SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES ON EUPITHECIA. 53 



thiuk they more resembled fraxinaia than innotata. They were 

 feeding on scabious, and I do not remember any Artemisia near, 

 but certainly there was no ash. Up to the present time I 

 believe innotata has only been found on Artemisia. Mr. Gardner 

 says, 'I find all the "pugs" I have bred will feed upon the 

 flowers of plants, particularly of scabious and Centaiirea.' " On 

 inquiry, INlr. Bankes learned that there was much that was hazy 

 concerning this record. In the first place, Mr. Eobson acknow- 

 ledged {in litt., 20th April, 1904) that the plant referred to as a 

 " scabious " seemed to be really a knapweed, probably Centaur ea 

 nigra, his botanical knowledge having "rusted for some forty 

 years " ; Mr. Gardner, on the contrary, who was with Mr. Rob- 

 son when the larvae were taken, asserts positively {in litt., 13th 

 June, 1904) that they were found " on various plants." Further, 

 there was a discrepancy as to the exact number found, each 

 being " fully persuaded in his own mind " ; the exact details, as 

 furnished by each, are not relevant to the present question. 

 Both, however, were in the main agreed that the larvae agreed 

 rather with Buckler's figures of E. fraxinata than of E. innotata ; 

 for Mr. Gardner wrote much more definitely than Mr. Eobson, 

 his words being : "I can assure you that the larvae we got were 

 the gaily coloured larvae of fraxinata, and not that of the miser- 

 able-looking example figured for innotata." But I have shown 

 (Entom. xl. 206-8 ; Ent. Rec. xvi. 336 *) that E. innotata is far 

 more variable in markings and habits (even apart from the 

 fraxinata race) than Mr. Gardner was aware, and this of course 

 weakens his evidence. Mr. Bankes, who very carefully examined 

 the disputed specimens, inclined to call them innotata, but he 

 confesses that (like all the rest of us !) he " cannot separate the 

 moths with any certainty." 



The above shows that no such definiteness exists about the 

 " scabious " record for "fraxinata " as I assumed when I wrote ; 

 but I fear it proves little or nothing else. I ho[)e our northern 

 friends will work their coasts thoroughly and systematically for 

 " pug" larvae, and clear up some of our dark places. 



As to the " E. tamarisciata" (?) bred by Mr. E. M. Holmes, 

 F.L.S., from North Cornwall (Ent. Rec. xviii. 158), Mr. Holmes 

 tells me he was unaware that Mr. Tutt intended to publish a 

 reference to it, and it was perhaps a little premature, as Mr. 

 Tutt had not seen the larvae, and evidently only determined the 

 species by the food-plant. Mr. Holmes has very kindly sub- 

 mitted his material to my inspection, but as he will no doubt 

 write upon it when further elucidation has been obtainable, I 

 shall not forestall him further than to say that I quite agree 

 with him that his larvae did not tally with the only definitely 



■•■= " Mr. J. Gardner," in this latter reference, is a printer's or editor's 

 error for " Mr. J. E. Gardner," and refers to Mr. Gardner, of Clapton, not 

 to Mr. Gardner, of Hartlepool. 



