486 BRITISH LEPIDOt>TEfcA. 



is yellowish-red, all the other spots being normal in colour, and Bond- 

 Smith notes a specimen from Gamlingay, in July, 1891, as having 

 the basal spot on the left fore-wing yellow, all the rest being typical. 

 In 1893, Christy obtained from Emsworth, among many yellow 

 specimens, several that were more or less incomplete in structure and 

 colour, and he further informs us that similar malformed specimens 

 continue to occur year by year, some without any wings and others 

 with curiously cropped ones. Oberthiir remarks that, in his experi- 

 ence, the blotching of A. trifolii has a tendency to commence from 

 the outer spots as frequently as from the basal ones, whilst in A. fili- 

 pendulae the blotching usually commences at the base and extends 

 thence towards the tip. Frey considers that in Switzerland and 

 Germany, A. trifolii is one of the most variable species ; its antennae, 

 he says, show transitions to the lonicerae form, and he instances var. 

 yracilis, Fuchs, in support of this statement. Rambur's figures (Cat. 

 Lep. And., pi. i., figs 5-8) of the Spanish A. trifolii are hardly recog- 

 nisable, but he states that the Andalusian examples appear to be near 

 stoechadis, although united so completely with specimens of A. trifolii 

 that they cannot be separated therefrom, they also come very near the 

 var. syracusia. He further states that he finds no specific difference be- 

 tween the Spanish examples and those from Paris, Touraine, Perigueux, 

 Tarbes, Marseilles and Perpignan. He has also reared larvae from 

 Touraine, Perpignan and Malaga, and finds no difference. Snellen notes 

 the type form (in Holland) as having the basal spots elongate, the others 

 round, the upper of the middle pair small, the hind-wings with a 

 broad, blue-black margin. He says the species varies much in the 

 form and size of the spots, and considers that most of the aberrations 

 fall into one of two forms : (1) With the upper spots of the basal and 

 central pairs united with the under. (2) The spots above all united 

 into one longitudinal stripe. His measurements (30-36 mm.) sug- 

 gest that the Dutch A. trifolii belongs to the palustris form. The width 

 of the marginal band of the hind-wings is also very variable ; in some 

 examples it is not much wider than in normal A. lonicerae, in others, 

 it forms a band extending almost to half the width of the wing, the 

 inner marginal nervure and the median nervure being also, sometimes, 

 distinctly tinged with black. Prout observes that, at Broxbourne, 

 examples occur with very small red spots on the fore-wings, and with 

 the hind-marginal band of the hind-wings much broadened. 



a. ab. orobi, Hb.., " Eur. Schmett.," ii., fig. 133 (without description), 

 (?1818); Staud., "Cat.," p. 47(1871); Selys. "Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg.," 1872, 

 p. Iviii ; Ibid., 1882, p. cxiii ; Sand, " Cat. Lep. Auv.," p. 23 (1879) ; Frey, 

 "Lep. der Schweiz," p. 67 (1880). ? . Expanse of wing 28 mm. ; anterior wings 

 dark purplish in colour, with the 5 normal red spots separate from each other ; 

 hind-wings normal. 



This form has the five red spots of the anterior wings separate from 

 each other. [In some copies of Hiibner's work (e.g., that at the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington), a sixth supplementary 

 spot is figured between 8 and 5.] It appears to be very generally 

 distributed, although rather less common in many places than the 

 type (1 + 2, 3 + 4, 5). On the other hand, in Guernsey, it is the 

 most common form ; and it may be well to remark here that, though 

 very many of the A. trifolii captured there might be referred to 

 the small form, the ? s occasionally reach from 30-35 mm. It appears 

 to us that var. syracusia is simply this form developed into a local race. 



