OBORABIA AUTUMNATA AT HOME. 43 



The specimen is a female. The primaries have the ground 

 colour ochreous huff, each crossed by two whitish bands ; the first 

 near the base is slightly curved and bulging in the centre, the 

 second beyond the middle is zigzag; there is an apical crescentic 

 spot of brilliant rose-red, a very small dot of the same colour at 

 the hinder angle, also traces of others indicating a submarginal 

 series; secondaries are bright rose-red blending into pale ochreous 

 along the costal area, fringes yellowish, head, thorax, abdomen, 

 and legs all pale ochreous, antennae missing ; as shown in the 

 figure of the neuration, the discoidal cell of the secondary is 

 open, and partly so in the primary. 



January, 1901. 



OPORABIA AUTUMNATA AT HOME. 

 By J. E. R. Allen, M.A. 



The various forms occurring in the genus Oporabia have 

 been very fully described, in all their stages, by Mr. Prout, but 

 not much has been said concerning the habits of the insects 

 in their wild state. My experiences in hunting O. autumnata, 

 during the years 1898-1900 may therefore be of some interest. 



During my first three seasons at Enniskillen, I did not find 

 O. autumnata, though specimens had been taken by both Colonel 

 Partridge and Captain Brown. My failure was, no doubt, due 

 to the somewhat restricted habitat of the species. In 1898, 

 putting together hints received from Captain Brown and Mr. 

 Prout, I tried a plantation of tall alder trees in a private 

 demesne near Enniskillen. I soon found some Oporabia larvae, 

 which seemed to be different from those which I had previously 

 been taking. The first difference noticed was that the alder 

 larvae were more backward in growth ; afterwards I noticed that 

 not one of them showed any trace of purple markings, while the 

 larvae beaten from oak and whitethorn (chiefly the latter), in an 

 adjacent open park, separated only by a thorn hedge from the 

 alder plantation, included a fair proportion of purple-marked 

 individuals. The alder larvae in the early stages had indistinct 

 yellow stripes in addition to the spiracular line, but in the last 

 stage they were of a uniform green but for the spiracular line, 

 and practically indistinguishable from the whitethorn larvae, 

 excej)t when the latter showed the purple stripe. 



The two lots of larvae, from whitethorn and alder, were 

 carefully kept separate, and maintained their difference of 

 growth throughout. A number of the former and a few of the 

 latter were full-fed about May 14th ; some of the former were 

 feeding up to May 31st, some of the latter up to June 10th ; 

 the former emerged September 24th to October 7th, the latter 

 September 24th to November 6th. I should add that I had sent 

 away a few of the earliest of the whitethorn larvae, otherwise 



