IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 113 



species is undoubtedly British, although I notice that Mr. Dale doubts 

 its being so. I am afraid that doubt is often thrown on our rare 

 species being indigenous because the writer has been collecting many 

 years and has not happened to find the species. C. scrophularice has 

 been erroneously recorded dozens of times, without doubt, by those 

 who have found C. verbasci feeding on Scrophularia, but the larva of 

 C. scrophularice is very different. Its usual food appears to be S. nodosa 

 and not S. aquatica, although C. verbasci feeds on both these plants. 

 In 1889, whilst collecting in Kent, I picked up six strange larvse not 

 at all like verbasci, being much stumpier and less strongly marked, near 

 a well eaten plant of S. nodosa. These pupated at once, and whilst 

 three emerged last year, one has just appeared. The imagines are not 

 at all like C. verbasci but they are very much like C. lychnitis, although 

 perhaps rather larger and more coarsely scaled, but still it would be 

 difficult to distinguish them in the imago state. The three species are 

 well distributed and definitely distinguished on the Continent (princi- 

 pally in the larval stage), where scrophularice appears to be the 

 commonest. Dr.. Staudinger gives the following distribution: ' C. 

 verbasci, central and southern Europe, southern Sweden, Livonia, Asia 

 Minor and Armenia.' ' C. scrophularice, central Europe, southern 

 Sweden, Livonia, Piedmont, Corsica, north part of the Balkan district, 

 and Southern Russia.' *' C. lychnitis, Germany, France, South England, 

 Corsica, Southern and Western Russia.' By this it will be seen that 

 verbasci and scrophularice each spread equally north, but that scrophularice 

 has a more southern range, whilst lychnitis is far more restricted and 

 more decidedly a southern species. I find on reference to the ' Ento- 

 mologist,' vol. ix., pp. 259-260, that Mr. Harwood quotes from a letter 

 of the late Mr. H. Doubleday as follows : ' Cucullia verbasci and C. 

 scrophularice are as distinct as any two species of the genus ; but I 

 believe that few English entomologists are acquainted with the latter 

 species which appears to be very scarce in this country at the present 

 time. The Rev. A. H. Wratislaw of Bury St. Edmunds, found a brood 

 of larvaB three years since, but he has not met with them again. M. 

 Constant says it is sometimes abundant in autumn and then disappears 

 for some years. I sent three or four larvae to Mr. Buckler, and bred a 

 few moths myself. The larva is quite different from that of C. verbasci, 

 being shorter with fewer markings. The moths appear the middle or 

 end of May, a month or six weeks later than C. verbasci. I send for 

 your acceptance a pair that M. Constant gave me. You will see that 

 this species is more like C. lychnitis than C. verbasci. The larva of C. 

 rerbacis often feeds on Scrophularia aquatica, but I believe scrophularice 

 only feeds upon S. nodosa which always grows in dry places.' I presume 

 this reference, by a lepidopterist who undoubtedly knew both species 

 thoroughly, has been overlooked by Mr. Dale, or he would not have 

 suggested that the species was " an entomological myth," although the 

 Rev. 0. P. Cambridge is of opinion that ' his Bloxworth examples may 

 not be any more than C. verbasci,' in fact, if they are very like verbasci 

 they probably are that species. I suppose there are some true scrophu- 

 larice in various collections, but all I have ever had sent to me have 

 turned out to be verbasci. I have never formed an opinion on 

 Haworth's scrophularice, but it may be lychnitis, although that seems in 

 no way to affect the former as a British species. In the Rev. E. N. 



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