IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 99 



ceptible reniform stigmata, such as Hiibner's figure 413 decidedly 

 shews, I would rather consider it as a variety of a red hellmanni, which 

 always shows the reniform stigma, and which species is now found not 

 uncommonly near Berlin, Brunswick, in Silesia, &c. Yet Hiibner's 

 figure is too bad to allow of our imposing his name fluxa on our present 

 hellmanni. But at all events, we may now without hesitation under- 

 stand by the extrema of HUbner, the concolor of Guende, a species which 

 appears to vary very much, and probably only when worn or faded 

 occurs as white as Hiibner's figure or Herrich-Schaffer's fig. 337, of 

 which colour I have a wasted $ . On the other hand, my ? which 

 is quite fine, is yellowish (bone-coloured), somewhat powdered with 

 grey, just as Guende describes it. As, through the kindness of Mr. 

 Henry Doubleday, I have also had typical specimens of concolor here 

 for comparison, there can be no doubt about the identities of my 

 species. After I had written the above, my friend A. Kogenhofer, 

 Gustos of the Imperial Museum at Vienna, on the occasion of the 

 Naturforscher Versammlung here, brought me the extrema from the 

 Museum collection. This specimen came out of Mazzola's collection, 

 and there seems no reason to doubt that it is the original specimen 

 figured by HUbner (fig. 412). It is nearest to a whitish female concolor, 

 Gn., but certainly with blackish cilia, almost precisely like Hiibner's 

 figure. My friend Rogenhofer had the notion that the creature whilst 

 drying its wings &c., came against some sooty object, and if I am not 

 mistaken, Professor Zeller, who had previously examined the insect at 

 Vienna, was of the same opinion. But, under the microscope, I could 

 find no dark extraneous atoms (only dust) on the scales ; indeed it 

 rather appeared to me that a great many of the scales in the cilia and 

 near the hind margin had naturally a dark edging. Quite recently I 

 obtained a $ Notodonta bicolora, of which the white of the anterior 

 wings was almost unclouded, but the posterior wings had the cilia and 

 hind margin coloured blackish, which shows indubitably that this, 

 though very rarely, may sometimes occur naturally in pale coloured 

 insects. At any rate, this Hubnerian extrema should induce all young 

 lepidopterists to write in their copy books In closely allied species 

 don't describe or figure from a solitary specimen " (' Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine,' vol. vii., pp. 34-36). 



It will be here noticed that after Dr. Staudinger had seen the 

 specimen which was probably the one figured, he does, not use such 

 positive terms as before, and without stating that the specimen in 

 question was Guenee's concolor, says that " it is nearest to a whitish female 

 concolor." Just previously he has written that " concolor, Gn., only 

 when worn or faded occurs as white as Hiibner's figure," but it can 

 hardly be supposed that Hiibner's specimen was wasted, as the per- 

 fection of the blackish cilia have been the cause of so much trouble. 

 However, I would still suggest that the name extrema is so uncertain 

 and unsatisfactory that it should be thrown out altogether. 



Chortodes, St., morrisii, Dale. 



Vol. i., p. 47. Chortodes morrisii. This certainly is not a pale 

 variety of arcnosa as previously suggested to me by Mr. Dale. The 

 original description and notes relating to morrisii, copied from 

 Humphrey and Westwood are as follows : " Acosmetia morrisii, Dale 

 (' Naturalist,' vol. ii., p. 88 and Errata). ' This species measures about 



