IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 57 



cause he considers liineburgensis is not of the colour of Epunda nigra, 

 whilst the Irish var. is of the same colour, and says of the dark Irish 

 form : " It has the exact coloration of E. nigra:' Now Freyer says 

 of tripuncta : " Colour dark black-brown, like cethiops" But Freyer's 

 cethiops == nigra, Haw., and then Freyer adds : " Liinelurgensis is ex- 

 actly similar to tripuncta, but without the white spots in the reniform." 

 Therefore it follows that liineburgensis is like cethiops = nigra, which 

 Mr. Kane points out is the case with the dark Irish forms. I think 

 there can be no possible doubt that the dark form we get is identical 

 with liineburgensis, Frr. Freyer's figure, too, throws out the black 

 transverse lines of the dark Irish form most strongly, thus showing 

 how utterly misleading is Staudinger's summarised description. 

 Herrich-Schaffer, evidently, was not conversant with liineburgensis, for, 

 as Mr. Dobree and Dr. Buchanan White long since pointed out, one of his 

 figures (428) resembles the var. sedi, the other (405) is more like typical 

 lutulcnta. My own description of this beautiful variety, made from a very 

 extensive series kindly supplied by Mr. Percy Russ of Sligo, is as follows : 

 " The anterior wings of the $ deep brownish-black ; the subter- 

 minal, elbowed and basal lines more intensely black ; the claviform 

 also intensely black ; the central shade very dark and outlined by two 

 exceedingly black wavy lines ; the orbicular and reniform outlined in 

 black, but indistinct owing to the dark ground colour ; a paler gloss 

 follows the angulated line in one or two specimens (? Staudinger's 

 " albis "). The hind wings are white, the nervures dark, and the outer 

 marginal line black, whilst a row of dark spots on the nervures some- 

 times tend to banded form. Occasionally a of this variety has 

 greyish hind wings but not so dark as in the ? 's, and a transverse 

 line in the place of the row of dots. The 9 's of this variety are ex- 

 cessively dark, the fore wings marked as in the $ 's, the hind wings 

 blackish, only grey at the base, a transverse line generally present in- 

 stead of the dots on the nervures ; fringes paler than the hind wings." 

 I also add : " The variation in the fringes of the hind wings of the 

 Irish specimens of this var. and var. sedi is most remarkable. Some 

 have the outside of the fringe darker than the inner part, some the 

 outer part paler than the inner, some are streaked with black and 

 white, others entirely white, and others entirely grey." I have received 

 this variety from Morpeth, and Mr. Hodgkinson records it from Dutton 

 (Lanes.) in the ' Entom./ xiv., p. 68. Staudinger's diagnosis of liine- 

 burgensis does not, in my opinion, apply to Freyer's form, but 

 applies to var. albidilinea. 



y. var. tripuncta, Frr. This variety only differs from the above, 

 in having whitish spots in the reniform (vide descr. of liineburgensis 

 above). Freyer writes : " The fore wings are dark black-brown like 

 cethiops and pancratii. The hind wings are plain white with no dark 

 anterior shading near the fringes ;" whilst his figure maybe described 

 as " unicolorous blackish, with the basal and elbowed lines, and the 

 outlines of the stigmata black, but almost lost in the dark ground 

 colour ; the subterminal black and distinct. The hind wings shaded 

 with black, base paler " (' Neuere Beitrage ' &c., p. 32, tig. 501). This 

 is only a sub-var. of our darkest vars. with traces of whitish in the 

 reniform stigma. I once saw some tending in this direction, which 

 had been captured by Mr. Russ. 



5. yar, sedi, Gfn. This beautiful variety is thus described by 



