IN T1IE BRITISH ISLANDS. 43 



versus," " Valde affinis N. Imoriae (= pastinum), ab distincta. Abe 

 anticaj fuscse strigis duabus apicem versus vix conspiciiis. Postioaj 

 itidem fuscse " (< Lepidoptera Britannica,' p. 259). Guenee writes : 

 " The ludicra of Messrs. Haworth and Stephens appears to me to be 

 only a variety of pastinum. At any rate, the true ludicra is not found 

 in England " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., p. 427). This certainly was only 

 a rather darker form of pastinum which our older British authors 

 probably considered to be the ludicra of the Continent. It seems 

 hardly worth distinguishing, but would appear to refer to those speci- 

 mens which have the outer margin strongly brown. 



/3. var. pallida, mihi. Anterior wings of a whiter-grey than the 

 type ; the transverse bands or fasciae obsolete, especially the brown 

 area between the subterminal and angulated lines ; the dark scales 

 which give the type a more mottled appearance, very few in number. 

 Altogether this is a much paler form. I have occasionally taken a 

 few specimens with the type in Kent. 



3. Family : Stilbidcv, Gn. 



This is another aberrant family and has been variously placed by 

 different authors. Staudinger, following Treitschke, has placed it with 

 the Caradrinidcv, with which its larva is altogether wanting in affini- 

 ties, the latter tending to point to a position close to its present 

 location as assigned by Guenee. The only species in the family is 

 confined more particularly to Western Europe (Great Britain, France 

 and Western Germany), and shows strong sexual dimorphism, the 

 female being smaller, darker, shorter winged, and with an altogether 

 different facies to the male. Guenee writes : " This is certainly a 

 most abnormal genus, on which a knowledge of the earlier stages, now 

 well known, thanks to Mr, Graslin, has not thrown the light that had 

 been expected." " The imago is very curious : its palpi and its thorax 

 short ; its feet long and slender ; its inferior wings, which fold up and 

 are covered by the superior and pressed close to the body, large ; the 

 neuration of the inferior wings justifies what I have said above, that 

 it has, in reality, no affinity whatever with any family, and that every- 

 body who has attempted to locate it, has found a difficulty in doing so. 

 It appears to have, at first, some marked resemblance to the Lencamdai, 

 to the Caradrinidcie, to the Ortkosidce, and to the Erastridce, but one is 

 obliged to separate it from each of these when all its characters are 

 taken into account. It is, perhaps, not better placed here, and con- 

 stitutes, I repeat, like Brephos, one of those absolutely isolated types, 

 which can be introduced nowhere in the series of species in a manner 

 satisfactory to one's mind " (' Noctuelles,' vol. vi., pp. 433-434). 



Stilbia, St., anomalcij Haw. 



This species exhibits a considerable amount of sexual variation, 

 the female being much smaller and almost uniformly blackish-brown 

 in colour, with the markings obsolete. The male is a very distinct- 

 looking insect and rather strikingly marked. Until quite recently 

 this species was not at all common in Britain, but during the last few 

 years it has been taken abundantly on Cannock Chase by Mr. Freer, 

 at Sligo by Mr. Euss, and in Aberdeenshire. The Sligo specimens 

 appear to be larger, brighter and better marked, than the Cannock 



