NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 295 



third of fore wings realized 27/6. Four unusually dark varieties of 

 A. caia, sold in couples, made 22/- and 24/-. Of Spihsoma lubrici- 

 peda, "a remarkable fine rayed var. near deschangei," commanded 

 three guineas, whilst a rather smaller and darker specimen only 

 fetched 22/- ; a fine example of var. zatima made 40/-, and one of var. 

 deschangei, " entirely black, except thorax," 35/-. A pair of Lcelia 

 ctenosa found a purchaser at 35/-, and a specimen of Leucodonta 

 bicoloria, taken by Bouchard at Killarney, induced bidding up to 

 £4 10s. Two specimens, male and female, of D. sicula produced 25/-. 

 For some female varieties in a lot of ten specimens of A. prunaria 

 there was competition, and these ultimately fell to the buyer of 

 Bouchard's bicoloria, for £3 5s. A dark male of the same species, and 

 a female with the outer half of the fore wings orange, brought in 32/6. 

 A light orange female with the base of the fore wings and the anal 

 angle of the hind wings slightly fuscous realized £2 5s. ; an almost 

 unicolorous brown male specimen made £3 15s. ; two pairs of very 

 large speckled varieties made three guineas per pair. 



Of Abraxas grossulariata var. lutea, four specimens sold for from 

 28/- to 55/-, the total realized for the four being £8. Twenty other 

 modifications of the same form made an average of about 5/6 each. 

 One female specimen of ab. nigrolutea fetched 95/-, and another £6 10s. 

 Three male examples of var. fulvapicata made 30/-, 32/6, and 60/- 

 apiece ; two females of the same, 21/- and 24/-, and five others from 

 7/- to 12/- each. Other tall prices for varieties of A. grossulariata 

 were : a specimen of ab. albomarginata, 65/- ; two of ab. subriolacea, 

 50/- and 55/- ; a female of ab. lactea sparsa, 110/- ; one of ab. hazelei- 

 ensis, 40/-; three examples of ab. nigrosparsata, 45/-, 60/-, and 115/-. 

 Some very nice examples of the nigrosparsata and other forms sold at 

 more ordinary prices — from 5/- to 10/-. Cidaria picata var. lacteo- 

 marginata made 20/-. Among the Strenia clathrata were several dark 

 and other interesting aberrations. Eight of the most fancied of these 

 realized £13 16s. 6d., the prices ranging from 20/- to 57/6 each. 

 Some of the less conspicuous but still desirable aberrations went for 

 about a shilling apiece. 



The following were the more striking items in the second day's 

 sale (November 5th) : — Leucania flavicolor, 5/- and 5/6 each ; var. 

 rtifa, 6J6, 7/-, and 9/- each ; var. obscura, 16/-. Two bred specimens 

 of L. vitellina realized 26/-. Three examples of Caradrina exigua 

 made 18/-, and the same price was given for each of two specimens of 

 C. xerampelina var. unicolor. Of Cucullia gnaphalii there were six 

 specimens, and these brought in a total of £3 7s. Six Plusia orichalcea 

 sold for 12/-, and two specimens of P. bractea for the same amount. 

 A nice little collection of Deltoids and Pyralidse, offered in six lots, 

 and comprising well over seven hundred specimens, only produced 

 33/-, whereas sixteen Stenoptilia graphodactyla (a recently discovered 

 plume-moth) made 48/-. Seventy-six varieties of Abraxas grossulariata 

 realized the large total of something over £100. The highest prices 

 obtained being var. chalcozona, £4 10s.; var. lacticohr, £5 15s. and £4 ; 

 var. chalcobares, £6; and var. melanozona , £6 10s. 



