OPORABIA AUTUMNATA. 



57 



markings as in fig. 4. As a matter of fact, the true aiUumnata, 

 Gn., is a somewhat different form, and I have not seen any 

 exactly hke it from anywhere excepting Central France, where, 

 curiously, it hardly varies at all, as Guenee says. Until 

 quite lately I had only seen the four worn examples which 

 Doubleday received from Guenee^ but the other day, when I 

 was looking through Mr. Leech's' series of dilutata, I detected 

 several nice examples of the same form ; it is very interesting, 

 as showing a specialized local race in that district, that I 

 kept pointing to the examples scattered in this series, and 

 saying "that is like the French form," and "that is another,|| 

 and each time, on looking at the label, finding "Central France" 

 given as the locality. Under these circumstances, I retam 

 gueneata as a varietal name for autumnata, Bkh. It may be 

 roughly indicated as a combination of the characters of Plate I. 

 figs. 3 and 6 and Plate II. fig. 1— the white ground colour and 

 weakness of bands of the first-named, the paucity of markings 

 of Plate 11. fig. 1, with the general character of markings of 

 Plate I. fig. 6 — i. e. the transverse bands strongly and coarsely 

 dark-marked on the costa and the central nervure. 



Figs. 2 and 3 are both captured specimen?, the former taken 

 at the end of September, 1897, the latter in early October, 1898. 

 Figs. 4 and 5 show a more extreme development of the tendency 

 shown in fig. 2, and the bands can here no longer be described 

 as consisting of lines at all, but are veritable dark bars. This 

 handsome form was named nebulata var. sandbergi by Lampa 

 (Ent. Tids. vi. p. Ill), who believed it to be a variety of the 

 species usually called dilutata; we may also cite here, as a 

 synonym, Clark' sjiligrammaria ab. virgata (Ent. Eec. vii. pi. iii. 

 figs. 9-10), and may regard Wood's figure of autiimnaria (fig. 

 1727) as representing somewhat the same. I bred the two 

 examples which we are figuring, together with four others 

 equally striking, in a small brood reared from a worn pale 

 female which Mr. Christy sent me last autumn. The male 

 figured emerged on July 30th, 1899, the female on Sept. 27th, 

 the last of the batch not until Nov. 14th ! 



The rest of the figures on Plate I. show varieties of all kinds, 

 and are very difficult to classify. Without pretending to have 

 arranged them in any very systematic way, I may call attention 

 to the placing of the darkest specimens at the bottom, and, on 

 the whole, the most strongly banded ones on the right-hand 

 side. The notes which follow will bring out the chief points of 

 interest. 



In 1898 Mr. Christy bred a very variable and interesting 

 series (though mostly somewhat undersized) from mixed ova 

 obtained at Kannoch in 1897. Of these we are figuring three. 

 Plate I. fig. 1 is unique as far as our material goes, the 

 abnormal broadening and shortening of the fore wings having 



