THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 269 
of the ‘Entomologist’ are illustrated either by pen or pencil,— 
sometimes both,—with so-called “varieties” of our native 
Lepidoptera, and in almost every instance the specimens 
described differ from the normal type of the species, either in 
the distribution of colours, or in intensity of shade or mark- 
ings. Occasionally we read of dwarf specimens, or, on the 
other hand, specimens of gigantic proportions, but we seldom 
see any account of a deformed individual ; and by deformities 
I do not mean the poor, crippled creatures we sometimes get 
in our rearing-cages,—although perhaps they should claim 
the appellation, “ par excellence,’—but those in which one 
particular limb, although fully developed, differs from the 
corresponding one. ‘That such deformities do occur we are 
all well aware; 1 think they are sometimes not totally unin- 
teresting to those who really love insects for their own sake. 
Last summer I and a friend were searching for Acidalia 
straminata, and whilst near a fir-wood a moth attracted my 
attention by its peculiar flight. I caught and boxed it, to 
find it was a specimen of Ellopia fasciaria, with one of its 
hind wings about ha/f as large as the opposite one, although 
this dwarfed limb is apparently fully developed, and has the 
red bar across it similar to the other, but the wing being 
‘ shorter than usual the bar is naturally nearer the body; 
; consequently the moth looks very one-sided now itis set. I 
have yet a still more remarkable “deformity” in my cabinet 
in a male of Colias Edusa. The specimen in question has 
both fore wings narrow and rounded, almost reminding one 
in form of the fore wings of Lithosia quadra. Its colours are 
not so bright as other specimens in my series, but the mark- 
ings are similar; and on account of the wings being so much 
narrower the black spot appears to be almost equidistant 
from the costal and inner margins. Doubtless many readers 
of this journal possess specimens equally interesting and 
curious ; but, in nineteen-twentieths of the varieties described, 
the variation is in colour, and not in form. This I almost 
wonder at, since the acquisition of varieties is, and has been, 
such a mania with collectors, and almost anything out of the 
common course of nature is deemed a prize.—G. B. Corbin. 
[I am rather pleased that any correspondent of the ‘ Ento- 
mologist’ should have observed, what is a fact, the general 
absence from its pages of notices of deformity. 1 entirely 
