126 VARIETIES OF NOCTTLS 



the moth and larva he writes: "The moth appears on the wing in 

 May, June, July, August and September ; all these months being given 

 by different authorities consulted ; whether it is double-brooded, or, 

 like many of its congeners, uncertain in its appearance, seems doubtful ; 

 probably only the latter, though Heinemann refers distinctly to the 

 two broods. Professor Hering says : ' very capricious in its appear- 

 ance, rare in some years whilst in others very common.' Thus, the 

 double-brooded theory has probably arisen from the uncertainty of its 

 appearance in varied localities ; but, if it be true that the larvee only 

 feed on the flowers and seeds of mugwort, we can scarcely have more 

 than one distinct brood, though the time of its duration in the 

 pupa state may be variable, as we know to be the case in many other 

 lepidoptera. On the Continent, this species is very widely distributed, 

 and is not rare, though Britain is probably its extreme northern limit 

 in Europe. Dr. Staudinger, in the Staudinger-Wocke < Catalog,' 

 says: ( Europa centralis (exceptus Batavia et Belgica) ; Livonia; 

 Gallia meridionalis ; Piedemontium ; Turcia septentrionalis ; Rossia 

 meridionalis ; Altai Montes.' Guenee says : ' Autriche, Hongrie, 

 France meridionale, Angleterre ; ' whilst Heinemann widens into 

 ' Verbreitet bis Nord-deutschland, aber zerstreut.' As to its occurrence 

 in Britain there is some doubt. It is figured by Curtis and Wood, in- 

 cluded in Stephens' ' Museum Catalogue of British Lepidoptera,' and 

 described in Stainton's Manual ; ' all on the authority of the Cumber- 

 land specimens ; but in Doubleday's list it never got further than the 

 * Reputed British Species,' and in consequence was unnoticed in 

 Newman's 'British Moths.' In the 'Entomologist' for February, 

 1875 (' Entom.' viii., 42), Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson endeavoured to show 

 cause against scutosa being deleted from our lists, but with, I am 

 afraid, but little, if any, immediate success ; however, this species has 

 lately been brought prominently forward by the news of its re-dis- 

 covery in Norfolk, and the history of the four or five specimens taken 

 in Cumberland, more than forty years ago, will now be read with in- 

 creased interest. I have taken some trouble to learn more of these 

 old, and, I believe, thoroughly genuine captures. Mr. Rothwell has 

 supplied me with every information, and writes me that, ' being a 

 diligent collector of lepidoptera when at school in Cumberland, I well 

 remember taking many specimens which created quite a commotion 

 amongst the collectors of Carlisle and the neighbourhood, Mr. 

 Hodgkinson, sen., Mr. Hey sham, Mr. Cooper, &c. ; and doubtless the 

 species you refer to (scutosa) was one of them.' He especially mentions 

 the ' Bee Sphinx (bombyliformis), the green Forester (statices), and the 

 Portland moth (prcecox).' After some further correspondence Mr. 

 Rothwell informed me that he had ' turned up ' three boxes of his old 

 collection, and very kindly invited me to inspect them. This I did, 

 and though neglected for upwards of forty years, I found a by no 

 means dilapidated collection, which contained a number of really good 

 species, especially amongst NOCTUJE, but no scutosa. This was dis- 

 appointing, but the information elicited, quite satisfied me of the 

 authenticity of Mr. Hodgkinson's history, who, from his acquaintance 

 and connections with the captors and localities, was fully justified in 

 championing the British connections of this species. I showed Mr. 

 Rothwell specimens of the moth, which he failed to recognise distinctly, 



