

 helvetica, subsp. nov., which I here diagnose. 



Zygaena xanthographa helvetica, subsp. nov., differs from 

 x. maritima in the much smaller red spots on the fore- wing 

 and dark blue ground-colour, narrower black border to hind- 

 wing, and large size. 

 Habitat, Moulinet, Switzerland. 



Of transalpina, Esp., so far we can with certainty distinguish 

 two subspecies : transalpina transalpina, Esp., and transalpina 

 altitudinaria, Turati, and most likely a third can be recognised 

 as transalpina latina, Vrty. 



Whether when we have concluded our final study of this 

 group it will be possible to separate further local races of 

 xanthographa and transalpina, or if the enormous mass of 

 further names given to these two species by Count Turati, Dr. 

 Verity, Signor Rocci, and M. Oberthiir only represent indi- 



PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND., Ill, IV, V, 1920. D 



