IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 51 



geschichte' &c., p. 630). Staudinger places this species between 

 Cirrcedia and Anchocelts, a position which seems to me, most unnatural. 

 In the general variation of viminalis, I would call attention to the 

 peculiar development of the H - like mark. This is not formed in the 

 ordinary way, by the union of the claviform with the elbowed line, 

 but lay a stigma-like development arising on the elbowed line and ex- 

 tending backwards to the central shade. The following is an attempt 

 to classify the different varieties : 



1. Bright silvery-grey, with red costa = var. stricta, Esp. 

 2. Bright silvery-grey = var. scripta, Hb. 

 3. Base brownish, outer half grey = viminalis, Fab. 

 4. Ground colour suffused, markings distinct = var. intermedia. 

 5. Black, with distinct markings = var. obscura, Stdgr. 

 6. Unicolorous black = var. unicolor. 



a. var. stricta, Esp. This is the grey form with the reddish costa. 

 Esper describes it as : " Ph. Bombyx spirilinguis alis deflexis cinereis, 

 strigis duabus transversis, e lineolis interrupts nigris, maculisque disci 

 runs " (' Die Schmet.' &c. contd., p. 38). Esper has two figures of this. 

 One is represented with closed wings, the other with them expanded. 

 The colour is ashy-grey with the costa reddish, the subterminal and 

 elbowed lines dusky, basal lines blackish, central shade reddish on side 

 nearest orbicular, the reniform also reddish and a red costal patch at 

 top of subterminal. This is rather a common form in the South of 

 England. 



ft. var. scripta, Hb. Hiibner's figure of this, our most common 

 South of England form may be thus described : " Ground colour 

 silvery bluish-grey, with all the x transverse lines double, but the 

 elbowed line indistinct, a brownish area around both stigmata, the 

 orbicular of the ground colour, the reniform yellowish. Hind wings 

 grey with a bluish tint " (' Sammlung europ. Schmet.,' fig. 50). 



y. var. intermedia, mihi. There is a very distinct intermediate 

 form of this species, with the ground colour suffused with blackish 

 scales, and yet with the basal area, the space from the costa through 

 the reniform to the inner margin, and the outer marginal area, glossy 

 silvery-grey ; not whitish-grey as in most of the Kent specimens, but 

 the grey of a decidedly darker tint. The best specimens I have seen 

 of this intermediate form have come from Darlington, Mr. Milburn 

 having kindly sent me a long series. 



8. var. obscura, Stdgr. Staudinger simply describes it as " multo 

 obscurior," but refers this variety to Haworth's scripta var. /3. Of 

 this, Haworth writes : " Alas longe saturatiores quam in a ; posticaa 

 fuscse, vel fuscescentes striga marginali magis interrupts, ciliis cinereis " 

 (' Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 213). Newman writes : " In many 

 specimens I have received from the North of England, the darker 

 colour is diffused over the whole wings as represented in the lower 

 figure " (< British Moths,' p. 99). 



c. var. unicolor, mihi. This is an extreme form of Staudinger's 

 var. obscura, in which the whole of the wing is strongly black, absorbing 

 the transverse lines and stigmata which are of the same coloration. I 

 have a long series of this var. from Derbyshire, Yorkshire &c. 

 It appears to be a purely British variety so far as is at present 

 known. 



E2 



